Kessie's Short Stories

The Lost Memory

Originally published 12/24/2018

She never tried to, but she could not remember her life before being with him. An understandable feat considering the traumatizing experience that separated the two eras of her life. A part of her didn't care if she had some semblance to her parents, but that one part (that part that all orphans want to learn about at some time or another) wanted to know what it was like to have a normal family. The part of her that craved to know what Mother smelled like after a long day in the kitchen, or remembering what Father said when he came home from a long day of work was far suppressed by other matters that effected her now.

While she may not have tried to remember, there were dark memories hidden in the world that could. These memories festered and had a certain power on their own. They knew were she came from, and there were parts of them that knew what she was destined for. The memories could remember a time before she met him. They could remember it so clear that it was as if they were still existing in that time. They remembered the details that she would never be able to recollect even if she did bother to search for her past. In some ways, you could say that the memories could recall her past so she didn't have to, and no one ever felt the need to question it.

. . .

Sewing was a relaxing hobby for Gardenia, especially when she did it by hand. She loved to weave the needle through the fabric, permanently bonding them together- she took extreme pride in how durable her stitches were too. Many of Gardenia's sown clothes were created for her year old daughter; she made everything from cute little dresses with frills, to elaborate fabric headbands that her daughter used for dress up.

It was when Gardenia was about to sew the arm of a new dress that she heard her daughter cry for her. The young mother gave a small sigh as she quickly tied her knot and went to check on the child.

"What's wrong butterfly?" Gardenia calmly asked as she came into the child's room. Her daughter was standing up in her crib, holding onto the bars as if she were a prisoner in a jail cell. When the child saw her mother, she violently shook the bars to get her point across.

"You want out?" Gardenia mused. "Alright, I'll let you out."

Her daughter was very excited about this, bouncing up and down as her mother came over and lifted her out of the crib. But the little girl wasn't satisfied with this yet. Instead she went into a distinct babble of urgent request- she was lucky that her mother was able to pick up on it so quickly.

"You want Sagebrush, don't you butterfly?"

Several excitable grunts made Gardenia smile before she placed to fingers in her mouth to give a shrill whistle. It didn't take a second for a confirming bark from the dog before it came bounding into the room a minute later. Gardenia's daughter was far too excited now as the dog bounded against the woman's leg, happy to see the both of them. With a laugh, Gardenia placed her daughter on the ground so the girl and the dog would interact with each other. Sagebrush wasted no time in licking the little girl in greeting- such actions were approved with the girl's happy giggles. Gardenia gave another smile before returning to her work, trusting the dog with the child.

One would have never guessed at first glance, but their terrier was a highly sophisticated android, brought about by the current era's technologies. A Reploid had been the common term for such creatures- derived from the longer term 'Replica Android' in honor of the first android that inspired the rest. Reploids usually looked like humans though or anthropomorphic animals, domestic animals like Sagebrush were more or less a newer idea since the days of Neo Arcadia. There were attempts, to be sure, but the successes were often delayed for research into the more human Reploids. Sagebrush himself was only a second generation domestic Reploid modeled after Manchester Terriers, but it was still a durable generation in all consideration.

With Reploids on the brain now, Gardenia sat back down to her sewing. The laughter of her daughter and Sagebrush could still be heard, assuring her that the two were well taken care of. Reploids. Without Reploids they wouldn't have the world they lived in now, both in a good and bad sense. What had been the name of the first Reploid again? She should have known but at the moment it couldn't cross her mind. Her family had not lived in Neo Arcadia before it fell, they had moved in from New Eden (poor, poor New Eden with its own problems that started nearly a century ago) which refused to allow Reploids to live within its limits. Before coming to Kirjath Arba, Gardenia had never seen a Reploid in the flesh (or would it be synthetic flesh?) before. Most of the Reploids she met were real sweet, happy to be alive from the destruction of Neo Arcadia and its apparent retirement of innocent Reploids, and very few did she meet that hated humankind to a fault. Sal loved Reploids- he loved them so much that she was once afraid that he'd choose a Reploid for a wife instead of her.

Gardenia gave a small frown as she started to stitch a bit slower; her daughter still giggling in the other room.

"Oh Sal... I wish you could have met her..."

Sal -her sweet, dear Sal- never met their daughter. He went missing a month before Gardenia realized she was expecting. Their daughter looked so much like him that Gardenia swore he was the one smiling at her when their daughter beamed like a ray of sunshine. She even had his laugh.

"Legion never said what happened to him..." Gardenia then mumbled under her breath. "I wonder why...?"

It was true- while they had contacted her immediately after he was declared missing, no one had ever told her what happened to him or where he had gone. She had barely even talked to him the morning before he left. He had been in such a rush, she just assumed that he had been late for a meeting. Hadn't he mentioned a meeting with the Sage Trinity that day? Something along the lines of 'there are a lot of things they need to answer for' or whatever? She didn't know what he meant then, and she knew even less about it now.

Gardenia held out the finished dress so she could look it over one last time before finishing the stitch. It was a pretty little thing with plenty of room for her daughter to wear for another year or two. The fabric was light purple with small butterflies scattered about in various shades of pink and pastel blue- it was also soft to the touch. Gardenia smiled knowing that her daughter was going to love it. Thinking of her daughter, Gardenia strained her ears to hear what the child and the dog were doing. Silence greeted her, making the young mother decide to get up to check on them.

The mother went back to her daughter's room and smiled at the scene upon her: the duo had gone to sleep- the child laying on her back with Sagebrush nestling on her chest to keep her warm. Gardenia quietly shut the door as she left the two to sleep, the smile on her face was undeniable.

"She's your daughter Sal." she chuckled to herself. "Don't worry, I'll raise her for the both of us."