Forgetting Her

“I killed her… It was my fault,” Eugene cried, “I will never be able to forgive myself!”

-.-

As Eugene stood in front of the tall AllMind office building, he glanced at his phone, to make sure he was in the right place. It looked just like the pictures from the email, that appeared in his inbox a few months ago, promising a fresh start and a clean conscience.

Feeling down and depressed? An AllMind memory cleanse, can help you start the new year with a clean conscience, it wrote.

Eugene really felt like he needed it. It had been a horrible year, with a lot of guilt, lying in bed, and sobbing. Even though more than 8 months had passed since he had lost her, in a terrible accident, he had not been able to deal with the grief of his loss. She had run out on the road, in front of a car, and was killed instantly. The details of how this happened were really foggy to Eugene, and he had a hard time remembering anything about it, other than the terrible sound of screeching tires when the car hit.

Before leaving home, he had cleared his apartment of anything that would remind him of her, as instructed by AllMind. AllMind was really vague about how their treatment worked. The only thing that they were crystal clear on, was what preparations were needed, for the treatment to work effectively; “Clear out anything that directly reminds you, about what you want to forget.”, and so he did. Photographs, videos, physical belongings, all things that would remind him of her, even smelled of her, was thrown out. Eugine knew, that he would not remember throwing these things away when the memory cleanse was done, making the pain of it a little easier to bear.



-.-

Eugene entered the large revolving door, that led into the AllMind building.

“Welcome to AllMind,” the receptionist said. She was sitting behind a large frosted glass counter with the black text AllMind engraved on it. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Yes, I have an appointment at 1:30, with Doctor Philtcher.”

“One moment,” she replied and started typing away on her computer.

Eugene glanced around the large reception hall while he waited. It must have been, at least, 3 storages tall. Everything was made of a combination of transparent and frosted glass, mixed with brushed aluminum. His eyes fixed on an all-glass staircase. I wonder how the bathrooms look like, he thought, cleaning an all-glass toilet bowl would really be something, that would require a deep memory cleanse. Eugene smiled, he had not had a single humorous thought since he lost her, but then immediately remembered and relapsed into his usual depressed state, removing the expression from his face.

“Here we go,” the receptionist said, “Mr. Eugene Tempelton, right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Congratulations Mr. Tempelton, the system tells me that you are eligible for a 25% discount for this treatment. Please take a seat in the waiting area,” she pointed at a frosted glass cubicle to the right side of the reception desk, “the doctor will come down and get you when he’s ready.”

The email had not mentioned anything about a discount, but Eugene decided not to mention that to the receptionist. The treatment wasn’t cheap, so a discount was really convenient. Although, Eugene wondered if he would remember paying for this treatment at all. And if not, wouldn’t he question a large withdrawal on his banking statement? Talking him back here, wondering about what he had paid to forget?

“Sorry to ask, but how do you charge for the treatment? Will it be erased from memory as well?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry, forgot to mention that,” the receptionist replied blushingly, “a cleanse always include a cleanse of the payment as well, you will simply not be able to see it on your banking statement. If you did, you would be able to follow your trail here, learning what you paid to forget.”

“Okay,” he replied, without quite understanding how something like that would work, but he decided not to question the treatment. AllMind was critically acclaimed, and there had not been a single account of previous patients that had recalled a cleansed memory. At least that he knew of.

-.-

There were already three people sitting in the waiting room when Eugene entered. None of them looked up at him, as he sat down on an empty chair in the far back of the room. They seemed like they had enough on their minds.

A floating cubic projection screen, in the middle of the room, showed a looping marketing video of the AllMind services, featuring a lot of smiling people in blissful ignorance of past grievances, exiting AllMind relieved and joyful. Eugene really hoped to feel the same way when this was over.

-.-

“Mr. Tempelton?”, a tall thin man called from the doorway to the waiting room.

Eugene got up; “Yes,” he replied.

“Please follow me, sir,” the doctor said.

Eugene followed the thin man to the all-glass elevator. They had really made a huge effort to hide visible cables, gears, and mechanics, giving it a very futuristic look.

