Forgotten Memories
859 Words
The rain hammered against the windshield as Adrian sped through the empty streets.
Nadia sat frozen in the passenger seat, clutching the flash drive so tightly that its edges dug into her palm.
She couldn’t take her eyes off Adrian.
“Stop the car.”
He kept driving.
“I said stop the car!”
The tires screeched as Adrian pulled into the abandoned parking lot of an old textile factory.
The engine died.
Silence settled between them.
Finally, Nadia turned to him.
“Who am I?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I’ve been asking myself that question for nineteen years.”
“Don’t play games with me!”
“I’m not.”
She threw the photograph onto the dashboard.
“You were standing beside me. Vivian was standing beside me. I was just a child.”
Her voice cracked.
“Why don’t I remember any of it?”
Adrian stared at the photo.
“Because someone made sure you wouldn’t.”
⸻
Nadia laughed bitterly.
“People don’t just forget their childhood.”
“No.”
“They forget when they’re forced to.”
Adrian reached into the glove compartment and removed a small velvet pouch.
Inside was an old silver necklace.
A tiny pendant hung from it.
A butterfly.
The moment Nadia saw it…
Her head exploded with pain.
She gasped and dropped the necklace.
A memory flashed before her eyes.
A little girl laughing in a garden.
Someone calling her name.
Not Nadia.
Another name.
Then…
A loud bang.
Screaming.
Blood.
A woman crying.
Everything disappeared.
Nadia clutched her temples.
“What… was that?”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“The first memory trying to come back.”
⸻
Before either of them could speak again, Adrian’s phone buzzed.
He answered immediately.
“Talk.”
A distorted voice came through the speaker.
“They’ve tracked the signal.”
“What signal?”
“The flash drive.”
Adrian’s eyes widened.
“It’s transmitting.”
“What?”
“The moment you touched it, it activated.”
Nadia stared at the device in horror.
“They’ve been tracking us this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“Can you disable it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because only Vivian knows the code.”
The call disconnected.
⸻
Adrian restarted the car.
“We need to move.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the only person who can unlock that drive.”
“But you just said only Vivian can—”
“I did.”
“You also said she was dead.”
“I said everyone believes she’s dead.”
Nadia felt the world spinning beneath her.
“So she’s alive?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
His silence was answer enough.
⸻
Hours later, they reached a remote cabin hidden deep inside a forest.
It looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Peeling paint.
A roof covered in moss.
“This place?” Nadia asked skeptically.
“No one would think to look here.”
Adrian unlocked the front door.
The cabin was dusty but strangely organized.
On one wall hung dozens of newspaper clippings.
Every one of them featured the same headline:
VIVIAN COLE
Nadia walked closer.
Some articles praised her as a philanthropist.
Others questioned mysterious disappearances linked to her charities.
One clipping had a red circle around a single sentence:
“No verified records exist of Vivian Cole before the age of twelve.”
Nadia frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone created Vivian.”
⸻
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Adrian spun around, g*n raised.
A frail voice echoed from the darkness.
“You shouldn’t point that thing at old friends.”
An elderly woman stepped into the light.
Her silver hair was tied neatly behind her head.
She smiled at Adrian.
“It’s been a long time.”
Adrian lowered his weapon.
“Margaret.”
Nadia looked between them.
“You know her?”
Margaret’s eyes settled on Nadia.
Tears instantly filled them.
“Oh…”
She covered her mouth.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
Nadia stepped forward.
“You knew my mother?”
Margaret nodded.
“I held you the day you were born.”
Nadia’s breath caught.
“You know who I am?”
Margaret whispered the words that changed everything.
“No, dear.”
She shook her head gently.
“I know who you were.”
⸻
Suddenly, the windows shattered.
Glass rained across the room.
A smoke grenade rolled across the floor.
Adrian grabbed Nadia.
“They found us!”
Voices shouted outside.
Flashlights pierced the smoke.
Margaret rushed toward a hidden trapdoor beneath the rug.
“Quick!”
They climbed down into a narrow underground tunnel.
Just as Adrian slammed the hatch shut, heavy footsteps thundered into the cabin above.
Someone shouted:
“Search everywhere!”
Nadia’s heart pounded as the darkness swallowed them.
Then, from somewhere deeper in the tunnel, came the sound of a little girl’s laughter.
Nadia froze.
“There are children down here?”
Margaret’s face turned pale.
“No…”
She whispered.
“That laughter hasn’t been heard in nineteen years.”
- Writer
