Rebecca didn't go home.....she couldn't.
Not after what she had just seen.
She walked until Mark's street disappeared behind her, then kept going.
Her legs were tired, but she didn't care.
The photograph was still in her hand.
She had folded it once, then unfolded it again.
She couldn't stop looking at it.
Four people.....
Daniel.
Emily.
Mark.
And her.
Rebecca stopped beneath a streetlight.
"No," she whispered.
She looked at the picture again. FThere was no mistake.
That was her.....same face, same hair.
Same small scar above her eyebrow.
She touched the photograph with her finger.
"Why don't I remember this?"
Her phone buzzed.
Rebecca nearly dropped the picture.
"An unknown Number."
She opened the message.
Because you weren't supposed to.
Rebecca stared at the screen.
Her fingers moved quickly.
"What happened to me?"
The reply came.
"Ask yourself what happened to Emily."
Rebecca's chest tightened, then she he typed again.
"Where is Mark?"
No answer...she waited.
Nothing.
Then another message appeared.
He ran because he knows what you remembered.
Rebecca looked up.
"What did I remember?"
No reply.
She tried calling the number.
The call didn't even ring.
Unavailable, like this mysterious person never even existed.
Rebecca lowered the phone.
"Of course."
She looked at the photograph again.
Something bothered her, not the people, not the date but the background.
She had been so focused on their faces that she hadn't really looked at where the picture was taken.
Behind them was a building.
Old, very, very old..... two floors.
A large window on the second floor.
Rebecca knew that place. She was sure of it.
She closed her eyes. .....A memory flashed.
Rain, accompanied by a thunderstorm, a door.
Emily shouting....someone running.
Rebecca opened her eyes.
Her breathing had changed.
She could almost hear a voice.
"Don't go in there."
Rebecca shook her head.
"No."
Another memory came.
A hand grabbing her arm.
A man's voice.
"You didn't see anything."
Rebecca stepped back.
"Stop."....She pressed both hands against her head.
The memories came faster now.
Not clear.
Just pieces.....A hallway, A broken light.
Emily crying.
Daniel standing beside a door.
Mark saying something she couldn't hear.
And that man....the fourth man.
Rebecca opened her eyes.
She knew where the picture had been taken.
The old building.....she had seen it before.
Not recently, perhaps a year ago.
September 11.
She pulled out her phone and searched through her old pictures.
One after another...nothing.
Then she stopped...A picture from "September 12."
Rebecca stared at it.
It was a photo of herself.....She was sitting in a hospital bed. Her face looked tired...there was a bandage around her wrist.
Rebecca's stomach dropped.
"I was in the hospital?"
She zoomed in.
The date was clear.
September 12.
The day after the picture.
The day after September 11.
She searched for more, another picture.
A hospital hallway, another.
Her mother sitting beside her bed.
Another... picture, a doctor talking to someone outside the room.
Rebecca swallowed...she had forgotten all of this.
How?
She opened her messages and searched for " September" not specific of the year or date but there were hundreds.
Most were normal.
Then she found one from Emily.
September 12....don't tell anyone what happened. Please.
Rebecca stared at it.
Her hands went cold.....She scrolled up.
Another message....September 11.
Where are you?
Then another.
Rebecca, answer me.
Then, nothing.
The messages stopped.
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
"Why don't I remember this?"
Her phone buzzed.
"Unknown Number."
She opened it.
Now you're starting to remember....!Rebecca typed:
"Who erased my memory?"
The answer came almost instantly.
"You did."
Rebecca froze.
"What?"
Another message.
You asked us to make you forget.
She stared at the words.
"No."
Another message appeared.
You were scared.
Rebecca's breathing became slow.
Then another.
You saw what happened to Emily.
Rebecca dropped the phone.
It hit the pavement.
She stood there staring at it.
Emily.
She picked the phone back up.
Her hands were shaking badly now.
She typed:
Emily is alive?
The typing dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
They appeared again.
Finally:
"That depends on what you mean by alive" .
Rebecca's heart stopped.
"What does that mean?"
No answer.
She called Emily.
The number was no longer in service.
Rebecca tried again.
Same message.
She opened her contacts.
Emily's name was still there.
Her picture was still there.
But the number was gone.
Not changed, just gone, as if Emily was a ghost who never existed.
Rebecca stared at the screen.
Someone had deleted it.
Or changed it.
She looked at the photograph one more time.
Four people.
But now she noticed something else.
Rebecca wasn't standing beside them.
She was standing behind them.
Her face was turned toward the camera.
But her eyes weren't looking at it.
She was looking at someone behind the camera.
The fourth man.
Rebecca zoomed in...Her breath caught.
The man's face was clearer now...She knew him....She didn't know how.
But she knew him.
Then her phone rang.
Not a message.
A call.
"Unknown Number."
Rebecca stared at the screen.
She almost didn't answer.
Almost...!!!
Then she did.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Rebecca swallowed.
"Who is this?"
A man's voice finally came through.
Low....Quiet.....Familiar.
"Rebecca."
Her whole body froze.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it before.
Not tonight.
Not on the phone.
Before....a very long time ago.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
The man breathed softly.
Then he said:
"You already know."
The call ended.
Rebecca stood alone under the streetlight.
The photograph was still in her hand.
The rain had started again.
And somewhere inside her mind, a memory was trying to come back.
A memory about September 11.
A memory about Emily.....amemory about the man in the photograph.
And this time.....
Rebecca was much more afraid of what she might remember.