Emotion-Thief

I have done a great wrong. I am Adrian, the emotion thief. I am the first, who stole memories from a girl, and popularized the practice of trading memories for profit. But I must make it right. I must.

The door knocked, and my hands fastened with every knock. I slid in my USB stick into sleeve, and the door cracked open. A girl with hands sticking to her bones stood with a lockpick in her hands. Her untamed bronze hair fell loosely around her face. Her thin yet tough silhouette shined in the white light from behind her.

"Umm… are you the Emotion-Thief?" she asked.

"No, now, please leave me alone."

"Oh, no, please listen." She jogged inside, stumbled against my table, and dropped five microprocessors. Her face cleared, and my eyes widened in horror. Her face was as round as the day I stole her memories, but weariness etched lines on her face. Red veins throbbed into her almond eyes. She stared at me with a determination like no other.

"Lila," I whispered.

"Yes, how do you know my name?" I turned my face away to hide my shame, and she continued, "Oh, of course, you are the Emotion-thief. You probably know every person on this damned planet."

"Not everyone. What do you want?"

"I… want an emotion. You see, I am an artist."

A necklace with a black pencil dangled from her neck. Her clothes were a collection of different colored patches with a design on each one.

"I can see that, yes."

"Yeah, so, I need inspiration for an art piece. I was hoping you had some kind of…"

"I don't sell memories anymore. Now, will you excuse me?"

I put my backpack on, stormed out of my shop, and approached the colossal building of the Memory Nexus corporation. Shaped like a human hand, it touched the sky, its exterior made of glass adorned with intricate patterns like those on a human hand. Its hands reflected the changing colors of dusk and dawn, but its palm reflected the life beneath it. People went about their days with pants and shirts so contrasting like they don’t know themselves. Maybe they really don’t. Using others' memories does that to you.

I drew near the crystal-like door of the building. I didn’t approach too close for the door could sense me and find out all about me through my DNA. I never really understood how they do that. Lila approached, and I looked into her eyes. For a split second, she looked at me as though she understood everything. She grabbed her pencil and drew in the air. In a minute, a scientist with a white lab coat formed in the air and walked forward. The door opened for him, and we followed him inside. I slid my USB stick into my hand. I had drawn a red rose on it but never knew why. But then I understood.

The scientist disappeared, and I asked, “How did you know it’ll work?”

“I worked here for a few years, then I left.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know; something just left me. So, what are we gonna do now?"

"We are going to do nothing. While I am going to free all the memories trapped here."

"They are not trapped,” she said. “They are stored for safekeeping."

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"And for selling."

"So, what’s so bad about that?"

I turned right and walked toward the door with "Database" written on it. The middle-aged guard in the blue uniform stared at me with his sharp eyes. I locked my eyes on the USB slot on the right side of his neck. I slid my USB stick from my sleeve into my hand.

"You have a key card?" he said.

"Yes." I stabbed his slot with my stick, and pressed the button at its end. The guard's eyes went up, and he rested against the wall.

"What memory did you upload?" Lila said.

"Of a lover," I said. I grabbed his card and opened the glass door.

"These memories are not ours. We have no right to them."

"Oh, so, when you used them, it’s okay?" she snapped.

"I only mean to use these to free all the others."

"This world has turned into a dumpster. If we can feel a bit of happiness, hope, love then what is wrong with that?" I stared at her for a whole minute. “You used to be so hopeful.”

“What? How do you know?”

I turned my face away and said, “I know many secrets. It’s my job, after all.”

“Sir—“

“Adrian.”

“Adrian, okay. Why are you so bent on taking away these little bits of happiness left?”

“Because they amount to nothing in the end.”

I got stuck in my walk. A man in a white coat walked past us. “Dr. Samuel Revenant,” said Lila. “He’s the head Scientist. He must have the card to the server room.” He talked in the air as to some ghost. A card dangled from his front pocket. His long white hairs veiled his eyes as needle eyes. His eyes snapped from one place to another like a fly. He’s a Memory Addict. Has it spread so deep into the company? Well, maybe I can just slip the card away without him noticing. I drew near, snatched the card from his pocket. He grabbed my hand and said, “Hey! What are you—.” I slashed my USB across his neck and into his USB slot. His eyes went up, and he entered into a trance. His hands stabilized, and his eyes finally rested.

