The Memory (Director’s Cut)

As promised, the extended version of the piece I wrote for yesterday’s Red Writing Hood

The storage locker was, to put it mildly, a disaster. Elle stood and surveyed the massive accumulation of stuff her parents had refused to part with over the years. She hadn’t known about this locker until the lawyer dealing with her father’s last will and testament mentioned it in a brief letter.

Elle sighed. There was so much she didn’t know, so many questions she wished she’d asked. And now? Now it was too late. She still had Lillian (and for that she was forever grateful) but it wasn’t the same as being able to talk to your parents directly. She needed that first person point of view that only her father could have given especially since her mother had died when she was so young. If she had known back then what would happen to her, if she had known that she would be tormented by voices, blackouts, and visions perhaps she would have questioned her parents a little closer about her birth story when she had a chance.

Well, maybe I’ll find some answers in this mess Elle thought as she stepped into the narrow room, made more so by the tenuously stacked boxes lining the walls. Layers of dust covered everything. She wondered when the last time the door was even opened. Taking a deep breath she plunged into the piles and began opening and sorting the items as best she could.

Two hours later very little had been accomplished, unless you consider having more questions about her past an accomplishment. Elle sat on the floor surrounded by piles of knick knacks, old clothing, and numerous USB drives. Those would have to be taken home since she had forgotten to bring her tablet with her. She had also discovered a box filled with paper documents, a definite oddity. Paper was rare since all trees were a protected species and everything was digitized.

Elle dug into the box and pulled out certificates, old letters, receipts, and various miscellaneous documents. She was beginning to think this was futile when a small square card slithered out between some other papers. She picked it up and noted her name written in very neat script along the top as well as her parents’ names. Along the bottom was written “Certificate of Live Birth”.

She felt tears welling up. This was the first time she had ever seen her birth certificate. It looked nothing like any birth certificate she had ever seen. All of her friends had had the usual data chip embedded onto a glass tablet screen. She gently placed it into a small notebook she found in the box and added it to her bag of items she was taking with her.

Elle scanned the room one last time, trying to decide if she should just give up for now. There was just too much to sort through alone. As she turned to leave her foot caught the edge of a box and a bag balanced precariously on top of a small tower slipped off its perch and landed on her head.

Damn! That hurt! Elle fumed and directed a vicious kick to the bag. The impact of her kick resulted in the closure popping open and bundles of clothing scattering all over the floor. She stooped and began gathering it all up and stuffing it into the bag when her hand grasped a thick piece of yellow material. She held it up and realized it was a baby garment. Before she could wonder if it had been hers she felt herself pulled violently into yet another vision.

Elle’s visions were confusing. She never knew when they would happen. Sometimes it was by touching an item, sometimes it was from a phrase spoken by an acquaintance, and sometimes it was completely random with no discernible cause. She rarely understood what she was seeing either. The experiences left her exhausted and disoriented when she “woke up”.

In her visions Elle was usually a by-stander observing the scene before her. This time was no different. She was in a room that was empty except for a bed and a few medical pieces of equipment. She gazed around the room dispassionately, waiting for something to clue her in to what was going on. Suddenly a voice interrupted her observations.

“What is her name?” the voice asked. Lillian! Elle thought happily. She turned towards the voice and saw Lillian standing by a window, staring out at the snow covered hills. Elle took a step towards her but was halted by the answer to Lillian’s question.

“Elle. Her name is Elle.”

Elle felt her knees go weak. Mama! She cried out silently. She moved towards her mother, now clearly visible within the bed, clutching a small bundle in her arms. Elle strained to see herself as a baby but the image flickered and she saw the baby fade away slightly, then grow stronger. Recognizing that the vision wasn’t going to let her interact more than as an observer she stayed back and watched. She trembled with the desire to throw herself into her mother’s arms, to be comforted and loved the way her infant self was.

A doctor moved closer to her mother’s side and reached for the baby. Elle noted he appeared faded and indistinct. She wondered if it had anything to do with this being a vision from the past. Her mother and father were indistinct as well however Lillian appeared much clearer and substantial.

“We need to get her cleaned up and dressed in something more than just a blanket,” the doctor said. “There’s little heat in this building and it’s very cold outside.”

“I have something for her to wear,” Lillian said as she pulled a thick baby sleeper out of a backpack. Elle gasped. It was the sleeper she had found in the storage unit. She watched as her father tenderly helped the doctor clean the baby, her she corrected herself, and dress her in the sleeper.

“We’ll need to move soon,” Lillian said as Baby Elle was handed back to her mother. “We have a day, maybe less, to get to a new location.”

As the discussion continued Elle felt herself pulled out of the vision. No! Noooooooo! She cried.

She woke sprawled out on the cold concrete floor of the storage locker, the tiny yellow sleeper clutched in her hands.