I Forgot Everyone, But I Still Remembered How to Say Sorry

Synopsis

After the memory loss, I couldn't recognize my own parents, but my body still remembered how to take a punishment. Three years ago, they decided I had taken a knife to my adopted sister, Lila. They personally handed their fifteen-year-old daughter over to a "behavioral modification program" in Utah. Three years later, my mind was a blank slate. When Lila intentionally dumped a glass of ice water all over me, I instantly cowered, throwing my arms over my head. I dropped to my knees, frantically scrubbing the carpet while hyperventilating, "Sorry... I'll clean it up right now, I'm so sorry..." My brother looked down at me, convinced it was all an act. "We sent you to Utah three years ago, Eleanor. We can do it again." Later, they finally saw my back. The overlapping scars. They saw three years' worth of solitary confinement logs, restraint records, and forced chemical sedative injections. My brother broke down, his voice wrecked with tears. "Ellie, why didn't you tell us?" I looked at him for a long time. I did tell them, when I was fifteen. But back then, no one wanted to listen.