Greybridge

My name is Alden Rook. I am 17 years old and I’ve lived in Greybridge for all my life. My mom raised me all by herself along with me and my 2 siblings, and somehow made this strange city home. I'm dating a lovely girl named Mara Ellison. We’ve been dating for about 3 years now and I love her and wanna spend all my days with her. This city though isn’t a normal city, there’s rules, rules that nobody can explain but you just know like its a law. Everyone learns these rules when they turn 18, like they’re embedded in your mind. Nobody questions it, it's just how life is in Greybridge. Nobody in my family has ever been outside of Greybridge, you get the food inside the city, you go to the doctor inside the city, never outside. I’ve always wondered about what it would be like to leave this city, for something new, stretch my arms out like a falcon and fly away. I try to brush all these thoughts out of my brain, as I bike my way to Mara’s house. I turn 18 tomorrow and we planned on going to the movies and maybe grabbing a bite after, so I was ready for a fun night. I arrive at her house, as she’s sitting on the front doorstep waiting for me with her special outfit on. It’s got a certain glow that reflects off of her making her seem like an angel from heaven. “You look beautiful tonight Mara”, I tell her as she jumps into my arms with a crushing hug. Her brown eyes stare at me back and she utters a calm thank you. She hops on the back of my bike as we ride to the theater hoping to catch that new movie, before all the tickets are sold. We arrive, get our tickets, the very last two left: Lucky us, and get a drink and popcorn to share. She’s going off about how excited she is about the movie and all I can do is sit and admire her. Her dark black hair like ink flowing in the hair matched with her brown eyes light as milk chocolate. Matched with a smile that lights up this city with the energy it needs, she's perfect. We take our seats down in the theater and enjoy the movie. She's dead silent and laser focused on every scene, every character and by the end she’s going off about how good it was and all her favorite parts. I do have to agree the movie was pretty good, and I had a really fun time with her in my arms while watching. We biked down to our favorite restaurant, a little small owned business, where our first date was. We sit side by side instead of across from each other, and order our food, she gets the burger with fries and I get a cheese steak sub, my favorite from here. As we eat and enjoy the food, she tilts her head on my shoulder, her black hair spilling everywhere, and I feel at home. I feel like I could sit here all night with her and never get tired of it. Though eventually the night ends, and we go our separate ways, I drop her off leaving her with a kiss on the lips and bike home. On the way home I hear a scream, not a scared scream, a scream that echoes like your life is in danger. I rush out looking for the source and realize I rushed too far, I’ve stepped outside of the border.

I freeze for a second I don't even breathe, the air feels different out here a cold breeze runs through my body. I take one step back inside the city one step back out but I know it's too late. I check my watch at 12 o clock I’ve turned 18 and a new thought is in my mind. It's the rules, the ones you don't know until you turn eighteen, if you leave the city everyone forgets you, and it isn't in a few hours, a few days it's instant. Your life is replaced by someone new, like you never even existed . The scream is gone now, and the night is quiet, I turn around scanning the trees, no footprints, no child, no evidence anyone was ever here. I step back towards the city limits, Greybridge looks the same, but it doesn’t feel the same. I get back on my bike trying to laugh it off, trying to convince myself those rules aren't real and everything will be normal. I think of Mara and Ma, I can't wait to tell them about this and maybe they will tell me the truth. But as I ride down Hollowbend Street something is off? The lights are dimmer and less unwelcoming, the air feels heavier, and when I reach my front door and knock Ma answers. She opens it with a polite, confused smile, and says “Can I help you”? And my whole world cracks

I open my mouth but nothing comes out at first, as I'm in complete shock. “Ma, it's me Alden, I'm home from my date with Mara”. She blinks like she’s concentrating real hard to remember something but can't figure out what it is. My name is a word she’s never heard before. “I'm sorry I think you have the wrong house”, she says still with her polite smile. I look past her. Everything is the same, same coffee table, same kitchen, same couch, same TV. I see my siblings running through the house playing some sort of tag, but then I spot him, my replacement. A boy with dark hair, and a wide grin chasing my siblings around as if he belonged. “No, no its me Ma, Alden your boy you raised me Ma, cmon remember, think hard please its me Ma”. Her smile falters not with recognition but with concern, as she asks “are you okay boy’? The words hit harder than anything else, because she means she's concerned about me but not in the way a loving mother would be, but in the way of a stranger. I slowly back away from the door trying to get out of this nightmare, and realize what I must do. I get on my bike and pedal as fast as I can to her house. Mara. She will know what to do, she wont forget me, she cant right? She wont, she would never I know her. I pedal to her house like my life depends on it, because it does.

