Before Your Memory Fades Novels & Stories

… For the next month, I took the drug every day as Fabian instructed and never missed a dose. He continued to leave early and come home late. The happiness of being in a new romance always showed on his face. My memory began to fade slowly. It didn't disappear all at once. It started with forgetting our wedding anniversary. On the day itself, Fabian had arranged for a bouquet and a gown to be delivered to me, which was very unlike him. He called and said, "I've booked the restaurant for dinner together, and that gown is for you. Dress up nicely. Many of my colleagues at the lab will be joining too."

I looked at him and felt tears burning in my eyes. "My mom had to remind me of things that had happened in the weeks before I got sick. People I'd met. Places I'd been. Conversations I'd had. It was all just gone." "Oh my god." His hands dropped from me and went to his own face. "The doctors said it was normal with that kind of illness, that memories formed right before getting sick are often the ones that get wiped out because the brain is already under attack." I reached for his hands and pulled them away from his face so I could hold them.

His disgusted words, his strict expression, his serious training to me, when these memories appeared in front of my eyes, but I became closer than any previous moment I wanted to be. The fragments of memories flashed through my mind like a movie, and I suddenly remembered the legend I had heard. It is said that the moment before a person dies, many memories of his life will appear in his mind, and those important memories will become incredibly clear. Am I really going to die? I stared closely into his sunken golden eyes, his anxious voice brought a smile to my face, and I used all the strength I had left to see him a little more clearly, to carve him into my heart and my mind.

Slowly, my memories are starting to fade, but strange enough, they are only bad memories and good ones with my loved ones remain. "Mom, let's take a picture." I sniffed, pulling my phone from my dress pocket and we snapped a beautiful picture together. I looked at it with a smile and sighed. "I'm ready to see my husband and son again, Mom. You're right. I-I don't know when my memories will start to fade away and I want to treasure it while I can still remember our moments together." Mom let out a happy smile and nodded. "They will surely be happy."

She asked him. "Hmm, just a substance I use for my enemies if I don't want to kill them, since you happen to be one, and I do not want to kill you, I thought this would be the best punishment. As you grow older, every wrong decision you have made in your life will come to you like it was yesterday. I hope you are ready, to watch your memories slowly fade away, and there will be nothing you can do. You will forget about everything, even your very own existence, and the worst part isn't even that."

I screamed as I realized that I couldn’t hold on to anything, everything kept slipping through my fingers like sand. The training sessions with Lucas and Shane. Jasmine’s humor. All of it was fading. One by one, they disappeared into the darkness. All of it was being erased. I was being erased. “Please,” I begged no one in particular. “Please, I don’t want to forget. I don’t want to disappear.” But nobody answered. My thoughts were becoming harder to form, words were slipping away from me. What was my name again? I… I knew it a moment ago.

“I’m not sure. I wish I could remember my real name.” “Give it time.” “You seem so sure of that.” “I am, but until then, we need to discuss what you should do until your memory returns.” “What do you mean?” “Well, we have cleared you for the most part. We can’t find anything wrong with you.” “But I can’t remember anything about myself.” “As we told you before, that’s because you have Retrograde Amnesia. With this condition, your memories can resurface at any time.” “Or never.” “It does you no good to think that way.”

Then, the golden sun broke through the clouds, and the entire world was covered in brilliant light. It was breathtaking. I sat there, watching the radiant sunrise as my breath grew shallower, and my body became weaker. Until the end, when there was nothing left, my lungs gave out. Leaning in his arms, I took one last look at the man I loved. "Evan, don't cry…" As the sun rose, my trembling hand, caressing his cheek, fell for one last time. "Melody! Melody, wake up! Didn't you say we'd go see the aurora together? Melody!"

LIVIA (CHIARA) I was taught how to remember before I was taught what was worth remembering. They never explained it that way, of course. They used gentler words. Words that sounded like care. Support. Training. Recovery. They told me memory was a muscle, and like any muscle, it needed to be exercised. They told me forgetting was a symptom, not a choice. They told me remembering was a responsibility. I believed them because believing was easier than noticing what belief was costing me. At first, they asked me questions with answers.

“We meet at 6AM tomorrow and every other day. Don't waste my precious time. ""Every day?" "Every day until your body remembers what to do when your brain stops working." She was already packing up. "Aurora won't attack when you're ready. Nobody else will. She'll wait until you're tired, broken, pathetic, not thinking straight. It's up to you to choose whether or not muscle memory saves your life." She left.