Part II: The Price of a Memory
1094 Words
The room disappeared.
There was no warning.
No darkness.
No feeling of falling.
One heartbeat, Lyra was standing inside Observation Room Four.
The next…
She was standing beneath a bright summer sky.
Warm sunlight kissed her face.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of freshly cut grass.
Children laughed nearby.
Somewhere in the distance, birds sang.
Lyra slowly turned in a circle.
She stood in the middle of a quiet neighborhood park.
Families filled the walking paths.
A little boy chased pigeons across the lawn while his mother laughed behind him.
Everything felt unbelievably real.
She could hear every footstep.
Every laugh.
Every rustle of leaves.
“This…”
She whispered.
“This isn’t a dream.”
“You are correct.”
The voice came from behind her.
Lyra turned.
An elderly man sat alone on a wooden bench.
He wore a faded blue sweater and polished black shoes. His silver hair was neatly combed, and kind wrinkles framed his smile.
Yet there was something strange about him.
His body shimmered around the edges, as if he were made of light instead of flesh.
“You can see me?” Lyra asked.
The man smiled.
“No.”
“You are seeing me.”
She frowned.
“I don’t understand.”
“Because this isn’t happening now.”
He looked toward the children playing.
“It happened twenty-seven years ago.”
Lyra’s heartbeat quickened.
“Who are you?”
“My name…”
His smile faded.
“I can’t remember.”
He chuckled softly.
“Funny, isn’t it?”
“I remember this day perfectly.”
“But my own name…”
He gently shook his head.
“…is gone.”
Before Lyra could answer, movement caught her eye.
A young man, no older than thirty, walked into the park carrying a little girl on his shoulders.
The little girl giggled as she tugged playfully at his hair.
“Daddy!”
“I’m hungry!”
The young man laughed.
“So am I.”
“What should we eat?”
“Ice cream!”
“Before lunch?”
“Yes!”
He pretended to think very hard.
“Hmm…”
“I suppose one scoop won’t hurt.”
The little girl wrapped her tiny arms around his head.
“You’re the best daddy ever!”
The young man smiled.
It was the kind of smile that could only come from someone completely happy.
Lyra found herself smiling too.
“They’re beautiful.”
The elderly man nodded.
“They were.”
“Were?”
“They’re me.”
Lyra stared.
“What?”
“The young man.”
“The old man.”
“They’re both me.”
Her smile disappeared.
“No…”
The old man sighed.
“I sold this memory.”
The words struck Lyra like a slap.
“You… sold it?”
“To pay for my wife’s surgery.”
“She was dying.”
“I had nothing else.”
His eyes never left the younger version of himself.
“They offered me enough money to save her.”
“So I agreed.”
“What happened?”
“My wife lived.”
He smiled sadly.
“It was worth it.”
“But…”
He swallowed.
“I no longer remember the happiest afternoon I ever spent with my daughter.”
Lyra looked back at the young father.
His laughter echoed through the park.
The little girl leaned down and kissed his forehead.
“I love you, Daddy.”
The old man’s shoulders trembled.
“I know she said those words.”
“I’ve been told she did.”
“But I can’t remember how they sounded.”
Tears filled Lyra’s eyes.
“That’s cruel.”
“It is.”
“Why would anyone do this?”
“Because memories have value.”
He looked at her.
“And desperate people make impossible choices.”
The little girl suddenly looked toward Lyra.
She couldn’t possibly see her.
This was only a memory.
Yet…
The child smiled directly at her.
Then everything froze.
The birds stopped flying.
The wind stopped blowing.
Even the leaves became still.
The old man’s expression changed instantly.
His gentle smile disappeared.
Fear replaced it.
“No…”
He whispered.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
A loud c***k echoed across the sky.
It sounded like glass breaking.
The blue sky fractured into thousands of glowing lines.
One by one…
The people in the park looked upward.
Then every face turned toward Lyra.
At the same time.
Every single one.
Their smiles vanished.
Their eyes became completely black.
The little girl spoke first.
But it wasn’t her voice.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
Another voice answered.
“She can see us.”
A third.
“Impossible.”
More voices.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
All speaking together.
“She remembers.”
“She remembers.”
“She remembers.”
Lyra stumbled backward.
“What is this?”
The old man grabbed her wrist.
His hand was suddenly solid.
“You have to leave.”
“I don’t know how!”
“You must wake up!”
The sky shattered.
Golden light poured through the cracks.
Dark figures began climbing down from the broken sky.
They weren’t human.
Their bodies were covered in flowing black robes that moved like smoke.
Where their faces should have been…
There was only darkness.
One of them pointed at Lyra.
“There.”
“She has awakened.”
The old man’s grip tightened.
“Run!”
“They can’t take another memory from you!”
Before Lyra could move—
One of the shadow figures reached through the air…
And touched her forehead.
Pain exploded inside her mind.
She screamed.
⸻
“Lyra!”
Someone was shaking her.
The park vanished.
The light disappeared.
She gasped for air.
Observation Room Four slowly came back into focus.
She was lying on the floor.
Kael knelt beside her, one hand supporting her shoulders.
His usually calm face was filled with genuine worry.
“Lyra.”
“Can you hear me?”
She looked into his grey eyes.
For one impossible second…
They weren’t grey.
They were deep blue.
The same blue eyes from her dreams.
The same eyes she’d never been able to forget.
A name rose to her lips before she could stop it.
“…Kai.”
Kael froze.
His entire body went still.
“No…”
he whispered.
Only one person had ever called him that.
And she had disappeared…
Twenty years ago.
—End of Part 2 of 3—
- Writer
