The Memory Thief

Chapter4

Chapter 4 – “The Buyer”

The buyer called herself “Elena.”

She met Kael in a 24-hour diner at 2:17 AM. No one asked questions at 2 AM. The cook didn’t look up. The waitress called everyone “hun.”

“I want a perfect family day,” Elena said. No small talk. Her eyes were red-rimmed, makeup smudged. She pushed a photo across the table. A boy, maybe 10, mid-laugh, holding a turkey leg. “My son died last year. Car accident. I want one day back. Thanksgiving. Before it happened.”

Kael didn’t answer right away. Rule one: make them say it twice.

“You know it won’t be real,” he said. “It’ll be mine. For 24 hours, you’ll live it through me. You’ll feel what I felt.”

“I don’t care,” Elena said. “I just want to hear his laugh again. I’ll pay double. 40k.”

Kael’s throat tightened. He thought of his sister. He thought of Mara’s beach memory sitting behind his eyes, waiting.

He almost said yes.

For a second he let the memory surface. Salt air. Sun hot on skin. Mara’s laugh when she fell off the board. Dorian yelling, “Again!”

It was warm. It was clean. It was the opposite of this diner’s fluorescent light and the smell of burnt coffee.

Elena saw something change in his face. “You have it, don’t you?”

Kael closed his eyes. “I don’t have it.”

Elena’s face fell. “You said you could—”

“I lied,” Kael said. He stood up, left a 20 on the table for her untouched coffee. “I’m sorry.”

Outside, the rain started again. It washed the street but not the feeling in his chest.

He went home and sat on the floor of his apartment. No lights. No music. Just the memory.

He let it in.

Salt air. Dorian’s voice. Mara’s laugh. The feeling of standing on a surfboard for three seconds before falling.

For 12 minutes, he wasn’t Kael Ryn, memory thief. He was just someone who’d had a good day.

When it faded, he was crying.

First time in five years.

His phone buzzed. Unknown number.

I know where you live. - D.V.

Kael stared at the message. His hands shook.

Dorian had found him.

He grabbed the envelope of cash, shoved it in his jacket, and left the apartment without locking the door.

On the stairwell, he paused. The memory was still there, faint now, like a song you couldn’t quite remember.

He whispered, “I’m sorry, Mara.”

He didn’t know who he was apologizing to.

Dorian had tracked him to his building. Kael was running out of places to hide.