Writers 
The Memory Room
Zara couldn't move.
Daniel was gone.
One second, he had been standing beside her.
The next, there was nothing.
No sound.
No warning.
Just an empty space where he had been.
Kira grabbed Zara's arm.
“Zara…”
“I saw him.”
“I know.”
“He didn't walk away.”
“I know!”
They both stared at the empty hallway.
Then Zara's phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
DON'T LOOK FOR HIM.
Another message appeared.
YOU ALREADY LOST HIM ONCE.
Zara's heart raced.
“What does that mean?”
Kira shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The phone vibrated again.
This time, there was a photograph.
Zara opened it.
Her blood ran cold.
It was Daniel.
He was standing inside an old computer room.
The picture looked as though it had been taken years ago.
But Daniel looked exactly the same.
Zara zoomed in.
Behind him was a wall covered in hundreds of photographs.
Students.
Teachers.
Old classrooms.
And three photographs stood out.
One of Zara.
One of Kira.
And one of Daniel.
Underneath each photograph was a word.
SUBJECT.
Zara whispered,
“What is this place?”
Kira stared at the picture.
“There's only one way to find out.”
They searched the school records until they found an old floor plan.
There was a room beneath the school that wasn't listed on the current plans.
ROOM 0.
They followed the map.
Behind an old storage cabinet was a narrow door.
Daniel's photograph showed the same door.
Zara pushed it open.
A staircase led underground.
The deeper they went, the colder it became.
At the bottom was a huge room filled with computers.
Most of them were ancient.
But one was still running.
Its screen displayed:
MEMORY ARCHIVE
Zara stepped closer.
Hundreds of names appeared.
Students.
Teachers.
People who had attended the school decades ago.
Some names were marked:
ACTIVE MEMORY
Others said:
REMOVED
And some said:
RESTORED
Then Zara saw something that made her stop.
KIRA — MEMORY REMOVED
She turned around.
Kira was staring at the same screen.
“No…”
Zara moved to another computer.
DANIEL — MEMORY RESTORED
“Restored?” Zara whispered.
A voice came from behind them.
“You shouldn't have come here.”
They spun around.
Daniel was standing in the doorway.
Zara almost cried from relief.
“Daniel!”
She ran toward him.
But he stopped her.
“Don't.”
Zara froze.
“What happened to you?”
Daniel looked at Kira.
Then at Zara.
“I remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
“Everything.”
He walked toward the computers.
“When I disappeared, I wasn't taken anywhere.”
He touched his head.
“They unlocked my memories.”
Zara stared at him.
“What memories?”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“The ones they removed years ago.”
He opened a hidden file.
A video appeared.
Three children were sitting in the same room.
Zara.
Kira.
Daniel.
They were much younger.
A man stood in front of them.
Dr. Vale.
The founder of the school.
He was saying something, but the audio was damaged.
Then young Zara stood up.
She looked angry.
She pointed at the camera.
The video stopped.
Zara stared at the screen.
“I don't remember that.”
“You weren't supposed to,” Daniel said.
Kira stepped closer.
“What did they do to us?”
Daniel opened another file.
A diagram appeared.
It showed a human brain connected to a computer.
“The school created a system that could copy memories.”
Kira looked horrified.
“Why?”
“At first, they said it was for research.”
“And later?”
Daniel looked at Zara.
“They started changing people's memories.”
Silence.
Zara's voice became quiet.
“So when Kira disappeared…”
“They didn't physically erase her.”
Daniel pointed toward the screen.
“They erased everyone's memory of her.”
Kira's eyes filled with tears.
“That means…”
“You were still here,” Daniel said.
“You were just invisible to everyone who remembered you.”
Kira covered her mouth.
Zara suddenly remembered something.
A little girl.
A playground.
A red ribbon.
Someone calling her name.
She grabbed her head.
“I remember…”
Daniel rushed toward her.
“What?”
“A girl.”
Kira stared at her.
“What girl?”
“I don't know.”
Another memory flashed.
A photograph.
Four children.
Not three.
Four.
Zara opened her eyes.
“There were four of us.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“No.”
“There were.”
“Zara, we were three.”
“No!”
She pointed at the computer.
“Look.”
A photograph appeared.
Four children stood together.
Zara.
Kira.
Daniel.
And another girl.
Her face had been scratched out.
Kira stepped closer.
“Who is she?”
Nobody answered.
Then the computer made a loud sound.
MEMORY FILE RECOVERED.
A video began playing.
Young Zara was crying.
The unknown girl was holding her hand.
“Promise me,” the girl said.
“Promise you what?” young Zara asked.
“That you'll remember me.”
The video ended.
Zara stared at the screen.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I know her.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
Zara whispered:
“My sister.”
The computer suddenly displayed a new message.
SUBJECT FOUR IDENTIFIED.
Then another:
MEMORY DELETION FAILED.
And finally:
SHE REMEMBERS YOU.
The lights went out.
Kira grabbed Zara's hand.
“Who remembers us?”
A phone began ringing somewhere inside the darkness.
Not Zara's.
Not Kira's.
Daniel slowly reached into his pocket.
His face changed.
“It's mine.”
He answered.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then a girl's voice came through the phone.
A voice Zara had never heard before.
But somehow…
she recognized it.
“Zara?”
Zara's eyes widened.
“Who is this?”
The girl laughed softly.
“You really don't remember me?”
Zara couldn't speak.
The voice continued:
“Don't worry.”
A pause.
“I'll help you remember.”
The call ended.
Then every computer in the room switched on at once.
Hundreds of screens.
Hundreds of names.
Hundreds of memories.
And on every screen, the same message appeared:
WELCOME BACK, ZARA.
Zara looked at Daniel.
“What happens now?”
Daniel stared at the screens.
“I think…”
He swallowed.
“…we find out who your sister really was.”
And somewhere beneath the school, a final computer screen lit up.
It displayed one name:
ARIA — MEMORY STATUS: STILL ALIVE.
