The Eraser In My Brain Moved And My Sister Disappeared Chapter 02
The snow fell harder and harder.
I slowly crouched down and curled into the shallow hollow the way Sunny had.
The icy snow soaked through my clothes at once.
So this was how cold it had been.
I was awful. How could I have forgotten something like this?
But I was only sick.
The doctor had said I had a rare progressive memory disorder.
It was as if something was slowly gnawing away at the hippocampus inside my brain.
New memories would not stay, and old memories were disappearing little by little.
Mom said it was an eraser.
But I did not understand why there was an eraser inside my head.
I only knew that some things I remembered in the morning would turn blurry by noon.
Mom said I was stupid.
Maybe she was right.
The sky grew darker and darker.
The lights in town came on one by one in the distance, and fireworks popped here and there.
I knew I should go home.
I moved my stiff legs.
The moment I stood up, that familiar feeling came over me again.
I blinked and looked around.
The trees were white, and the road was white.
I turned one way, then turned back again.
What had I been about to do just now?
I was supposed to go home.
Yes, I was supposed to go home.
But where was my home?
My heart suddenly started beating very fast.
I pressed a hand to my chest and breathed hard.
I had to think.
Today was New Year’s Eve. Sunny wanted to play hide-and-seek, and then Mom hit me.
What happened after that?
I could not remember.
Forget it.
I would wait.
They would notice I had not gone home and come looking for me.
Just like they had looked for Sunny.
I sat in the hollow with my knees hugged to my chest, counting the distant pops of fireworks.
One. Two.
By the time I counted to seventeen, I had already forgotten the numbers that came before it.
Then the clock struck midnight.
Fireworks burst across the sky, lighting up the entire night.
They were so pretty.
In past years, Dad would set off fireworks for me on New Year’s Eve and tell me to make a wish.
But what had I wished for?
I had forgotten that too.
I curled in on myself even tighter.
I should have felt cold, but I was getting hotter and hotter.
I took off my coat, then my sweater.
But I was still so hot.
By the time I had stripped down to only my thermal shirt, I felt as if I were floating.
When I blinked again, I was back home.
The New Year’s Eve countdown special was still playing on TV, and Mom was sitting on the couch with Sunny in her arms, spoon-feeding her hot ginger tea.
“That’s my good girl, Sunny. One more sip. It’ll warm you up.”
Color had returned to Sunny’s little face. She was wrapped in a thick blanket, with only her eyes showing.
“Where’s Sienna?” Sunny suddenly asked.
Mom’s hand paused. “Don’t mention her.”
“But Sienna still isn’t back.”
“She deserves it. She should get a taste of what it feels like to freeze out there in the snow. She’s old enough to know better, and she couldn’t even watch one little girl.”
I wanted to walk over and say I was sorry, but I passed straight through the
coffee table.
I froze.
“Sienna still isn’t back.”
Dad stood by the window, looking outside. “The snow is getting worse.”
“So now you’re worried?” Mom did not even lift her head. “What if something had really happened to Sunny today? Tell me what we would have done.”
Dad fell silent.
“She did it on purpose. She’s jealous of Sunny, so she pretended to forget. That illness of hers, who knows if it’s even real? Even the doctors said they’d never seen such a strange case.”
“The doctor said there was structural damage in her brain,” Dad said quietly.
“Structural damage only makes her forget Sunny and not anything else? She can remember to watch TV, but not to look for Sunny?”
Mom’s voice suddenly rose. “She hates that we had another child. She hates that we gave part of our love to Sunny.”
Sunny was frightened and shrank into Mom’s arms.
Mom immediately softened her voice and gently patted Sunny’s back.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t talking about you, my sweet Sunny.”
Dad stood there for a long time before he finally turned away from the window.
“When she comes back, I need to talk to her.”
“Talk about what? About how she almost got Sunny killed?”
Mom scoffed. “If you ask me, she should be sent to a residential care facility. She can’t remember anything anyway, so what difference does it make where she lives?”
Dad did not answer.
I stood to the side and opened my mouth.
“I…”
No sound came out.
I reached for Mom’s shoulder, but my hand passed straight through her body.
So I was already dead.
Maybe that was for the best.
At least I would never forget anything again.