- House
- /hous/ A construct meant to provide shelter.
- Home
- /hohm/ A point in time in which we all remembered.
Neither nor are the same.
I remember my first home, I think I might've had parents, back when the world had memories. Though I don't remember their faces, I remember their hugs and their voices. I remember how my father moved his hands when he talked and how my mother's moved hers when she played that dreadfully out-of tune piano. I remember when they would take me out for walks, I remember the barks of dogs and the chirping of birds in trees. The rustic churning of an ancient see-saw or swing, the sounds of autumn leaves falling to the soft grass below.
But that was back when we had homes. Back when I could remember. Back when I could speak instead of putting meaningless lines on paper. But I suppose that all doesn't matter now.
]- A dog
- /daag/ A canidae. Man's best friend.
- Seesaws
- /see-saaz/ A long plank of usually plastic or wood on a stable fixture that children sit on either sides of. It's a game of balance.
Our friend Sonya was always into the occult, I think when she gave us those tarot readings. I got the Hermit as well as Three of Pentacles- both reversed . You got the Wheel of Fortune, and the Empress. But we both got the Tower- and the Lovers. Sonya told me it was 'just the fates', but I knew better, she was always weirdly into others business. Remember how she let us keep our cards? You gave me all yours, even the Wheel of Fortune. I gave you all of my mine. She didn't let us keep the Towers or the Lovers, though.
But when we were heading out the door, she had stopped me and handed me a white crystal. It felt cold in my hands. "For the gateway," she told me. "—You're going to need it. Burn a loved one's possession underneath it."
I didn't quite get what she meant until now- I thought I had imagined the whole thing, but I know better now. I wonder if she knew?
- The Hermit
- Doomed to forever wander.
- The Tower
- Abrupt change.
Do you remember that town in which we first met? I think it was somewhere on the coast, because I remember we went to the beach and you had your bag of chips snatched by a seagull. I had told you not to open your snacks out on the beach, but then I found myself doing the same thing with a bag of pretzels. They were taken by a crab when we were off in the water. We both laughed about it.
I was walking in that beachside town when the apocalypse was announced.
Isn't it funny, how those little coincidences snowball into something more than coincidences? It was in that retro store that had all those TVs in the display window, blasting a twenty-four hour news channel. It was right next to that general goods store where you used to work. I remember looking into those windows and seeing the start of the "pandemic." They renamed it something later, but I forgot what it was. When it first started- whatever it was, everyone started to panic. Scientists called it a phenomenon, religions called it the end of the days, but soon they forgot too. Isn't that ironic? "Worldwide amnesia." People in the store randomly dropping their groceries, forgetting where they were or what a can of Campbell's even was. People dying in their sleep randomly. People wandering outside of their houses not sure of the stranger's residence they were in. It was chaos, then the whole world went dark as everyone forgot. I forgot myself, where I was going, in the middle of the night in a stranger's vehicle. But I remembered what band was playing on the radio, who I was- enough to recognize what was happening. I wrote everything on a notepad, the gulls, the seesaws, the cards, Sonya's words, and you. It was all I could remember, even though I forgot my own name. I marked down your address and headed there.
But you were gone.
- Seagull
- /see-guhl/ Man's greatest nuisance.
- Television
- /teh-luh-vi-zihn/ Little men in the device tell you what to do.
I remember that old beaten up apartment you lived in, it was in the bad side of town. With the tv that barely worked and rat holes everywhere. But the TV was gone and the rats were no where to be found when I entered, everything was vacant, all that was left was the photo of us at the beach. The door was unlocked, you always locked it. I called your name over and over again, but you were no where to be found. I dialed your number, no answer- I circled around until I found the ashes of the Hermit and Three of Pentacles. Their paper charred and withered, with that white crystal on top. I tried the ritual as well, letting the fire die out. It led me somewhere.
- The Library
- /lai-breh-ree/ Neither heaven or hell, I think.
I don't think Sonya intended me- or both of us, if you did it the way I did. To end up here. I don't think I'm the first patron of this library to come from a dying world, and I certainly won't be the last. I guess I'm not special in that regard. I've stopped forgetting- though I still have the lost memories from before. I've forgotten how to speak, so I write, but writing can only get me so far anymore when the fifty foot being towering over the shelves can't read English. The only thing that was able to help me was some sort of cloaked man, though he never gave me his name, and I wasn't even sure he /was/ human at all. Just like everything else I've seen here so far.
I'm going to find you, Lorelai, even if it won't be here. I need to remember and I hope you remember, because you're the one thing I have left besides broken memories and meaningless words.
I love you.