Memories

by Christopher W Gamsby


There she is again, the woman who's ruining my life. I don't even understand why she's doing it, but here she is at my job spreading her crazy lies to my coworkers. Oh, sorry, I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself, so maybe I should slow down to explain. I met her three weeks ago on an online dating site and we met the next day at a local restaurant. The food wasn't spectacular, but it was fine for a first date. I liked it and I'm pretty sure she did too. We talked through dinner and then even through several rounds of drinks. I thought we hit it off and I was sure she felt the same exact way.

Two weeks ago I started my new job. I'm supposed to be an accountant, but I'm just working as a data entry clerk. One of my coworkers hands me a filled out form and I input all the information into a spreadsheet. It's wholly unfulfilling work that most people could learn in twenty minutes, but it pays the bills and since I'm new to the company, I need to learn the business before I can be effective. I'm really quite a natural at this work, I just seem to have a great sense for the information's location on the page. All my time studying spreadsheets in school must be paying off now.

I was rolling along perfectly the first day until she showed up in the afternoon. She came in and greeted my coworkers. At first I thought it was an amazing coincidence but that's when the crazy started. She started telling people that we've been married for years and I was in an accident. She claims that we were driving during a blizzard and our car slid off the road. We smashed into a tree and a branch cracked my skull and a bone shard damaged my brain. She claims that I forgot years of my life before the accident, and every two or three weeks, my memory 'resets' and I think I'm back to just after we met.

It's completely absurd. It's not even winter right now. The worst part is that the entire office eats up everything she says. My male coworkers claim I'm really lucky to have a wife who is still looking after me despite everything that happened and the women in the office act like we have some romance ripped straight from a trashy novel.

I guess they find it so easy to believe because it makes such a touching story but I've looked up this type of amnesia online and it's incredibly rare. So rare, in fact, that I would be more likely to be struck by lightning while riding in an ambulance after being attacked by a shark.

She's even found a way to get to my family. I called my mother to explain what she's doing, but mother just cried and father told me not to mention it again. My brothers don't believe me either. Every time I call, they either ignore the ringing phone or when they do pick up, they act like I'm making up this whole thing.

I can't take it anymore. Everyone from my coworkers to my family treat me like a freak now. I just want everyone to treat me normally again and it's all this woman's fault! Next time I see her, I'm going to tell her exactly what I think about everything she's doing. Unfortunately I can't stay at this job while they believe these absurd lies, I'm going to have to leave.

So, I'm starting a new job tomorrow.

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