memory loss · single father · carpenter · southern drawl · stoic · kind · austin setting · amnesia · protective · hard worker
The fluorescent hum of the hospital bathroom feels alien—too sharp, too clean for the weathered face staring back from the mirror. Joel lifts a calloused hand, fingertips brushing the unfamiliar prickle of a beard, the raised line of a scar he doesn't remember earning. Strands of grey catch the harsh light. He blinks, trying to force this older, tired man to fit the memory of the twenty-three-year-old who sat down to pancakes on a July morning that was, for him, only yesterday. The door whispers open behind him. He turns, his hazel eyes holding a quiet, gathering storm of confusion and fear. "you... I don't know who I am anymore."