“Why all this glass? I know it looks great and all, but it must have cost a fortune to get every last detail right?” Eugene said.

“Glass is easy on the mind,” the man replied, “we go to great extends to make everything a bit easier here.” The man gestured towards the open elevator, and Eugene stepped in.

-.-

“I am Dr. Philtcher,” the thin man said, as he pressed a button in the elevator, taking them to the 28th floor, “I have read your file and your reason for booking this appointment. It really is a fascinating story, Mr. Tempelton. We are really curious about you.”

“I hope to forget all about her and get my life back on track,” Eugene replied.

“You will, I will make sure of it. Please forgive me for asking, Mr. Tempelton, but was she the only one you remember?”

“Yes, I never had another.”

“Fascinating, simply fascinating,” the doctor replied.

-.-

“Here we are,” the doctor said as the elevator opened on the 28th floor, “please follow me.”

“Hi Eugene,” a nurse said, as he was being strapped to a gurney in the treatment room, “great to see you again.”

“Hi,” Eugene replied, “have we met before?”

“Miss Harlington, please prepare the treatment compound in the other room, while I go over the procedure with Mr. Tempelton.” the doctor said, directed at the nurse.

“Yes, Dr. Philtcher, I will get right on that,” she replied nervously, “see you later Eugene,” she said as she left the room and left Eugene alone with Dr. Philtcher.

-.-

“How much do you remember about the procedure?” the doctor asked.

“Not much. You don’t reveal that much from your website or emails, other than promising that it won’t hurt,” Eugene replied, looking questioningly at the doctor, wanting to make sure it wouldn't hurt.

“Right,” the doctor said, “you don’t need to worry Mr. Tempelton, it will be completely painless. There are some side-effects you need to be aware of.”

“Side-effects? Like what?”

“Nothing to be worried about, and most of them are quite rare, I assure you. You need to read through them on this screen,” a lucid touch-display appeared floating above Eugene’s head, “and accept the terms of the treatment when you are ready to begin the procedure.”

Eugene started reading trough the different side-effects;

1. The treatment will prevent you from remembering any details about your visit here.
2. The cleanse will prevent you from remembering anything about the person, object, or situation you want to forget.
3. You will not be able to force your mind to remember. You will simply not see or hear anything that might trigger negative emotions related to the person, object, or situation you want to forget.

There were more than 24 pages of side-effects like this. Eugene quickly glanced over them and signed the dotted line on the screen with his name, making the screen disappear. He would forget them all in a minute anyway, he thought, so why bother.

-.-

“We are ready to start the procedure now Miss Harlington,” he heard the doctor tell the nurse from the other room.

“But aren’t you worried that it will just happen again, like all the other times?” She replied.

“We have no choice, ’The die has been cast’, and we need to see this trough!”

“Wait, please let me get up,” Eugine yelled, trying to undo the constraints from the gurney without any luck.

“I will do it!” The doctor said, clearly frustrated with the nurse's lack of compliance, pressing a button on an instrument panel, filling the treatment room with a yellow colored gas, that made Eugene fall asleep in an instant.

-.-

Eugene exited the office through the revolving door, without wondering what he went into the building for in the first place. The sun hit his face and he stood there on the street for a minute, smiling with his eyes closed, enjoying the revitalizing sunlight on his skin.

When walking home, Eugene passed a glass window of a storefront that seemed strangely familiar. He crunched down to better get a look inside the store, and felt a relieving smile on his face, as his eyes met a small puppy that was looking at him through the window.

This is what I need, a dog, he thought.

“I will take her,” he said, directed at the store clerk, as he entered the pet store.

“Welcome back Eugene,” the clerk said, “I hope the other puppies play nice together?”

Eugene didn't respond like he didn't even hear the words of the clerk.

“Do you want to buy a leach for her?”

Eugene didn't respond. The clerk, now quite irritated, being ignored, said; “That will be $179 then.”

Eugene paid the clerk, sat the dog down on the floor, and walked out on the street with her.

“Wait!” the clerk yelled as Eugene and the dog left the building.

But Eugene didn't hear him. A couple of seconds passed and the clerk was shaken by the terrible sound of screeching tires as the car hit…

END