* * * * *
Meg has been lying in bed now for the past two hours. I’ve searched the cabin for my notes that I left her, my plan for breaking me out of the Paramour facility. I need more information and perhaps there is a clue contained in those notes that will help me. They aren’t here in the cabin or in the car. She must have left them at her house, our house, only I have no idea where OUR house is.
I have a thought. I return to the bedroom. I find her purse sitting on top of the night stand next to the bed where she is lying asleep. She looks so peaceful. I unzip the main compartment and pull out her wallet. In it I find her driver’s license. There is our address, 5501 Solomon Drive, Riverdale CA. But where am I now?
“Hey.”
Oh shit. She’s awake, and looking at me rifle through her purse. “Oh, hey.”
“What are you doing in my purse Eli?”
I think quickly, “Looking for your car keys.”
“Car keys? Why do you need the car keys?”
“I was going to go for a drive.”
“That’s not a great idea. You could get lost. You still don’t have your memory back.”
“I wasn’t going to go far.”
“Eli, seriously that is not a good idea. You can’t go anywhere without me. At least not until you get your memory back.”
“Okay. I suppose you’re right.”
Meg’s tone changes. She smiles and grabs my hand. “Now put that back in my purse and come snuggle with me.”
I drop her wallet back in her purse and climb into bed, aiming for the far side, the unoccupied side. But I don’t make it past Meg. She stops me half way and stares at me with a look of mischief in her eyes. She is coming on even stronger than before with me hovering over her now and with her giving me the all-clear-for-landing look in those vivid blue eyes and partially parted lips. It takes everything within me to resist, but this is not right, not now, not with what I just read in that letter.
“I can’t do this Meg. I want to so bad but I just can’t.”
Meg doesn’t reply but just stares back at me with a look of concern. She reaches up and touches my face. She sees my vulnerable state and wants to help, wants to reach out to me. Now she is reaching out to me, trying to unbutton my jeans.
I glance down at her hand tugging on my jeans. I grab her hand. And roll off my knees past her. “I have to show you something.”
I don’t want to show her the letter until I have seen my notes. I want to better understand the situation before I make any rash decision, but I know no matter how much I want to open that blue envelope that Meg needs to see the letter, even if it means that this new reality will come crashing to earth in a fiery ball.
I lead her into the kitchen and pull out the Nook along with the sealed blue and red envelopes from behind the silverware tray in one of the kitchen drawers. I plug in the password to open the letter on the handheld device.
Meg sits in one of the barstools with a confused look on her face as I hand her the Nook, but she begins reading. I watch her face as she reads, as she travels the same range of emotions I had just moments ago. I relive the experience myself.
The letter is from Dr. Albert Richardson, lead researcher at Paramour Industries for the Zephyr project. Not only was I a participant in Zephyr but so was Meg. My name is David Wheeler, I am an entry level tech making a modest salary just under $40,000 annually. Meg’s name is Meg Clemens, she is an RN who joined the Zephyr project eight months ago, but not as a test subject.
I volunteered to have the ZX-250 neural implants inserted through my nostril onto my frontal lobe. The implants, once activated alter the subject’s memory, creating a completely new reality. In my case the initial program was set to wipe, or actually suppress my memory, simulating an amnesiac. Meg agreed to have the implants as well but wasn’t told that her participation would result in a permanent alteration of her memories. Her programming was made permanent by a period of extended exposure to adrenalin. That was the purpose of the exercise where she extracted me from the Paramour facility.
I have been given a choice, represented by the blue and red envelopes. Inside each is a different written passage, a key of sorts, which, when read will activate one of two programs embedded in the implants. The blue envelope is a continuation of the scenario that has been playing out over the past 24 hours, only my memories as Eli Hoffman will begin to “return”. Meg and I will continue on, giving our fabricated marriage a chance to grow into whatever we make of it.
The red envelope represents enlightenment. The passage contained within that envelope will terminate the experiment for me. My memories as David Wheeler will return immediately. It will be up to me at that point to extract myself from the fabricated marriage the best way I see fit, but regardless I will have full and complete knowledge of who I truly am. Meg will always have a memory of a brief marriage as well as the exciting adventure where she broke her husband out of a highly secured top secret facility, not a terrible tradeoff for the inconvenience of dissolving a fake marriage. Plus we each now have a quarter million dollars more in our bank accounts as a nice parting gift from Paramour Industries.
