A smell. A sound. A face. It’s hard to take your memories for granted when you can’t remember them. A sharp jab to my ribs.
“Ouch.”
Then there’s some memories I’d rather forget.
“This isn’t anytime to be daydreaming Whitney!”
“Oh really? Then what do you suggest would be a good time Ellie?”
“How about when you’re not working on a writing assignment due at the end of class?”
Ah. Right. Memory sure is a fickle being. I peeked over at her paper to see if I could skimp some of my own work.
“Finished already?”
“Well, I wasn’t staring blankly at the ceiling like you were,” she sharply replied while leaning back in her seat, arms crossed behind her head.
Nothing on the paper was useful to me though. It wasn’t that what she had written was bad, but… it was too good compared to my usual quality. I’d already tried using some of what Ellie wrote a while back, but it just made my paper an utter mix of fantastic and unfitting mediocre writing. I used some of it this time anyway.
Obviously the professor caught me.
…
…
“You sure about this?”
“Yeah I’m certain.”
The writing class was the last lecture of the day for both of us, so we had always gone home together since we were neighbors. Usually Ellie would hitch a ride with me, but she was stubbornly set on using the newly constructed railway connected to the university.
“Are you sure, sure about this?”
“You don’t have to give me such a doubtful stare you know? It’s just a hop and skip back home.”
“Got the right station to depart at? It would be terrible if the train kept looping and you never got off.”
“It’s alright, I’ve got it memorized,” she said, while tapping her temple.
What a carefree smile.
“Besides, even if I do mess up, I’m sure you got my back.”
“Yeah well, I’m staying here with you at the station until they pull in. Not going to deny me that are you?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
As the railcars pulled into the station, Ellie excitedly waited for the doors to open to let the current passengers depart to take the nighttime classes here. Waving from a window seat to me after boarding, I simply smiled back.
…
…
Back in the comfort of my own car, I pulled out the locket which was hidden underneath my collared shirt. It was just a clear two-sided case holding a picture of a young Ellie and me. If you flipped it over, you would find the words ‘best friend’ beautifully written in colored pencil.
Her work of course.
Ellie was brilliant, an amazing writer who could vividly imagine anything in the eyes of the reader. The only thing I had improved on was my oral storytelling.
It was a requirement after all, since I had to tell Ellie her life story from when she was a little kid to now. For all the skill in writing she had been given, her memory span only lasted one day.
It was a cruel irony that she wrote pieces of literature which would last years, maybe decades, and yet Ellie wouldn’t be able to recall a single sentence the next day. Like any abnormal disease, the doctors had no idea as to the cause of her illness. Her own parents had already given up and wanted to have her instituted for special needs.
I fingered the crystal-clear locket again. Aside from her parents, there weren’t many people she recognized when the sun rose. She knew me of course. Or rather the me when we were both just kids. It was a well-rehearsed story by now, greeting Ellie’s parents in the morning and going to wake up her.
A spare key to her house hung on my key chain.
Every time she heard my story, it was always as if it was the first time I had told it. The only believable element I had was just the locket with the picture after all.
Inserting the car key into the ignition slot, the engine slowly sputtered to life.
“Let’s see if I can’t beat Ellie home then.”
Recastdev 