The user would still have a memory of having vague memories of having re- lived the experience, of course, because that's just how memory works. The sessions were recorded as well so the patients could still access the the memory in that way, if needed. But the original pathways to the trauma would be severed, and the idea was that by putting an emotional event completely into the realm of the rational, what would normally take years of therapy could be reduced to a simple outpatient procedure.
It was just a pill, but it has to be administered under specific guidance by a professional. To a casual observer it would seem similar to hypnotism, instead of a specific and calculated set of verbal and physical cues designed to take the person to that specific memory, and only that memory.
And it worked. Until the formula got out into the wild and home-cooked versions flooded the country. It was cheap, plentiful, and just as effective.
People quickly began using it not only to erase traumatic memories, but any memory they didn't want. And many more began re-living their happiest moments, which was worse. Trauma makes it harder to live our lives but without the joyful memories to sustain us and remind us of why our struggle is worth it, there was a rapid breakdown of social order.
Now I'm in my own lab at home, frantically trying to find a way to reverse the effects of what I've created.
It's not safe to go outside. Everyone is out there having both the best and worst day of their lives, then erasing it and starting all over.
It's all falling apart. And it's all my fault.
I'm so sorry. I wish I'd never invented Nemosyn. I wish I hadn't hurt so many people. What I've done haunts me as I work. It's been months and every night when I try and fail to sleep, I hear the wailing and the laughter of people erasing themselves.
I wish I could just forget that this is all my fault.
THE END
good ending line!
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