“What’s the memory?” Lila asked.

“Someone’s mother,” I said.

“What?”

“I stole it, some two years back. One of my most profitable heists ever. Whoever’s mother she was, she really did love her son.”

“And imagine how much more people will be happy because of him.” I shook my head and smiled. “They were his. I and others like me cannot make memories real enough to fool someone into believing they are theirs. So, we take from others and twist them to one’s liking.”

“But still—.”

“Mother….” said Samuel. “She was his only family.” His tears shined like diamonds, but I looked at the floor. How many nights did he spend sleepless? I took his card and marched toward the door with "Database" written on it.

“No, Adrian, wait,” she said as she followed me. I entered through the door, and warm air like a bull’s breath fell on my neck. I turned to the left, and a six-foot guard stood. A dark helmet on his head with black as night goggles. Hexagons strapped across his carbon-fiber armor. His hands were as big as a bear. Red electricity pulsed along the barrel of his gun. He pointed it at my head, and it hummed. I lifted my hands and closed my eyes. Well, at least I tried. Lila swept into the room, and leapt on him like a lioness. She scratched and punched him. She stepped on his arm, and he dropped his weapon. She picked it up and pointed it at his forehead.

“Woo, woo, Lila, cool.” I dashed toward him and took off his helmet.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I injected the memory into him. He lay on the floor and slept.

“What mem—.”

“It doesn’t matter. Let's hope it seduces him long enough.”

I approached and connected a USB cable into one of the slots, and the other end went into my neck.

“How will the memories be free?”

“The memories are tightly connected to a person’s mind. If you take them out, they become unstable and may be destroyed forever. So, the memories are sent back to the carrier’s mind for a few seconds until they stabilize. I only have to make it so that they never return.”

“So, nothing that I will convince you?”

“No.”

I don’t know what went through my mind when I said that. Perhaps I trusted her too much, or perhaps it was the guilt pinching my heart. She pointed the guard’s gun at my head, as I expected.

“Get away from the server,” she said.

I put my hands in the air, and faced her. “What do you want, Lila? Seriously, all of this can’t be for a simple inspiration.”

“I only want to feel happy again. Is that so wrong?”

“Again?” He looked into the desperation in her eyes, and my eyes became numb.

“So, you remember?”

“Why do you always talk in these cryptic messages?” She frowned and looked to the right. “What can I expect from a thief?”

“Lila, I….” I took a step forward but hit the dark and hollow barrel of the gun.

“You stand right there.”

“Lila, I’m sorry.”

“For what? Look, I understand why you want to do this, but—.”

“No, not that. I’m doing it for you. All of this, it's for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I won’t make any excuse but do understand that I wasn’t well when I did this. My wife and my only child died because of a lack of food. The food, I couldn’t provide for them. After they died, I just felt nothing, nothing. It was like I had no mind. I wanted to feel something, anything! So, I….”

“You stole my memories,” she said as her hands trembled.

“That happiness you remember is real. I searched for the most optimistic person, and then I took it as my own. But they never gave me happiness. I felt more like a failure than ever. I felt so weak.”

“I don’t care how you feel!”

A growl came from the back, and the guard opened his eyes. Blue circles appeared in his eyes, and he said, “I need backup. Server room.” Before I could open my mouth, thunder struck. A bullet with a trail as black as coalfired with a storm of fire, and its embers contaminated her innocent face. She pointed the rifle back at me, and I said, “Please.”

Her hands tightened around the trigger, but then she pulled it back. “I’ll cover you.”

Bullets perforated the walls, and I grabbed her hand. "Go, run, hide."

"No, I'll save you."

I smiled. "You already have."

The door fell like a log, and Dr. Samuel came in with a brigade of guards.

“Sir Adrian, I must thank you for returning my memories, but sadly, no one will remember you.”

Thunder struck a second time. But there was no trail of black mist or a storm of fire. Everything went silent and motionless as though I traveled years back. My head bashed against the floor as I fell, but the floor felt the same as the air. The guards dropped their weapons as a surge of memories went back inside their heads. Some grabbed their heads in shock, while some ran back. Maybe they only now remembered they had a family. And in these fleeting moments, I finally felt something not because of Lila's memories. I smiled.