Lost Mementos of the Past, Part 4

After another few days of searching, Mina still had yet to find anything related to the movie that lived in her memories. Caleb helped as best as he could, but as expected, the city was too weathered and eroded to contain much of value. Whether it be a video store, a movie theater, or a secondhand shop, none of these could have stored anything in good condition, not after centuries of neglect.

That fact was not lost on Mina, who seemed to be growing more and more impatient with each passing day. Caleb doubted that Mina was unaware of the ridiculous unlikelihood that she'd actually find anything worth keeping in this ruined city, but he also knew that wouldn't stop her from looking anyhow. As a result, he decided not to point out the obvious and instead mentioned something that might be more helpful.

“Why don't we try an underground mall?” Caleb asked as they rested in the shade after a morning of searching through the city.

“What's that?” Mina seemed lost in thought.

“An underground mall,” Caleb repeated while pointing down at the ground. “I remember finding one when I was a kid, and it had a record store that was protected from most of the decay caused by weather. I can't say if the records within were actually preserved well, but it couldn't hurt.”

“It's not a bad idea,” Mina remarked. “New York City did have quite a few underground malls, so if there's anything left down there, it would at least be somewhat protected from wind and rain. But a lot of the underground area in this city has collapsed, making most of it difficult to traverse. Even if we could get down there, it might take weeks before we could thoroughly comb through most of it.”

“I see. Sorry. I should have figured you would have thought about that already, since you used to live here.”

“No, it was a good suggestion. Let's go take a look. Maybe we'll find some place that hasn't been caved in just yet.”

Mina said that, but it was clear to Caleb that she wasn't expecting much. Nevertheless, he followed her through the streets of New York City, unsure if their search would be fruitless or not. They headed north to an underground mall, one of the few that Mina still remembered the location of. She couldn't remember the name or the street, but as she walked through the city, memories of the route there began to solidify in her mind.

Eventually, the two arrived at a staircase going underground. Mina took a moment to inspect the tunnel to make sure it wouldn't collapse on them while they were inside.

“It seems alright,” Mina remarked as she came back up the steps. “The path's not blocked, either. We might have a good chance of finding what I'm looking for here.”

The two of them turned on their flashlights and descended into the dark underground of New York City. Rubble and collapsed roads blocked the numerous hallways that once led away from the steps, but serendipitously there was still a rather open pathway to the west, leading into a long street of shops and buildings.

“There's the underground mall,” Mina said as she pointed down the hallway in question. “Looks like the area hasn't collapsed yet.”

Caleb was slightly distracted by the large tunnel to the other side of the staircase, which seemed to lead deeper into the city's underground. “This is massive. What was this used for?”

“That's a tunnel comprising a part of what used to be New York City's massive subway system,” Mina explained. “Back when human civilization was thriving, thousands of people would take the subway every day, whether it be to go to work, to get home, or to go someplace fun.”

“I see,” Caleb remarked as he continued to stare down the tunnel. “I've never seen something like this before.”

“Well, not every city had something like this. In any case, how long are you gonna stand gawking? This mall is huge. If we don't get a move on, we'll be stuck here past sunset.”

“Right.” Caleb pulled himself away from the tunnel and followed Mina into the underground mall. It looked quite different from the mall he had explored with Ella all those years ago, but he could tell by its structure that it still served the same functions. The hallway they walked down soon opened up into a large plaza with stores lining the walls around it.

Mina scanned the area with her flashlight. “Looks like a few areas are blocked off. Well, even then, we've still got quite a bit to search through. You check out the stores on the east side while I take the west. Got it?”

Before Caleb could give a response, Mina had already turned towards the western side of the plaza and walked off. Caleb sighed and turned to the row of stores he had been assigned. Well, there wasn't any point in complaining since it was his idea. At the very least, he wished she would have told him exactly what he should be looking for.

Caleb spent a few hours digging through the abandoned stores, looking for anything that might resemble movie paraphernalia of any kind. As he predicted, the merchandise in the stores was much more intact, but that didn't mean that centuries of decay could be so easily avoided. Any paper merchandise he found crumbled with a single touch, and even goods made with synthetic materials were clearly starting to wear down.

