29. Obliviate


A car accident could be just as effective as someone pointing a wand at you and uttering the word ‘Obliviate’.

You’re seven years old. Sitting in the back of a light blue Subaru, you and your family wait for the light to turn green. You and your brother are happily munching away on some delicious doughnuts that you had picked up at the market. In the front, your mum discusses matters with your aunt in complicated terms. The rain starts to pour. The light turns green. The car jolts forwards and your world spins and turns to black.

Your eyes open. You blink them and you have a huge burning pain in the middle of your forehead. Your entire body hurts. You can barely move a muscle- there’s so much pain and you don’t understand it. You’re not in the car; you’re on the road. Glancing over your shoulder, you see your mum. Your whole world stands still as you run towards her. Is she alive? Is she dead? You panic. “Mum?”

She survived but at a cost. She doesn’t remember much of what happened after the car accident. She doesn’t even remember your birthday.

You’re still seven to her.