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<p class="title_name">A Night of Truth</p>
<p class="author">Tim Jia</p>
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</style>You are sitting at a bar by yourself, and you don't remember why you are here.
You are used to this oblivious state, because you know you forget things. Some new memories do not stay in your mind, and some old memories also become blind spots of your past.
To cope with this situation, you have a notebook that you carry all the time, and that notebook is your memory.
For you, this moment neither roots in the past nor extends to the future. It's simply [[floating in time|accost]].Time passes, and you don't know how long, until a man in a dark red leather jacket comes into the bar.
He looks familiar, but "familiar" is too vague a term for someone like you, because if you don't have memories, what's the difference between familar and un-familiar?
You keep on drinking, and the man directly walks toward you.
"How are you doing Taylor?" Your name is Taylor.
You take out your notebook. On the last page, the last sentence is incomplete. It goes, "Leonard (red jacket) is a fr" -- the last word is unfinished.
You can:
[[be friendly|friendly]]
[[keep distance|cold]]"Hey Leonard, I'm doing well! How are you doing?" You look at him with a polite smile.
Immediately you see a flashlight. Leonard just took a selfie with you and himself before you realize it.
Leonard puts back his phone and turns to you, "I'm so glad you remember my name! This is such a significant moment!"
Sounds like he knows your condition.
You frown, without a word, because it is scary when someone knows you so well but you know nothing about him.
"I'm sorry, I'm probably behaving weird. I'm just too excited that you remember my name." Seeing your face, Leonard immediately addresses, "It's okay if you don't remember anything else about me. At least you know my name now, everything else will come back."
"Actually, I'm here to take you home. Do you know how long you've been here?"
[["I don't know"|I don't know]]"Fine." You don't even look at him.
Leonard is not discouraged by your cold response. He smiles instead,
"I told you not to trust anyone you don't recognize, not even me, so...you did well!"
"Here..." He takes out his phone and shows you a photo. It's a selfie of you and him, right in this bar, at where you are sitting now. "I have a proof of you knowing me."
Both of you are smiling in the photo. It seems like you were indeed close.
You and Leonard make an eye contact. You quickly escapes his gaze, but he fixates his eyes on you and says,
"Taylor, do you know how long you've been here?"
[["I don't know."|I don't know]]
"I don't know." You respond cautiously.
Seeing your uncertainty and caution, Leonard gently puts his hand on your shoulder, "Taylor, I know what you've gone through, and I cannot even imagine what you are feeling. But this is exactly why I want to let you know that I care about you."
He pauses to see your response, and then continues,
"I know you probably need to take notes of what you think now. I will leave you with that and come back in a bit. When I come back, let me drive you home, okay?"
He looks into your eyes to make sure you hear what he said, and then he turns around and goes to the bathroom.
You open your notebook and try to finish the incomplete word. Do you think the word should be [["friend"]] or [["fraud"]]?As you put your pen onto your notebook, an episode of memory just comes back. You now remember how this incomplete sentence got on your notebook:
<div class="memory">
Also at this bar, you exit the bathroom. As you walk back to your seat, you see Leonard quickly throw some medicine into your drink, and then he looks around pretending nothing happened.
You immediately take out your notebook and start writing, but before you finish the sentence, "Taylor!", Leonard yells your name and interrupts your writing.
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You don't remember what happened before and after, but this episodic memory makes you want to write down the word "fraud".
Just before you start writing, Leonard taps on your shoulder. You quickly close your notebook, and the sentence is still incomplete.
"Hey I'm back, can I drive you home?"
[[Go with him and see what he wants]]
[[Reject him]]As you put your pen onto your notebook, an episode of memory just comes back. You now remember how this incomplete sentence got on your notebook:
<div class="memory">
Also at this bar, you exit the bathroom. As you walk back to your seat, you see Leonard looking at an old photo of you. He stares at the photo and starts sobbing. He closes his eyes and holds the photo to his face.
Feeling Leonard's genuine emotion, you take out your notebook and start writing, but before you finish the sentence, "Taylor!", Leonard yells your name and interrupts your writing. He now has big smile on his face, although the tear marks are still visible if you look closely.
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You don't remember what happened before and after, but this episodic memory makes you want to write down the word "friend".
