The things we never say.

Chapter 4:Missing minutes

The next few days felt strange.

Not because the thoughts had stopped.

Because they hadn't.

I had simply become used to them, as if they were becoming a part of me.

That frightened me more than I wanted to admit.

People say you can get used to anything.

I never thought that would include being afraid of your own mind.

On Thursday, I looked at the clock.

11:47 a.m.

I answered an email.

Someone called my name.

I turned around.

When I looked back...

It was 12:31 p.m.

Forty-four minutes had disappeared.

Just...

Gone.

I checked my computer.

I'd sent three emails.

Finished writing a report.

Even replied to a message I didn't remember reading.

I stared at the screen for a few minutes.

Did I really do all of that?

Or was I remembering it wrong?

I checked the timestamps on the emails.

11:52.

12:08.

12:19.

My name was at the bottom of every one of them.

I had written every word.

At least...

According to the computer.

But I couldn't remember typing a single sentence.

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

I looked around the office.

Everyone was busy with their own work.

No one seemed to notice that I was falling apart.

I wanted to ask someone if they had spoken to me during those forty-four minutes.

But what was I supposed to say?

"Excuse me... do you remember what I was doing while I forgot almost an hour of my life?"

No.

They would think I was losing my mind.

Maybe...

I was.