Emma slowly turned the pages of the old photo album, glancing at the faded pictures within. She realized with unsettling surprise that she had no memory of when most of these photos were taken, despite clearly being the subject of them.
The young girl in the album - undeniably her when she was around ten years old - posed happily alongside family members and friends Emma vaguely recognized. But their names and connections eluded her. In some photos the girl smiled brightly in school portraits or at birthday parties. Others showed her laughing on playgrounds, carousels, in pools, and other places Emma did not recall being.
As she progressed through the album, the disconnect grew stronger, like she was looking at snapshots of some other child's life. Her mind strained to grab hold of the vague recollections just beyond reach. The evidence was right here in front of her, but there was an impenetrable haze blocking out the memories.
Turning the next page, Emma gasped aloud. One photograph showed "her" happily eating ice cream while sitting next to an elderly woman, their faces pressed playfully together for the camera. This wasn't just any elderly lady - it was her grandmother, who had passed away years ago. But the date on the back of the photo was recent. Confused and unnerved, Emma stared into the crinkled eyes of the grandmother she missed dearly, searching her mind for any hint of this day, this moment captured on film. Nothing came.
Who was this girl with her grandmother? Why was there an unbridgeable gap where these memories should be? She flipped through the remaining photos, confronted by more images of shared moments that had vanished like vapor.
Emma's hands shook, sending the photo album tumbling to the floor. Pictures spilled out across the room, the smiling, unfamiliar girl taunting her. Dropping down, Emma frantically shuffled through the scattered photos, desperate to find something she recognized, some anchor to who she was and had been.
But the stranger in the album remained a mystery. Overcome by existential dread, Emma sat alone staring into the eyes of someone she did not know: herself.
The Photograph