Yesterday is gone

The man

It was a beautiful day today. He couldn't wait. It was Stephanie's birthday. And Matthew had gotten up early to make his wife breakfast. She deserved it.

But he was having trouble. The fridge was practically empty. All of the pots and pans were in different places than normal. As he failed at making eggs, he noticed that there weren't any dishes in the sink. That the place was abnormally clean.

And that's when he realized. It wasn't that everything was rearranged. It was that everything was completely different. He hadn't been awake enough to notice it, but now that he was up, the place was completely different.

The plates had a totally new design, the cupboards had a different layout, the stove definately wasn't his, the kitchen wasn't even arranged like normal, the room wasn't anywhere the same... was he even in his kitchen.

Matt finished the scrambled eggs and slid them onto a plate. As he walked back to the bedroom, he only found more proof of this. This place looked expensive, like, super strange and unrealistically costly. They couldn't afford this. And since when did their bed have satin sheets?

Matt tapped his wife on the shoulder to wake her up. "Hey," he said quietly, "I made you breakfast."

"Mmm," she complained, rolling over. "Let me get some more sleep."

"Stephanie," he complained, shaking her a bit. He tried to hide the fear in his voice, but it came across loud and clear to her. She sat right up.

"Thanks," she smiled, taking the food from him. "Is, something wrong?"

MatPat nodded. "Yes, I... um..." He felt his face grow warm. "Where are we?" That was a stupid question.

Stephanie took his hand in hers. "We're in Rome," she softly broke to him. "We're on vacation."

Matthew blinked. Then he waited. He'd seen this part in the movies. He'd read about it in the books. The moment where someone says a keyword, and the memories come flooding back. Him on a plane, him landing in Italy, him up late driving to their suite that would become so beautiful in the morning...

But nothing arrived. He thought back. He had a lot of trouble recalling his last memory, but weren't they working on a new theory? Yeah, it was another stupid Five Nights at Freddy's. The lore was dense and hard to figure out, but he could swear that he'd finally figured out what it all meant.

"I... don't remember that..." he admitted, deep in thought.

Steph nodded, chewing on a bite of his surprisingly well made food. "It's okay." She slipped out of the and took him by the hand. She led him to what could be presumed as the living room and sat next to him on the couch.

Matt clung to his wife, unsure what was happening. "Why don't I remember?" he asked, sitting down, as if something were to jump out at any second.

His wife sighed and set aside her food for a moment. "Matthew," she consoled, "you have anterograde amnesia. It means you can't really form new memories." She gulped, trying to keep down her tears.

Matthew's face begged for more information.

"You looked left when you were crossing the road, but you forgot to look right and the car hit you bad. You landed on a fire hydrant..." Stephanie wiped her nose on her nightgown. "It's a miracle you didn't die."

Matthew instinctively enveloped her into his arms and patted her back. "Hey," he quieted, "shh, shh. It's okay. I'm here. Everything'll be alright."

Stephanie sniffed into her shoulder. "But, as a result of the damage, you can't gain new memories. Your memory is inconsistent. Sometimes you think you're still in college. Somedays you think you're still in theater." She looked up at him. "But you're always in love with me."

Matt brushed her hair and cuddled up with her. If it'd come from anyone else, it would've been unbelievable. But this was Stephanie. He trusted her. "When did I get hit?" he asked.

Stephanie cleared her throat. "February fourteenth. 2017."

Matthew nodded and kissed her head.

"It was your idea to go to Rome," she spoke, filling the silence. "It had been on our calendar for a while. I protested it. But you insisted that we go."

"Stephanie," MatPat defended, turning to look into her brown eyes. "I want you to go to Rome. It's going to be an amazing. And even though I won't remember it, we'll have pictures. And you'll remember it. That's the important thing. I'll forget this trip, but I'll forget a lot of things. You'll remember the trip, and if you can do that, then it'll all be worth."

By the time he finished, his wife was beaming and tears were forming in her eyes. "What?" Matthew frowned.

"Nothing," Steph answered. "I just love every time that you say that."

Matt shook his head. "I've never said that though. I just made it up on the spot."

The kind woman leaned up and kissed him. "Every time I bring up going to Rome, you say the exact same thing. And I love it."

Matthew smiled. "Alright," he said, fluffing her hair a bit. "Now, knowing you, there's an extremely strict schedule that we have to have to adhere to."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "It's not that strict."

"Sure it isn't."

*

Matthew looked around the room. Where was he? How had he gotten here? "Stephanie?" he called out in fear. "Stephanie!?" The room was unfamiliar. He knew right away that he wasn't in their house. This place was strange. It-

Stephanie appeared from around the corner. "Yes?" she said, face contorted in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Where are we?" he panicked, hugging his wife tightly. Matt felt like he had just woken up from daze that he had no memory of. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Stephanie asked, separating from the hug. She stared up at his eyes.

"No," he shivered, clinging onto her.

"Okay," Steph smiled, gently leading him back over to the couch. "What do you remember?"

Matt paused, thinking hard. "Nothing."

Stephanie continued stroking him and kissed his cheek. "Alright... What's your name?"

Matthew Patrick paused and stared into space for a while. "I don't know," he admitted, a bit sceared.

His wife calmly held him. "It's okay. Just sit here and listen."