Ultimately, Caleb finished searching his side of the area with essentially nothing to show for it. With only the dirt covering his clothes to prove his efforts, Caleb walked over to Mina's side of the mall to see how she was faring. However, he sort of suspected that she wouldn't be able to fare much better.

He was correct, unfortunately. Mina's frustration was clear on her face, and she was violently throwing rubble out of the way with enough force to smash to dust against the wall. When she saw Caleb approach, she stopped and looked at him with an expression mixed with irritation and desperation. He could only answer her with empty hands. Mina furiously kicked away a rock and stormed out of the store. She walked straight past Caleb and towards the mall's exit without even acknowledging him.

“Shall we look for another underground area we can search through?” Caleb asked as he followed after her. “Even if this place was a dud, we still have options, right?”

“Even if that's true, how many of those options haven't already collapsed upon themselves?” Mina asked bitterly. “I don't have time to check out every possible lead. The city gets demolished in a week, you know!”

Caleb could clearly tell that something was wrong. Mina seemed fairly irritable even at the best of times, but this was different. She seemed genuinely impatient. Perhaps that deadline was bearing down on her harder than he realized. He quickly followed her out of the underground area and back up onto the surface, worried about her state of mind.

Before he could say anything to calm her down, she began walking down the street without even taking a rest. He quickly hurried after her, worried about her state of mind. “Wait a minute! Where are you going?”

“The sun hasn't set yet! I can at least search the surrounding areas before it gets too dark!”

As she said this, she suddenly stumbled on some rock, causing her to lose her footing. She started to fall over, but someone reached out and caught before she hit the ground. Her rescuer turned out to be Rick, who merely looked at her with a stern expression on his face.

Once she regained her balance, Mina pulled herself away and gave Rick an indignant glare. “Are you following me or something? Why don't you just leave me alone?!”

Rick ignored her and turned to Caleb instead. “What are you doing? You should have stopped her before it got this far. You should know how likely it is for anything to have survived in this city after centuries of decay.”

Caleb couldn't say a word in his defense. He knew that the responsible thing to do was to convince her to stop looking. They had scoured almost half the city at this point, and forget coming up with anything that might have something to do with the movie Mina was looking for, he couldn't even find anything worth salvaging. He had the strong feeling that Mina's search was pointless, yet he couldn't possibly bring himself to say that to her.

Seeing Caleb's silence, Rick turned back to Mina, who seemed unable to muster up a response either. “Mina, it's not like I'm unsympathetic to your situation. It's hard to stay stoic when walking amongst the ruins of what used to be your home. But you need to let it go. You can't remember the movie's name, its plot, or even the people that acted in it. The memories are going, and there's not much you can do about it. Can't you accept that?”

Mina didn't respond. Rick sighed again. “I'll come find you again tomorrow. Mina, I don't really care that you abandoned your duties or that you left without telling me. But even you have to realize that this isn't helping you. I hope you'll come to your senses before it's too late.”

Mina remained silent. Before, she was indignant, but now even the fire in her eyes had gone out. Rick didn't say anything, and simply walked off into the city once again. Caleb waited for a bit, then walked over to Mina and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”

Mina stood still for a moment, then flinched as if only just now reacting to Caleb's touch. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

Mina pulled away and stood quietly as if thinking about something. Then she looked up and gave Caleb an apologetic smile. “Thanks for your help today, but if it's possible, could you leave me alone for a bit? I'd like some time to myself.”

“Uh, sure. But how long?”

“I don't know,” Mina replied with eyes turned downward. “But I promise I'm not trying to get away from you. I'll find you when I'm ready to keep searching, so can we split up for a moment?”

Caleb couldn't really refuse. He gave her a slightly hesitant nod, and she walked off into the city alone, in a different direction from where Rick went. With little left to do himself, Caleb set up camp and went to bed early. As he laid down to sleep, Caleb remembered Rick's words. He wondered exactly what he was doing here, and what would be the best for Mina.