Prologue:

I opened my eyes to a blinding light which glared from the lamp above. It swung gently in the late summer evening. My eyes followed it's path, the steady rhythm causing my eyes to close once again.

…

"Haylie?" a rich, warm voice like melting honey was calling to me, cutting through the high pitched buzz that deafened me to the rest of the world. "Come on girl, don't do this to me." I'm not sure if it was my imagination or instinct but something tugged at my conscience. It felt, familiar, comforting, irresistible. Whatever it was about it, it drew me towards the voice, causing me to open my eyes for the second time that day.

"Haylie, you're alive! Oh thank goodness." At first my half blind eyes could only make out the shadowy blurs that loomed like vultures around my head. As it swam into focus, the buzzing stopped. Those weren't shadows looming over me. They were people.

I counted 9 in total, a sobbing middle aged couple (who were old enough to be my parents); a beaming teenage girl who shared my dimpled smile and sparkling eyes; another girl with dark brown hair who could have been my age, hugging a similarly aged blondie; a jet black Asian guy (my mistake, he was actually Kiwi); another guy who who's muscular tanned frame was sported by a curly blonde mop; another guy who's shock of bright red hair looked like it had been set alight and finally a young blond haired, muscular guy who couldn't have been more than 20. He was the one that had spoken. He was the one who was staring at me the most with those dazzling bright sapphire eyes. And he was the one who was literally 5 inches away from me…

For a minute I forgot to breathe. The blond beauty frowned in worry. "Are you ok?" he whispered, obviously concerned for my well fare. A single pale brown hair had flopped into my eyes, causing me to franticly blink. The boy reached out, tucking it away out of my sight. But the sudden contact caused me to flinch. He frowned slightly, his eyes big and sad. "I'm so sorry…" he looked so tortured by my response, covering his eyes with his lightly tanned hand "I thought…" muttered before he stood up and walked briskly out of the ward. I think it was a ward because of the girls walking round in nurse's uniforms. Either that or I was in an even more bizarre situation than I initially thought. The three other older guys stood up, each casting me a glance that was two parts worry, one-part accusing before following the blue eyed boy out. For some reason it made my heart sink to see the blue eyed boy go.

The woman turned to me, her eyes filled with sympathetic scorn. "You know you shouldn't be so harsh on him," as she said this she wiped a small tear from her cheek before settling down one the edge of my bed. I noticed that she shared my pale brown hair and intense brown eyes. "It wasn't his fault. He's been torturing himself ever since it happened." I looked at her, puzzled by her words.

"What do you mean, since it happened?" I had no clue what this strange woman meant.

"You know, the accident." She continued, her brown regaining its crinkle. She exchanged a worried glance at the others who were no longer smiling.

"Come on Hailey." the brown haired girl leaned in over the side of the bed. "Don't start, it's really not funny this time."

"Plus," joined in the blonde haired girl, "don't you think that you've put Luke through enough?"

Luke, was that his name? It was rather beautiful, it reminded me of that space guy with those weird light sword thingies. Or was that the one that kept going on about being 7/11/20? I'm not sure what any of it meant, the thought just popped in and then slid back out again before I could grasp it. The youngest girl there who shared my light brown hair sidled over to my other bedside, examining my face like some examine an unusual butterfly-whatever those were… "You really don't remember do you" she whispered, her bright green eyes were sparkling with worry. Wait, now they were blue. Hold on, no…grey? Now back to green. Bizarre. In reply to her question I simply shook my head.

"How much do you remember?" the girl's interrogation continued, yet I didn't feel interrogated. The people around me weren't giving off a threatening vibe. It just seemed…sad. Like we were at a funeral. In answer I merely tilted my head to show my confusion, quite impressive for someone who's head was still glued to her pillow. "Ok, maybe not anything about the accident then, but what about everything else? For example, do you remember who I am?" the girl pointed to herself.

A memory tugged at the back of my mind, one so strong and vibrant that was just out of reach. For the life of me I couldn't remember who she was. I shook my head. The girl's face fell. "Well what about me?" asked the dark haired girl pointing to herself. The blonde girl who had now place her arm around the younger girl shook her head. "I think that if she can't remember Liz, then it's unlikely she'll remember who we are." She murmured. As if to confirm her I shook my head.

It obviously was all becoming too much for the woman on the bed, who instead of asking me if I knew her simply burst into tears once again. The man came up and placed a comforting arm round her. He gave me a long thoughtful look. "I think were done with visiting today. Haylie needs her rest." his voice was gravelly, older with a hint of sorrow. I noticed for the first time that his tanned skin was similar to my warm ivory one.

The group gathered themselves together, walking in a gloomy fashion out of the ward, casting one last look at my bed with promises of future visits. Their departure saddened me, but not as much as it should have if I knew who those people were. Who they were to me. I closed my eyes, the buzzing in my ears retuning with the absence of the company. Despite this, the bright sapphire eyes of the young boy still cut through the darkness of my clouded mind, watching me as I drifted to sleep.

…

When I next awoke, the sun had disappeared shrouding the ward in darkness. The nurses moved like ghosts amongst the sleeping corpses of my fellow patients. Too exhausted to speak to any of them, I closed my eyes as one of these ghouls approached my bed. "Poor thing." It whispered to its companion. "She looks so young, but It was a bad accident."

"Yes I know, poor thing." it's companion whispered back. They could have done with going to some other patient, I didn't like people whispering about me. " I heard she didn't even recognise her own mother". Memory loss, so that was why I was here. There was a special word for that condition. Beginning with a I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called…

"I know. Poor girl. It must be so bad, having amnesia…" That was it- amnesia.