Vessel

Chapter 2: Vessel of Memories

Memories.  What are memories?  Fragments of history that we have seen which forms who we are?  A collection of information that is stored in the brain which we are able to recall? To me, they're disposable pieces of information.

~

There are deafening gunshots being exchanged from behind me and in front of me.  I'm shying away inside of a trench, hands tightly covering my ears, face buried into my knees.  No amount of pressure I put onto my ears stops the sounds from crawling inside and haunting them.  Out of nowhere I feel a huge amount of force into my body and I am knocked onto the ground.  Opening my damp eyes, hands now on the ground to save my fall, I look at the source of the force, a tall figure.

"What are you doing?  Hurry up and take my memories and fight!"  He yells with an unyielding voice.  He drops a headset onto the floor in front of me and I hastily put them on.  Now that the sound is drowned out, I comfortably get onto my feet and without hesitation I place my left palm upon the mans forehead.  My head jolts back and I scream as pain fills my entire body.  Moments later, when the pain dies down, I pick up a rifle from the ground and prepare myself to fight.

Every time I pull the trigger, I can hear a familiar scream.

~

I wake from my sleep to find myself screaming with tears streaming down my face.  My whole body is covered in sweat and I can feel every inch of my body trembling.  I flip my duvet off of me and sit up.  As I take some deep breathes in an attempt to calm myself down, I rest my hand on my chest and close my eyes.

What's wrong with me?  I can't even remember what I dreamt about.

I grab a tissue to wipe off the sweat on my face.  As I walk towards the bin I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror.  The skin around my eyes is painted a light red.  I pat the area around my eyes with the marginally sweaty tissue that is in my hand but it is a futile effort.  Looks like I won't be going out today.  I proceed to throw the tissue in the bin.

Now that I think about it, I don't leave my flat often anyway.  I may be 15 but I'm not in any form of education.  The only times I really leave are when I'm earning some money to pay for rent.  Staying shut in, I lead an unsociable and isolated life with my TV and single player games to keep me company.  Making any impression online or outside other than when I need to would only end up in me being found, captured, and forced back into the life that used to be all I knew.  In fact, I'm surprised that all the competitions I've won in the past 2 years hasn't got me to that point in the first place...  I can't think of a logical reason for why they haven't come for me yet.

The reason that I can win the competitions I participate in is because I harbour a special power that is unknown to the average person.  A meteor fell into the Pacific ocean around 20 years ago.  Scientists couldn't predict where it came from or what it even was and began to experiment with it for the next few years.  It was several years later when they made a breakthrough in their experiments which could change mankind forever.  However this was never made public and was instead researched and developed in secret to use for their own personal gain.  They found a way to genetically modify a persons DNA in order to give them powers based on a collection of strong memories they have.  It sounds very unrealistic but it's the truth... and I can't deny that because I'm living proof.  I am the first person to gain the powers that the meteor provided.

People with these powers were given the label "Vessels".  I, the first Vessel, gained the ability to learn the memories and abilities of other people.  There are some drawbacks to the power however, because power always comes at a cost.  I was told that I could only hold up to 3 memories at any one time, and if I didn't keep one of those slots open then I would lose all of my memories up to that point.  Afraid to lose my memories again, I refrain from even using 2 slots of memory at one time unless I really need to.  The way I can learn the memories of someone is by touching the forehead of the person with my left palm and I can dispose of those memories by writing the name of the owner of the memories on my left palm and planting my palm onto my forehead.  The method always seemed a bit strange to me but after using my power countless times I learned to just get used to it.

The nature of my power led the scientists to refer to me as the "Vessel of Memories".

And so, utilising my power, I made a living for myself through winning competitions after I escaped my previous lifestyle.  I know my original purpose of existence but I'd prefer not to face it.  I'd like to believe that I'm allowed to lead a life as everyone else does.

I wonder if there are other beings out there who suffer like I do?  Maybe there are.  Maybe I've met them somewhere before.  Maybe not.  Who knows?