“Emery!” I scream at the top of my lungs and suddenly all eyes are on my. Somewhere, someone stops the annoying music that once pulsed through the house. I try to shake him awake, but it’s no use. The people around me finally come to their senses and start yelling for help.

“Someone call 911!”

“Does anyone know CPR?”

A girl yells into her phone for help as a guy rushes over to me. He pushes me aside lowers his head to Emery’s chest.

“I know CPR,” he tells me, before starting to revive Emery. I watch in horror, tears falling from my eyes when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and look up at Vince, who doesn’t meet my eyes. He’s watching Emery’s motionless body on the floor.

“Oh my god!” Yells Mary, rushing through the circle of people around us and kneeling at my side. “River!” She cries, wrapping me in a hug. I expect her to start screaming, but instead she whispers into my ear. “I need to talk to you when Vince isn’t around.”

She pulls back and I nod at her, as the paramedics come running into the house. They push us aside and gesture for everyone to move back. When I refuse to leave Emery’s side, a policeman starts to shove me away. Instantly, I start screaming and struggling out of his grasp, reaching for Emery who’s too far away.

“Hey,” Vince says sternly, grabbing the arm the policeman has around me. “He’s her brother.”

The policeman instantly lets me go and I sprint towards Emery, falling to my knees. I can’t tell whether Vince said brother to make some point with me, or that explaining the situation about Emery living on my farm takes too long to explain.

“Help him!” I cry to the paramedics who kneel around him, trying to revive him. As soon as I’ve spoken, the paramedics stop. Before I can start screaming at them, they tell me he’s breathing again. They raise him onto a stretcher and prepare to take him into an ambulance. “What happened?” I sob, clutching Emery’s hand as tightly as I can.

“Someone drugged his drink,” a man tells me, as they start pushing Emery out of the house. I follow, holding onto his hand as I feel everything start to tingle. First my feet and hands, then the rest of my body goes numb. It only takes a matter of seconds before Emery’s hand falls out of mine and everything goes black.

Three Hours Later:

“You are in trouble, young lady,” my mom says sternly, pacing back and forth in front of me. I sit on the old couch, my hands in my lap as I stare at the floor. My dad’s at the hospital filling out Emery’s paperwork, while my mother attempts to take his place for punishing me. “No truck, TV, or going out for a week.”

I ended up passing out because there were too many people in the room and not a whole lot of air, plus the fact that I was having a panic attack because of Emery. Luckily, someone caught me before I smashed my head like he did.

“Is he going to be okay?” I whisper nervously, raising my red, swollen eyes to my mother’s.

“Yes, River,” she sighs. “He has a concussion and may have more problems; however they will take a day or two to diagnose.”

“When will he wake up?” I cry softly. My dad said he would call when Emery wakes up, however the phone hasn’t rung yet.

“River,” my mother says, sitting on the couch beside me. She wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into her. “They don’t know yet. It could be a few hours, days or weeks.” Slowly, I rise to my feet and my mother’s comforting arm falls off of me. “River?” She calls, as I listen to the sound of my feet on the stairs. When I’m in my room, I shut the door behind me. Emery always slept with the door closed.

I expect myself not to sleep at all, however as soon as I close my eyes, I drift off into dreamland.

“Don’t!” I scream, running towards Emery. Mr. Hastings holds his gun out in front of him, pointed towards Emery. There’s a loud bang as the bullet leaves the pistol.

Emery’s eyes look distant as they meet mine, the bullet piercing his skin. His pupils are huge and his eyes look like they can’t see what’s in front of him. His red cup falls onto the ground, splashing everywhere and Emery’s body soon follows.

“No!” I cry, running towards Emery. I drape myself over his body and sob, praying that he will be okay. I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to look up at Mary. Her eyes are swollen form crying and she can’t stop shaking.

“River,” she whispers. “I need to talk to you.”

Her eyes suddenly move away from mine and look to the left. I follow her gaze, only to see Vince. He stands leaning against the wall, twirling the pistol that shot Emery around in his hands.

I wake up screaming. Gasping for air, my hand covers my heart as I try to calm myself down. Sunlight streams in through my window and I can’t help but notice the missing presence of Emery’s breathing. It’s been two days since Emery’s accident and I’m still not allowed to see him.

Downstairs, my parents are drinking coffee at the kitchen table. Nothing seems out of the ordinary until they put down their mugs and meet my eyes.

“You’re home?” I ask my dad worriedly. “Why are you home?” He’s been staying at the hospital ever since Emery was put there and hasn’t come home until now.

He nods to my chair and I slowly tread towards it. Once I’ve taken my seat, I look from my mom to my dad, waiting for one of them to answer my questions.

“He’s stable,” my dad tells me, meeting my eyes with a serious look. “They said I could come home and the hospital will call if anything changes.”

I reply almost instantly after my father finishes speaking. “Has he woken up?” He doesn’t answer and instead sighs. I push myself away from the table and get out of my chair. In my room, I sit on the edge of my bed with my feet resting on Emery’s mattress. Slowly, I lift his black backpack onto my lap. Once it’s there I stop and listen, as if he could come in and yell at me at any time.

