The Things We Forget
On New Year's Eve, my little sister, Lily Brooks, begged me to play hide-and-seek with her.
The moment I finished counting to thirty with my eyes covered, the eraser in my brain started working again.
I stood frozen for a few seconds, then turned around, went back inside, and started watching TV.
An hour later, Mom crouched in front of me. "Sweetheart, where's your sister?"
My sister?
I blinked. "I don't have a sister."
Mom's expression changed instantly.
Nobody even touched our New Year's Eve dinner. Everyone rushed out into the heavy snow to look for her, but no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find her.
Mom raised her hand and slapped me hard across the face, her eyes