Never Never

In an afternoon class, Silas thinks through what he knows for certain: He has no idea who he is, where he is, where he lives, or what he looks like. He goes to the bathroom to look at a mirror: “I’m staring, emotionless, into a pair of unfamiliar, dark eyes” (22). Suddenly, the girl from lunch (Charlie) steps into the restroom. Silas calls her by name, Charlie, which he overheard in the cafeteria. She asks him what her last name is, and he does not know. She then faints. When Charlie comes to, she and Silas both admit they cannot remember anything before fourth period. When the period bell rings, Silas tells Charlie that they need to leave.

Charlie and Silas leave school. Using the car alarm on Silas’s key fob, they head to a Land Rover. Using the GPS, the two drive to a fancy, spacious house. They go inside and investigate, as Silas tries to stir some memory. They investigate the bedrooms until they find one that seems to be Silas’s: There are framed photos on the walls, so Charlie surmises Silas must be interested in photography. Charlie and Silas are both stunned to see blood stains on the sheets of the bed, including the faint ghost of a handprint.

Neither Silas nor Charlie understands what the blood stains mean; Silas assumes it’s his own blood, though without conviction. Charlie finds a sheet of stationary with the heading Wynwood-Nash Financial Group. There is also a note that reads, “Never stop. Never forget” (34), in Charlie’s handwriting. Charlie is hungry, so she and Silas head to the kitchen. They meet an older woman in an apron named Ezra, and determine she is the housekeeper. Ezra is pleasantly surprised to see Charlie but does not explain why. She offers to make Charlie one of her special grilled cheese sandwiches.

On the way to Charlie’s house, her mother calls, identified through caller ID. She is angry that Charlie left school. When Charlie tells her mother that Silas is bringing her home, her mother makes a cutting remark about him. The pair find their way to Charlie’s house, a more modest place than Silas’s: “We both stare at it, quietly taking in the vast separation between the lives we live” (43). Before they say goodbye, they promise not to tell anyone about their amnesia.

Charlie’s disheveled mother waits for her, and Charlie smells liquor on her breath. She moves past her mother and heads to a bedroom that she apparently shares with her younger sister Janette. She rifles through her dresser, hoping to find clues about her life—to no avail. Charlie finds Janette’s journal and reads the first entry, in which Janette voices her hatred of her. Her phone goes off, and she finds a flirty text from someone named Brian. She texts Silas and asks him to pick her up. Charlie sneaks past her mother, who is passed out on the sofa.

When Silas picks up Charlie, he feels the pull of her smile. As they drive to school to pick up Silas’s younger brother, Landon, who sent Silas a text reminding him, they try to figure out who Brian is. Silas pulls over, and in the parking lot, they meet a boy they assume is Brian. Brian ignores Silas and tries to pull Charlie out of the car. Charlie tells him that she is staying with Silas. Brian sneers at Silas, “You know, dude, she’s cheating on you with me” (58). Silas and Charlie laugh.

Landon, who is watching from afar, cannot believe that after going out for four years, Silas and Charlie are now laughing about Brian. Charlie receives a phone call from Janette, as their mother forgot to pick her up after swim practice again. Charlie and Silas pick her up, and after they drop her off (with an offhand remark revealing that their father is in prison), they agree to find a place to park and check their phones for clues.

Silas discovers an old video in which he wishes Charlie a happy birthday, and they kiss. He admits he is jealous of the version of him in the video, who seems so in love. The phone goes dark, and muffled sounds indicate the two are making out. Charlie whispers, “Never. Never” (68). Silas receives a text from his father to come home, alone. He drops off Charlie and suggests they will wake up with their memory restored.

Charlie’s mother is watching TV, and her sister Janette is eating Doritos. Charlie looks around for anything that might explain why her father is in prison. Her only clue is a receipt from a diner in the French Quarter, dated the past Friday. With Janette in tow, she heads to the diner; nothing in the diner stirs any memory. The sisters’ server knows them and mentions the past Friday, when Silas almost got into a fight. When they return home, Janette makes an offhand comment about Charlie’s stuff packed away in the attic. Charlie decides to explore.