Memory

“So, where to start, huh?” Emmett laughed as he sat on a couch in the living room, making himself at home. Well, it basically was his home, due to how often he’d been here.

“Just shut up and listen, alright?” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“Alright, I’ll start it all off with how I first discovered how to use magic. It all started about six years ago, when I was still just starting off in high school. I don’t need to explain much about my circumstances there, since we obviously attended the same school, but one day, when I was going home from your place, I accidentally took the wrong turn and stumbled into the alley we were just in. Of course, at that time, there wasn’t any underground passageway or anything of the sort, just your typical alleyway. But that’s when it happened.”

“It?” Emmett asked.

“Can you please refrain on commenting on every little detail? You’re going to unnecessarily delay this whole thing for no reason.”

“You’re delaying it right now.” He pointed out.

“No, but I’m delaying it because you’re delaying it.” I countered.

“Yeah, and after I delayed it, you delayed it because I delayed it, delaying it even further.” At this point, we were both waffling.

“And now you’re delaying the delay yet again, idiot!”

“Okay, okay, sorry! I won’t say anything anymore, continue.”

“Right. So where was I? Oh yeah, at that part where I accidentally found myself inside that alleyway for the first time. My life’s trajectory would be completely different if I hadn’t gotten lost at the time, but unfortunately I did, which eventually caused this whole mess. Anyway, when I went into that alley, I saw-wait a minute, I’m so stupid!”

“What?”

“I totally forgot about the memory transfer spell! I can just show you everything!”

“Wait, you can do that?” Emmett asked.

“You didn’t know?”

“Not really, I’ll explain later. Anyway, how do we do that memory spell thingy?”

“It’s simple, just close your eyes, I’ll press one hand on your temple, and the other on your chest, then I’ll convey the memories to you.”

“Alright, let’s do this.” Emmett closed his eyes patiently.

I reached out and placed the palm of one hand on his chest, and the other on his temple. Then I closed my own eyes and started to focus on what I wanted to show him. Suddenly, a bright light enveloped me and I found myself walking out of Emmett’s home, except it seemed a bit bigger than now.

Of course it did, the me that was walking out right now was only about thirteen, and I was also a late bloomer, so I was still pretty short back then. Not that I was fully grown, people still mistook me for a high schooler due to my petite frame, but I didn’t really mind.

“See you tomorrow, Emmett! Bye!” The younger me cried out, with a voice that was much higher pitched than the current me, who already had quite a high pitched voice.

I walked out of his house and started jogging excitedly. So excited that I eventually missed a turn I was supposed to take to reach the station, and I didn’t notice. As I kept walking, I noticed that my surroundings started to change into an unfamiliar area, until I reached somewhere that the younger me didn’t know, but that the current me was all too familiar with.

I turned around worriedly, not knowing where to go. I hesitantly walked into a path that led left, walking straight into the alley.

And as I entered, I noticed a figure moving around near the garbage bin. I couldn’t make out the figure since it was enshrouded in shadows, so I approached it cautiously, trying not to make a single sound. And then, after taking a few very slow steps, the figure revealed itself to me.

My eyes widened with pure horror as I witnessed a huge shadowy creature with long limbs that was twice my size and covered with gray fur, snacking on a human corpse that laid on the ground beside the bin. Blood was splattered everywhere as the creature bit into the corpse, then chewed the part it had bit out within seconds.

I was frozen in fear, unable to say a word. Backing up, I clumsily tripped over myself at the absolute worst time and fell on the ground, letting out a yelp and immediately alerting the creature to my presence. It turned around instantly, a wolf-like head and two red eyes locking onto my small body as I struggled to get up.

I had scraped my knee badly, but at this point I didn’t care. All I told myself to do was run as fast as I could, the time to be quiet was gone. Unfortunately, the creature was so much faster than me, it caught me before I could even get out of the alley, and yanked me back in with a low growl.

I let out a blood curling shriek but it immediately covered my mouth with a paw that had extremely long and sharp claws.

“Shhhh!” It whispered with an oddly human-like voice. “You’ll alert people to our location, you absolute idiot!”

Then, the creature started shrinking, the fur started to disappear, the paw with claws turned into a human hand, and before me stood a naked human man with a big afro.

“Shit, sorry!” The man immediately ran to the bin and jumped inside it. “I keep forgetting that the transformation destroys my clothes! But don’t worry, I got a spare somewhere inside here, just gimme a minute!”

I thought about running.

“Don’t try and run, by the way.” He immediately shut my idea down the moment I’d thought of it. “I know your scent now, I can track you from a mile away, so it’s no use.”

Then, the man hopped out of the bin wearing nothing but a white lab coat, green shorts, a pair of sandals and some glasses.

“Yo, allow me to introduce myself.” The man said. “First of all, let me tell you, I didn’t kill that person, alright? They were already dead.”

I was too stunned to react.

“...Nod if you understand what I’m saying.” He sighed.

I barely managed to nod.

“Alright, so since you’ve seen me, I guess you gotta be part of this now, unfortunately.” He said. “Tough luck kid, but you have to follow me for now.”

“..You’re not going to eat me?” I asked sheepishly.

“Didn’t you nod to tell me you understood what I was saying? I just told you, that person was already dead! I don’t eat people that are alive!”

“...okay.”

“...You don’t believe me, do you?”

I shook my head.

“Damn it. Look, I swear to you I’ve never eaten a single live person, alright? What’s it gonna take for you to believe me?”

“Leave the kid alone, Henry, you’re scaring him.” Another man emerged from the shadows, wearing glasses as well, but his hair was pretty short and tame.

“Listen, kid,” The man turned to me. “We’re basically a society that holds a bunch of sorcerers and magical beasts. You wanna join us? You can even learn magic.”

“Okay.” I immediately accepted.

“Wait, that’s it?” The man called Henry said. “You were terrified of me, but you’re immediately gonna accept that dude’s offer?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Uhhhh, alright then….follow us, we’ll introduce you.”

The two men then stood before a wall, staring at it for a couple of seconds. Then, he moved his hands in a strange motion I couldn’t comprehend, and as soon as he did, a part of the wall lit up and disappeared, revealing a steel door that would be familiar to my future self.

They opened the door, motioning for me to follow, and so I did.