“Except I don’t remember him, or anyone. Not you, Brad or Rosalie. Or your mom. You said her name was...?”

“Ophelia.”

“Ophelia.” He shook his head again, closing his eyes. “It’s as if they never existed.”

“They did, I promise.”

“You said you had photos. I want to see them.”

I hesitated. I didn’t know what was wrong with him, had no idea what might or might not trigger a memory, and what could happen to him if it did. I wanted to protect him, make sure he was safe, but how could I do that if I didn’t know what was going on?

“Maya?” He put his hand on my arm. “I need you to show me.”

I got up and went to the old dresser that stood to the left of the fireplace in the living room, and slid open the top drawer. Ash had brought the piece of furniture home one day, a few months after he’d started working for the local carpenter to make a bit of cash while in high school. The pine dresser had been old and dusty, an unloved, dilapidated piece of furniture someone had put by the side of the road with a FREE sign stuck to it. Without hesitation Ash had hoisted it onto the back of Brad’s truck and brought it home. I’d laughed at the state of the chipped, sky blue paint and the broken handles, the split wood in each of the five full-length drawers.

“What are you going to do with this piece of trash?” I said when I got home from school and found Ash in the garage, sander in hand, his brow glistening with sweat.

“Fix it,” he said. “It has so much potential.”

I’d given a dismissive whatever wave, and when I opened the bottom drawer and found a dried-up mouse inside, threatened to set fire to his new project if he as much as put it on our porch. A month later I came home to find the dresser standing next to the fireplace. Ash had stained it dark brown, given it new, shiny silver handles, and had somehow filled all the cracks in the wood, making them blend in and disappear. He’d sanded and treated the insides of the drawers, made them silky smooth to the touch, and I’d gawped with my mouth wide open as he walked in.

“Still want that flamethrower?” he’d said with a wink.