Have you ever wondered what it was like to forget everything?
For Citizen 17467, it's the complete opposite. She wants nothing more than to remember.
Every year on The Last Day, every Citizen of Clarus forgets. It's for their own good. So that they...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When we arrive home, I am hit with a wave of empty nostalgia.
I know that this place is my home. But I have no memories of my life here. I am hollow.
We get out of the car, stopping at the front door. Mom turns to me, looking like she might dissolve into tears at any moment.
"Welcome home, sweetheart," she says with a forced smile.
"Uh, thanks, Mom," I reply tentatively because I don't know what else to say. I fidget uncomfortably under my parents' gazes.
"Well, let's go inside and see your siblings," Dad says, clearing his throat. Siblings. I have siblings. I am not an only child. That's right. I have a brother and a sister. I hadn't even remembered until Dad said something.
We go inside to find a young boy with dark hair and eyes like mine sitting on the sofa. He can't be more than ten or eleven. My brother.
He looks dazed and confused, and after a moment I realize that he's regarding me the same way I'm regarding him. Like we're seeing each other for the first time.
We practically are. He's been renewed, just like I have been. We have no shared memories to look back on; no inside jokes to laugh at. We don't remember each other. We're strangers.
Sitting at the table there is a girl probably around my age with blonde hair. She has her head in her hands and she looks upset. My sister.
I take another step inside and she must hear me, because she snaps her head up, staring at me from across the room with big, brown eyes.
It's obvious she's been crying for a while, as if she's grieving a terrible loss. For a split second I feel her grief and her pain, but then the feeling is gone just as quickly as it came on.
After a long moment, I give her a soft smile and hold up my hand in a wave.
"Hey," I greet softly.
She glances around the room, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her white dress. When her uncertain eyes settle on me again, she swallows and waves back.
"Hey," she replies glancing around the room again. Without another word she gets up from the table, heading up the stairs.
The rest of us stand there in awkward silence until my mother asks if I would like to see my room.
I nod and tell her that I do, and she helps me up the stairs since I'm still a little shaky on my feet. She opens the door for me and then she steps back, still smiling at me.
"I'll be downstairs if you need anything," she tells me.
I nod again, watching as she retreats back down the stairs. When she's gone, I turn back, staring at the room that's defined by the stark white doorframe.
