Forever Out of Time - Six More Tales of Time Travel by Russell James

Author:Russell James [James, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MLG Publishing
Published: 2016-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

Ω

Evaporation

Fear ruled Barry Guzman’s life. Not the lightning-flash terror from confronting a wild animal, but a slow-burn trepidation. Like a spreading infection, it oozed a seeping dread that filled his soul, and blackened every day a little more.

Today, the loss of his teen-age years fed that growing darkness. High school was only fifteen years ago, not long for the average person, but too long, it appeared, for Barry. He’d graduated, he was certain of that because he remembered attending college. But he couldn’t remember his graduation ceremony. Surely he would remember such an illustrious day, one he’d looked forward to during twelve long years of school, an event where no doubt he was surrounded by friends and family, the world finally ahead of him, wide open. But all he could recall of that day was…nothing. Just like the four high school years that had to have preceded it. The whole era was completely blank.

At one point, he’d had the memory. The day after the ceremony, he must have remembered it with complete clarity. Even as recently as five years ago, he’d reminisced about it at his ten-year reunion. Hadn’t he? He must have. But today it was gone, into whatever ether his recollections had been vanishing. So many of his memories had become mist.

Barry stared out his kitchen window at the passing clouds. He thought about how infrequent his trips beyond the confines of his house had become. The more unfamiliar the rest of the world grew, the more it scared him.

He gripped the window’s edge in frustration. The worst of it was that he otherwise felt perfectly fine. Still fit enough to run a marathon. Still with a full head of hair. Still able to beat his computer at chess. The only issue was his ever-shrinking internal memoir.

When he’d received his diagnosis of Vassen’s Syndrome, it had been a shock, and denial stepped in to pronounce it a mistake. Surely everyone forgot a few things now and then, the stress of modern life being what it was. He’d never even heard of this condition. A specialist sent by his insurer explained that the disease caused bouts of mental fogginess. Worse, it slowly erased all long-term memory, starting at birth and then working its way through events more recent, until eventually every second would seem like the start of a new life. Test results, and his unraveling memory, had convinced him to accept his doctor’s verdict.

His phone rang, a rarer and rarer event as time passed. Caller ID said it was Denny, the only friend who’d stayed in touch though Barry’s ordeal. They’d worked together until Vassen’s Syndrome forced Barry to quit. Everyone else had drifted away, either uncomfortable with his condition, or just busy with lives that had futures and pasts. Denny managed to schedule some get-togethers every month.

“Hey, Denny,” Barry said. “Another fun day at the office?”

“A laugh a minute,” Denny replied. “Can you make that Vassen’s thing communicable so I can quit here, too?”

“Someone has to be a cog in the machine.

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