Just before you start writing, Leonard taps on your shoulder. You quickly closes your notebook, and the sentence is still incomplete.
"Hey I'm back, can I drive you home?"
[[Readily agree]]
[[Apologetically agree]]
[[Reject|Reject him]]"Yeah let's go Leonard. Thank you for doing this for me."
You and Leonard exit the bar and get on his car. As he operates his phone to set up the navigation to your home, you quickly hit the back of his head and he loses his consciousness.
You grab his phone and start searching for clues of his relationship with you.
You see a note called "Taylor Medecine", which documents which days you've taken medicines, although you don't remember taking it yourself at all. You see a lot of photos of you, dating back to many years ago. You also see another highlighted note with the title "To Taylor".
<div class="memory">
Hey Taylor, I hope you start to trust me after looking through my phone, and please don't feel bad about what you did. You did the right thing to protect yourself. This happened before and I'm fine. Just stay here, and I will take you home when I wake up.
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You look at Leonard's face and a complicated feeling rises in you. You don't know if it is guilt for him or hopelessness for yourself, but it doesn't matter because you've given up figuring out these delicate nuances a long time ago.
You step out of the car, and go back into [[the bar]].
"No. I don't know you. Please go away."
Leonard looks disappointed and sighs. He directly exits the bar and leaves you alone without another word.
A few seconds later, you receive a message on your phone. It's from your contact "Leonard".
"Please take your medicine. It's in the blue bottle in your right pocket. Take one pill. Good night."
You don't remember needing to take any medicine, but when you reach into your right pocket, there is indeed a blue bottle.
Looking back at your phone, you see a long history of messages with him above the latest one - reminders, greetings, and casual chats. Sometimes you reply to his messages too.
A feeling combining guilt and warmth rises in you, but you want to at least [[finish your notes]] before dwelling into the feeling.The moment you step into the bar. The light, the sound, and the smell overwhelm your mind and refresh your memory -- you immediately forget what happened outside.
You go to sit at your usual place, not knowing why you are here again.
Time passes, and you don't know how long, until a man in dark red leather jacket comes into the bar.
END.You immediately lock the phone and take out your notebook, but the moment the phone screen flashes to black, your mind goes blank as well. Holding the pen and seeing the incomplete sentence, you don't remember what you want to write.
You sigh and close the notebook again without writing anything. You just sit there, not knowing why you are here.
Time passes, and you don't know how long, until a man in dark red leather jacket comes into the bar.
END."Yeah let's go Leonard. Thank you for doing this for me."
You and Leonard exit the bar and get on his car. As he operates his phone to set up the navigation, you see the address he puts in is actually your home address. This is one of the few things you still remember.
Leonard notices you were looking at his phone, and says, "Yeah I do know your address, and you know why?"
Leonard looks into your eyes and pauses,
"... because I am your [[boyfriend]].""Sorry I wish I remember more about you, but I don't. Can you tell me more about us on the way"
"Of course!" Leonard responds with excitement.
You and Leonard exit the bar and get on his car. As he operates his phone to set up the navigation, you see the address he puts in is actually your home address. This is one of the few things you still remember.
Leonard notices you were looking at his phone, and says, "You want to remember more about us right?"
You nod.
"I'm actually..." Leonard takes a deep breath, "...your [[boyfriend]]."The word "boyfriend" immediately gives you a headache. It feels like that word is stirring your mind. But at the same time, this stir almost gives you a moment of painful clarity, the clarity to remember, Leonard is NOT your boyfriend.
You remember this, because the word "boyfriend" reminds you of a different image. An image of warmth and comfort, and of explosion and despair. The image is made of fragments of things blended together without a time dimension. In the image you see wedding rings and flowers, celebrations and champaigns, broken windows and crashed cars, blood and tears, hostipal and funeral......
Maybe Leonard's face is somewhere in that image too, maybe even at multiple places, but he is definitely not the central black hole, where all your emotions and memories are drawn into, but never come back.
That spot is already taken, by someone you will never remember and also never forget.
You put your hands over your head, start breathing heavily, and close your eyes in pain.
"Are you okay?" The voice of Leonard feels like miles away.
You open the car door and struggle to exit it. Step by step, we walk back toward [[the bar]].