The letter also explains how the phrase “E Pluribus Unum” can be used to erase Meg’s memory of the assailant delivery man.
“How could you use that on me?” Meg said with disgust as she set the device down.
“I’m sorry, I needed time. I wanted to see my notes before I made a decision.”
“What? Make a decision! How could you even consider the blue envelope?”
“Meg, you are a very beautiful and convincing woman. You have made two strong appeals already.”
“That was before I knew this was a complete sham.”
“Yes, but please understand how compelling you were. Very compelling.”
“Yes, well regardless of what you thought before there is no turning back now. I know the truth. Those envelopes aren’t going to change that for me.”
“Wait, so you would have had me open the blue one.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Meg folds her arms taking a defensive posture.
“But I think that is what you are saying; at least you aren’t repulsed by the idea.”
“Like I said it doesn’t matter now. You have to open the red envelope and we can go back to our original lives.”
“I suppose you are right," I say with a heavy sigh. "I know you are right.”
Meg slides the red envelope my direction. I pick it up.
“Last chance,” I plead.
She gives no ground. “Open it.”
I open the envelope and pull out a greeting card. I flip it open. It is signed with a personal greeting. “Best wishes to you and yours from the Paramour family. May your days be filled with joy and you never know sorrow.”
I feel a sense of déjà vu come over me. “Hmmm. That’s odd.”
“What did it say?”
“It’s just a cheesy greeting card.”
“Do you remember anything.”
I look at Meg and smile. “Yes, it’s coming back now. I remember when we first met. You were jogging in the park and I was…”
“You were walking your dog. Yeah, I remember that too. That’s a Paramour memory.”
“What? The Paramour family?”
“Let me see that.” Meg snatches the card from me and reads the greeting. As she reads it she winces for just a moment.
“Are you okay?”
“What?” Meg stares at me blankly for a second. “Yeah… Wow that was the weirdest déjà vu I’ve ever had.”
I notice the Nook lying on the counter. “Hey look, they got us a Nook for a wedding gift.” I pick it up. There’s an open document. I start to read it but I am suddenly compelled to close the document. I stare past Meg lost in a thought I can’t recall.
Meg looks at me and smiles. “From the Paramour’s? That is so nice of them, ev
en if it is a few month’s late.”
Meg looks down at the counter and notices the blue envelope. She picks it up.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she replies. “It says don’t open until after you open the green envelope.”
I hold open the empty green package. “Done. Go ahead.” I reply.
She opens it to find another greeting card. “Huh, that’s funny. It’s from the Paramour’s as well. It’s the same exact card. And look, they signed it with the same exact greeting.”
“That’s funny,” I reply. “Well, they are still only getting one thank you card.”
Meg picks up the Nook. “This is nice. I’ve always wanted one of these ever since they came out. Look, there’s a welcome letter on here, but it’s password protected.”
Meg hands me the device. “Huh, that’s odd. I wonder why they would put a password on the welcome letter.” I set the Nook back down. “I’m kinda hungry. Is that Chinese place still open down the road?”
Meg grins at me. “Hey, your memory is coming back.”
“Yeah,” I scratch my head. “I guess so.”
“What is it, Eli?”
I stare around the room. Something feels off, like I had a thought I was about to share but lost track of it somehow. I shrug it off. “Oh, nothing. Maybe one of those déjà vu things I guess. Let’s go get some dim sum.”
Other stories available online by Hickory Cole:
Photographic
The Equation
The Death of Emily Pritchett
The Offer
Replica
Orange
Frank Simmons
And be sure to look for my debut novel, Little
When Juni Little stumbles upon details that could explain a series of mysterious animal mutilations around his small home town, he tries to convince the local sheriff that the threat cannot be ignored, meanwhile the list of people he trusts begins to dwindle as those closest to him fall prey to those fighting to keep the secret of the beast buried along with anyone who gets too close to the truth.
To find the latest news and a complete list of all Hickory Cole works and where you can find them online visit my website, www.hickorycolebooks.com.
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