A Letter for a Stranger

Dear stranger,

I don’t know who you are; I don’t know how seriously you’re going to take this letter. I don’t know if you've even read this far, maybe you've scrunched up the letter and put it in the bin immediately. Well if you haven’t - don’t. Please, give me a chance. I need one. Give me what I've been neglected.

Let me explain.

The room you’re standing in. The place you reached into at the back of the bookshelf where the brick pulls out and this letter lies. This was my room, my book shelf. I've gone now obviously, taken the books chipped away at the cement until the brick fell away so I can leave this letter. Why did I hide it? I had to. I hope you never have time to find out for yourself. I hope you just read these words and take heed. Where am I? I can’t tell you, I wouldn't be able to anyway, I have to keep moving. Who am I? Well that one’s easier I can start with that.

We moved here in the autumn sixty three years ago. Things were different then.  We were in love or that’s we thought anyway. You think that’s an irrelevant detail? Well it’s not so keep reading.  

They called us Memorias. Phenomenal memory, every detail of our lives etched into our minds. Not just personal memory, recollection of facts words, speeches, numbers anything. It wasn't apparent immediately of course, earliest recorded sudden appearance was at the age of twelve. The latest was twenty-five. How can I describe it? I was nineteen. It was so sudden, like burning, euphoria almost a rush. I imagine if I was a machine it was like being oiled after a long time, the words flowing water come to mind. It wasn't like autism, hyperthemisia, it wasn't any mental condition associated with memory because our memories were so inclusive to the details that we didn’t even have conscious awareness of at the time, inclusive to the point we seemed to remember ideas as well as memory itself as if either nothing left us or it was always there. It was as if we had access to something. Something, such a mere word and yet what name do you put on it. This if or when it was combined in some with a capacity for original thought made them something different, different again a mere word but definitions elude me when dealing with the scope of the situation. We were all different but one thing we had in common was we were all reported to be mentally healthy otherwise.  What caused it? Genetics? The environment? What was happening? No one knew but there we were a whole sub population of us. The government were astounded. Special accommodation they announced. Scholarships for college if we wanted and if we didn't  the money to sustain us, the capacities to work on any project we desired.

I bet you felt lucky when they offered you this flat, I bet your parents congratulated you, I bet your thinking of organizing a flat warming. One of the lucky ones, I remember the announcement, that’s what they called us lucky. I shudder to think of it now. So I've missed out on the details, how did they tell you to move here? Did they award you a college scholarship, did they tell you it was a grant for socio-economic disadvantage or maybe it was even some competition they created for the purpose. Whatever you were told, it’s a lie.  So who are you? What’s your type? Or how ‘lucky’ are you? There were types because we all retained our separate individual personalities which combined with the ‘gift’ as they called it. ‘Types’ as if they could classify us that easily, we were as individual as the rest of the population. The ‘rest of the population’ I speak like we’re a different species, but it was suggested by some at the time. One thing is certain you’re young and you haven’t properly realized who you are. But they have, they have and that’s why they put you here.

Now you’re thinking. That’s why you’re here. Those compulsory brain scans they implemented in schools, they weren't for the sake of your health. They found a way; they found a way to detect us before we become what we are. Yes I said, ‘us’. You are one. It hasn't happened to you yet but it will. That’s why I’m writing this letter, you need to escape. You need to leave.

They shouldn't have put us together that was their mistake, we started talking, those conversations, the future was so bright, we were going to shape society. We were a catalyst for each other. Plans came to the fore. They started to feel threatened.  I fell in love, we moved in together, that’s why it was a relevant detail. They didn’t understand what caused it but they suspected a  genetic component, although now they know that’s not the case. They were threatened then; they didn't want us to reproduce and we wanted to share a new life with what we had. Everyone was forcefully separated. That was the start. You’ll have heard about what happened after of course but they skim the details in history don’t they? They said it was due to a decline in the earth’s magnetic field. That was a lie, it was engineered. Technology ceased. The media shut down.  Food production was so difficult. We had to eat what they gave us, government supplied food packages. So many died. All of us of course and more, the ones without our ‘gift’ so it would look like it wasn’t genocide but that’s what it was, that was its purpose. No one even needed to blame anyone as there was no trust from anyone or anything. There wasn't any media so no opinion could spread. Later history would have to be written, the temporary collapse of technology, widespread illness and no efficiency in medical attention, society destroyed. 

So how did I survive, well to engineer such an operation over the whole population they needed our help, we had more skill. By now we had spent years using their money, developing our minds and we were vastly more capable. They manipulated us psychologically, they physically coerced us. You’re probably sickened, how could I have collaborated? But of course most died rather than co-operate. We were endowed with superior intellectual capabilities, but we still maintained the same emotional capacities, they told me they would save me if I co-operated but more importantly they told me they would save him. Then they used us to re-build society after the collapse. That’s what we’re still doing now, there are few left, I cannot say the exact numbers but our job is nearly over and if they don’t kill us, age will.

Then they started the research, they didn't want another generation of us. Generations passed and then they isolated the chemical we are born with, they didn't know the cause, it was just a seemingly random chemical distributed along generational lines. Do you still feel lucky? I’m sorry that was pessimistic. Now you have a chance, this letter is your chance.

I had to find my old flat, this flat and I did. We knew it was happening again, the compulsory scans followed by the property grants and this location was on the list. They contained us of course because they knew we would figure it out. But then the hurricane happened. All that has happened in the history of the human race and we still can’t exercise any control over the weather. There was chaos as relief was provided and they let their guard down, with a little free time, I stole across the city, I composed this letter, I left it here.

Still I’m gripped with the futility of this action now, maybe they found the letter, maybe you’re not reading this, they are and now they will attempt to find me. It’s a risk I’m willing to take on the possibility that it has come into the right hands. You must tell the others, I don’t know how you can identify them but they’re grouping you in disparate locations, young people who have moved because of any scheme, initiative etc, it’s so they know where you are, as for the plan after that I have no idea but you need to get out. At least I don’t have to tell you to remember because I know you will. Burn after reading. Erase my thoughts of their physical reality.