The Memory Painter

Michael approached the glass. “Conrad, open the door.”


Conrad leaned forward until his face became fully visible. “I’m here to offer you a second chance. You want full recall, Mike. I can give you that.”

Michael hesitated. “What are you talking about?”

“While you were all away having your nervous breakdowns, I resynthesized the formula to make it even more powerful. With one dose you can retrieve everything. Including the lifetime that’s eluding you—the one in Egypt.”

Michael took another step closer. “What do you know about Egypt?”

“I know you feel the memory eating away at you, like an itch you can’t scratch. Every night you go to sleep wondering, what’s this life for? What’s my purpose? Knowing that something more awaits you. I can help you find it.” Conrad smiled, dangling the carrot in front of him.

Diana put her hand on her husband’s arm. “He’s lying.”

Michael didn’t take his eyes off Conrad. “You really reformulated it?”

Conrad nodded to the vial sitting innocently on an empty desk in the lab.

“What about last night?” Michael reminded him. “Eight hours ago you had your hands around my throat.”

“When you came I wasn’t myself. I had just remembered … something.” He gave them a placating smile. “Simple bad timing. I’m here to offer you an olive branch and proof of what a real scientist can do. Take it or leave it.”

Finn stepped in front of Michael and whispered, “He’s completely lost it. You can’t tell me you’re considering this.”

“If he has changed the formula, then I want to know what it does.”

Diana shook his arm. “But you don’t have to take it. That’s crazy.”

Michael remained silent.

Finn nodded in agreement and started to fidget. He was barely functioning himself. “This is a bad call, chief.”

Conrad leaned into the microphone. “Is your little powwow over? Mike, you need to remember Egypt. It’s imperative.”

“Okay, is it just me or has Yankee Doodle officially gone off his rocker?” Finn erupted. “Mike, you can’t be buying this load of crap. He’s locked us in!”

“Honey, for Christ’s sake, please listen to Finn.”

Michael had not taken his eyes off Conrad. “I need to do this.”

Diana kept pleading with him. “But don’t you see? He was here before us and left that vial there. He was sure that he could get you to do it.” She could tell she still wasn’t convincing him and tried another tactic. “Is this worth risking your life over?”

“There’s something I have to remember—a life. Please try to understand.”

Diana spoke to him in Russian as Natalia, Pushkin’s wife. “Just like you had to challenge D’Anthès to a duel? Are you so ready to die again?”