Firefly

Prologue

To all those who continue to love regardless of not getting it back.

• • •

Elena

Fourteen years ago, I was in a car accident with my mother. I made it through but my mother didn't. She was a passionate neurosurgeon with chestnut brown eyes that matched her hair, a certain part of genetics that I inherited myself. I am Elena Summer, Dr. Veronica Summer's daughter.

Or so I was told.

A part of me died with my mother that night. The team of doctors who were led by my father concluded that I was affected by a rare condition of dissociative amnesia. I frequently think about how I cannot think about the events of my life before the car accident. 

Two things happened that night: My mother's life ended and so did mine. The doctors didn't save me. They saved a three-year-old girl who was as good as a newborn baby. I started my second life that night, remembering no identity of my own. In my head, there's no memory of my life before the accident. There's only the after. 

My father and my elder brother taught me everything from scratch. Sitting, walking, talking, eating, writing, breathing (sometimes), and living. I learned the stories of my mother through albums and videotapes, none of it bringing back memories of my own with my mother. 

We moved to Silverton, Oregon right after the accident because it was difficult for my leftover family to recoup the loss of both, my mother and my memories.

For the last thirteen years, life has been a shade of normal. Silverton is calm, populated, and monotonous. I've heard stories of our hometown because my elder brother, Dylan, has been obsessed with that place. He chose to go back home before starting high school. He wanted to prove his independence and capabilities to my father and well, he succeeded. 

There was never a plan to return to Cadford. Except, my father had made a bet with him. If he managed to get a scholarship for Morbridge, the Med-School in New Jersey, my dad and I would move back home. Not only did Dylan win that bet, but he also silenced my father's excuses by earning an internship parallel with his college scholarship in Morbirdge. 

He really wanted us (me) to go back home. 

"This is so unfair." I groaned stuffing my books into the box which read 'ELENA' with a black thin marker.

From Oregon to New Jersey, my laptop reads the distance as 2700 miles away. I glance at Nate holding a map of Cadford in his hand. He's circling fun destinations for me to check out when I reach Cadford. 

Nate Turner. He's been my best friend since sixth grade. Nate is my hot cup of coffee in winter storms. The only comfort I earned in Silverton. He is my backbone, my lifejacket, and an anchor when it becomes difficult to breathe.

"Come on, don't pout. This town is really cute." He flipped the map so I could take a look at it. 

Cadford was a town in Orange, New Jersey. It was one of the least populated towns which still functioned on the Founding Family legacies. By cute, Nate was subtly trying to avoid calling it small. 

"You call puppies cute, Nate. Not towns." I pulled out another carton box that read my name. "And doctors need people to treat. How would a small town benefit a neurosurgeon?"

"Elle, it makes sense." I turned to scowl at him but he was busy surfing on his phone. "The town is—well, limited, but so is the number of medically qualified experts. This place needs doctors like how squirrels need nuts. Plus, the name Summer is historic, Dr. Daniel Summer is going to be a returning hero."