The Accident.

I let out a small gasp. I choked on the cold, unfamiliar air. I immediately shivered, my teeth clenching and my body shaking. I opened my eyes quickly and observed my surroundings. I squinted but all I could see were blurry blobs of blue. Then I tried blinking a few times and my vision finally cleared. I was obviously looking at the sky and I noticed I was lying on my back in icy snow. It appeared to be dawn and I need to get somewhere safe before night arrived. I was disoriented and confused. 

Where was I? My head throbbed with excruciating pain and my legs felt like they were about to fall off. I tried to massage my head, but I then realized I had mittens on. I was wearing full snow gear, top to bottom. I ripped off my gloves and my hands felt the bitter chill of the cold environment. I tried to move my feet, but I looked closer and saw I was wearing skis. My legs were in a tangled mess and I was pretty sure they were both broken. I sat up carefully, knowing I was injured. My whole body felt sore and damaged, but I manage to pull the skis off. My ski poles were askew.

 I attempted to compile myself and try to figure out what had just happened. In front of me was about a 20-foot tall tree, with a thick base I had appeared to crash into. That's why I felt so unpleasant.

 But one of the things I wasn’t able to make sense of was why I crashed into the tree. When I actually tried to think about it, I couldn’t remember much. None of my personal life. I thought harder. Nothing. Nothing at all. 

I was pretty sure I knew all the common knowledge and basic things though, but I tested them out just in case. “Hello,” I said into the emptiness. That confirmed I could still talk. I assumed I could walk to but I didn’t want to lose all my energy trying to get myself up with injured legs. My legs still felt incredibly painful and the agony in my head would not falter. I needed to get out of here, fast. 

I first attempted to crawl, which did not have a successful result. Then I struggled to stand up, even though I obviously didn’t want to. I fell to the ground, scraping my hands and draining the strength out of me. I breathed hard in the thin air and was almost about to give up. 

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I patted down my coat and found an unfamiliar cell phone in the front pocket. I unzipped it and I flinched as the cold metal of the phone case made contact with my shaky hands. Weirdly, I remembered the password. A few memories were slowly coming back in bits and pieces. The first thing I did was go to the camera app. I wanted to know what I looked like. 

Disappointedly, I didn't even remember my appearance. I looked around 16 years old or so. I had long, tangled light brown hair with the front pulled up. My nose was a little too pointy for my taste, but my eyes were round and had a warm look to them. Freckles painted my face. Maskara was smeared everywhere. It looked as though I had been crying, but now I have no idea why. 

After the identity crisis, I went to my contacts and knew just who to call. I pressed the name Finley. I felt some connection to whoever this person was and just oddly knew that she was the best person to call. Unfortunately, I didn't know if it was a bad connection or a good connection though.

Surprisingly, the person answered the call. I heard a feminine voice on the other hand. “Hello?” the stressed girl I assumed to be Finley asked. “Zoey, are you there? Are you ok?” I didn't know what to say. This girl obviously knew me, though I knew nothing about her. 

“I’m here,” I answered. Finley responded with a relieved sigh. 

“Now where are you?” She demanded. “The police are looking for you everywhere! They’re about to call off the whole rescue search. You’ve been missing for hours!” “I’m at the place where we always went when we were kids,” I said, the unfamiliar words coming off my tongue. I knew what to say, but no memories were coming back right then. Finley must have been a sibling or a childhood best friend. 

“Stupid me,” Finley said. “That should've been the first place I looked. Why would you be there?” I hesitated. “Wait. Listen for a second.” I told her. I decided to go with the whole truth, even though I got a weird feeling that I couldn't trust her. “To be honest, I… I ended up skiing into a tree, I can’t remember anything, and I think I broke both legs because they're dying in pain and I can’t stand up.” I swear I could hear her roll her eyes. 

“Zoey Harper, always having to be the most adventurous, but also the meat dangerous out of the whole family. You had to go and get yourself in an accident. Typical you. You know, or you used to know, that we don’t go skiing there anymore because there are too many obstacles to avoid, even though you're a good skier.” Finley said. “I’m going to go tell this to the police now. Bye.” She ended the call. I gained some information, but no insight on what was happening. 

So my name was Zoey Harper. It felt like my name, but not my name at the same time. But the whole time, it felt like Finley wasn’t genuine about anything. For some reason, I knew I should never trust her, blood-related or not. I was probably connected to her in not a good way. 

But I was still puzzled but my brain hurt from thinking too much. Nothing was making sense. I sat there for about another hour, freezing cold. I dragged myself, turning my back to the tree, and rested on it. I was exhausted and bewildered. 

I guess I must’ve fallen asleep because, before long, I found myself waking up to a dark-haired girl who looked a bit like me, but a little older. I was guessing she was Finley. Behind her were a couple of police officers and people who worked there on skis. I was too weak to even move a muscle. My voice was raspy and dry. “Hey,” I said. I didn’t remember much of the next part because I was half unconscious. My mind was fuzzy. All I could hear were muffled voices. 

The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed with IVs in my arms. Finley smiled when I noticed her, but it was more like a cruel smile like she was amused that I was injured. It was disturbing. I also saw another person. She was a young teenager about my age that had hair that was almost white, but you could tell it was blonde. 

My fists tightened, but as she came closer, I relaxed. I somehow knew this was a person I could finally trust. She put her lips to my ear while nervously glancing back at Finley. 

“This wasn’t an accident.” She said. I swiveled my head around quickly. “What?” I whispered back. “All of it.” The mystery girl told me. “You crashing into that tree and you losing your memory. All an accident.”