Inside isn’t much, but I quickly find the photograph of his family. I stare at it intently and wonder how the happy looking man in the picture could turn into Mr. Hastings. When my eyes fall on Emery’s smiling face, I can’t help but smile back. He was such a cute looking kid. It only takes a moment for my smile to quickly fade when I remember that he had his innocence stolen from him at such a young age.

With a sigh, I put the photo back in Emery’s backpack when I notice a small piece of cloth in the bottom, looking extremely out of place. It’s a dark purple and reminds me of my curtains. Looking over to the left, I roll my eyes. Of course. It reminds me of my curtains because it is a piece of my curtains.

Gently, I set the backpack down on the mattress and rise to my feet. At my curtains, I pick up the ends and look through them when I find it. Emery had managed to tie a knot in the back of them so I wouldn’t notice it. Smiling sadly to myself, I head back to my bed to remove the piece of fabric.

It’s folded so that what it contains doesn’t fall out. Slowly, I open the ends and smile at what’s inside. The horse necklace Emery got me for my birthday glistens like new. However it probably can still be considered new, as I only ever wore it once.

Holding back tears, I lift the ends around my neck and clasp them together. I twirl the tiny horse between my fingers a few times before putting it under my shirt so no one would see. It seems like a good secret to keep to myself and explaining how I received it to my parents doesn’t exactly seem like an enjoyable time for me right now.

Suddenly there’s a knock at my bedroom door and my heart begins to race. Not knowing who it is, I scramble to get the cloth back in Emery’s backpack and zip it up.

“One minute!” I call, trying to sound calm. As quickly as possible I shove Emery’s backpack underneath my bed and place my hands together on my lap. “Come in!”

The door slowly opens and Vince appears there. He’s dressed for farm work, with a plain bright green t-shirt and regular jeans.

“How are you holding up?” He asks gently, walking over to me. Without asking, he sits on the edge of my bed beside me and I resist the urge to move away.

“Fine,” I tell him quietly, avoiding his eyes as I stare at Emery’s mattress.

“That’s good,” he says, oblivious to the fact that I’m one-hundred percent not fine. “I wanted to know if you want to go into town to see a movie with me.” I see him smiling out of the corner of my eye. Emery never took me out to the movies or anywhere for a date. However Mary’s warning words float back into my mind, along with Emery’s and the whole apparently obvious reason I should be with him.

“Thanks,” I softly mumble, “But I think I just want to stay in today.”

“Okay.” He rises to his feet and squeezes my shoulder before heading to the door.

“Vince?” I call as he’s almost gone. He turns around and smiles sadly at me. “Can I ask you something and will you answer honestly?”

Shrugging, Vince leans against the door frame. “Sure, River.”

“Did you…” I trail off, almost not wanting to ask. “Did you see who put something in Emery’s drink?”

Something quickly flickers through Vince’s eyes. However before I can place it, it’s gone as fast as it came. Vince folds his arms across his chest and looks down at me, almost as if I’m unimportant to him.

“No, I didn’t,” he tells me flatly, without any emotion crossing his poker face.

“Are you sure?” I whisper, wondering if he knows something that I don’t.

“I said I didn’t,” he snaps, shoving his hands into his pockets. When he sees my startled face, he sighs. “I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I’m just blaming myself for this happening.”

“Vince,” I sigh, as he walks over and sits beside me again. He rests his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. “It’s not your fault.” As much as I don’t want to, I drape my arm around his shoulders and rub his arm in attempt to comfort him.

“I just wish there was something I could have done, or that I should have stayed with him,” he mumbles.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” I tell him, knowing somewhat how he’s feeling. “It’s not your fault in any way.”

He rises from his hands and meets my eyes. “You’re just saying that.” I shake my head and he smiles sadly at me. “You’re the best, River,” he murmurs, leaning close to my face. I don’t move away as I realize when I realize he’s about to kiss me. But before he can, the phone rings.

Jumping to my feet, I sprint out of my room and down the stairs. When I get there, my dad’s already talking on the phone. When he puts it down, he smiles at me and wraps me in an embrace.

“Emery woke up.”

Two Hours Later:

My parents call for me as I run down the hospital hallway, looking for Emery’s room excitedly. Vince chose not to come for some reason; however I don’t think Emery would appreciate if he came anyways. My heart skips a beat as the number on the hospital room matches the one a nurse gave me for directions.

I run into the room and don’t even have time to look at Emery as I wrap my arms around him. I breathe in the stale smell of cigarettes and sigh happily.

“I’m so happy you’re okay!” I tell him, rushing my words as if the world is ending. “I’m so sorry for not being there sooner and I’m just so happy you’re okay! I thought I lost you! Gosh, Emery, I just love you so much and-“ I suddenly as I pull away, taking in Emery’s appearance. He looks exactly the same except for his eyes. They stare at me in wonder. “Emery, what’s wrong?”

“There’s something you should know,” a nurse tells my parents, walking into the room. Emery and I stare at each other intently and I instantly know there’s something different about him. “He’s suffered some memory loss.”

I squeeze Emery’s hand tightly but he doesn’t do the same back. Instead he wiggles his hand out of mine and looks up at me curiously.

“Who are you?”