I race into her driveway, her porch light is on, and a warm familiar light. She’s still awake, she will open the door and everything will be back to normal. I run up the steps and knock, waiting impatiently for her to answer so she can explain everything. Though when she answers it's not with shock or wondering why im here but confusion. “Um hello, can I help you”?. My heart drops to the floor as reality sinks in, my Mara, my love, my light, my everything has forgotten me. I stare at her blankly hoping somewhere deep down she remembers, she still has her glowing outfit on from our date and still is as beautiful as ever. “Mara, it's me Alden, we just went out to the movies, the one you really wanted to see and we went to go eat, it's me please remember”. She gives me a puzzled look and says “How do you know about that?I did all of that by myself tonight, I don't know where my boyfriend is.” “Mara it's me. I'm your boyfriend, remember me please it's me we’ve been dating for 3 years now, don't forget me.” She still stares at me blankly and tells me I need to go now, and with those words my heart shatters into billions of pieces.

She closes the door gently, as if she just denied a little kid from buying his candy and feels guilty about it. I hop on my bike with no destination in mind just riding, riding till I can't go any more. I passed by the corner store me and Mara used to buy candy. I passed by the street I first learned how to ride my bike on. Every place feels familiar but none of it belongs to me anymore, it's someone else’s special place. Eventually I stop under a street light with my head in my hands as every memory floods by, tears fall down my face with no way to stop them. The rules were real, the scream was real and now I'm the only one who remembers any of it, the only one who remembers me. The tears don't stop, they keep coming like a waterfall, dripping onto the pavement painting it with my emotions. I feel stupid for crying, but I can't help it. Everything I’ve ever known, every person, every memory erased. I think about Ma’s face, how she looked at me like she never knew me. I think about my siblings and then running around with that unknown boy, the one that replaced me. The boy who took my life, my siblings, my house, like he had always been there. And Mara, the way she looked at me like I was a ghost and she was staring right past me. For the first time in my life I'm scared of Greybridge, not because of the rules, because I don't belong here anymore.

I wipe my face with the back of my sleeve but it doesnt matter more tears come out anyway. My chest feels tight, it's hard to breathe. I look around this city, the one that once welcomed me and feel lost. I used to be a part of something and now I belong to nothing. I look at the houses where families are probably eating dinner, or watching tv, or tucking kids into bed. A car drives past and doesn't even notice me, why would he? I'm nobody now, just a kid crying under a street light with no future or life planned. I pull out my phone but it's blank, all contacts erased, the lock screen of me and Mara erased, all photos gone. It's like the city reached into my phone and erased everything pixel by pixel. I wonder if this is what ghosts feel like, able to watch life but never able to participate or feel anymore. I don't know how long I've been sitting here, time doesn't feel real anymore. All I know is for the first time in my life I don't know where home is

A door opens down the street, her eyes landing on me, Alden? She whispers like the name slipped out before she could stop it

I lift my head confused. I don't know how someone even knows my name, but that's when I see her. Its Mara sitting on her porch, hair in a messy bun, staring at me hard trying to remember something.”I don't know why I said that, I don't know you, I don't..”. Her voice trails off as she really studies me looking me up and down, looking for a spark in me. “You do, somewhere deep down inside you remember me Mara”. She shakes her head but it's not a firm no, it's a no where you're not quite sure but you say no anyway. She takes a step towards me as the street light flickers above me, making it seem like I'm shining. “Why does your name sound so familiar, why does looking at you make my chest hurt”? “Because somewhere deep down Mara you remember me, you remember our dates, you remember our love, bring that out for me please”. She takes one more step towards me, still eyeing me up and takes my hand. “Why does everything feel so right and perfect with you, I don't even know you”? And for the first time since the border a flicker of hope flashes between my eyes.

I stare at her hand in mine, afraid to let go, afraid to let the moment pass by. Her fingers are warm and welcoming just like they always were and I relax a little. “Mara you don't have to remember anything right now, just remember this feeling, I can tell you anything about yourself I know you”. “This doesn't make sense, I don't know you but it feels like I have forever like you're pulling towards my heart”. I laugh at this a tiny one but a laugh I use around her trying to make her more comfortable. “You feel that way because you have Mara you have known me forever I promise”. She steps closer, so close I can see the freckles on her cheek, the ones only I usually noticed, the ones I would brush as she laid on my lap. Her eyes search for mines, desperate, scared, hopeful all at once, like she can't decide what emotion to feel. “Why does it hurt, why does it feel like I lost something I never even had”? She whispers. “Because you did have it Mara, but I'm back and I wont go ever again I swear Mara”. She lifts her free hand and grabs my cheek like her body remembers me but her mind cant. First slowly and hesitant but more firm the longer she holds. The warmth of her palm sends a shock through me, a memory of every night we spent tangled up on her couch, every kiss, every laugh, every moment. “I don't understand any of this, explain to me what's going on, you're confusing me”. I nod motioning lets go inside, as she leads me inside I spill out everything to her.

We sit on her couch, the same spot where we spent countless nights tangled together, and I tell her everything—Greybridge, the rules, the scream, the border, the moment she forgot me. She listens without interrupting, her brows pulled tight, her fingers gripping mine like she’s afraid I’ll disappear if she lets go. When I finish, she’s quiet for a long time, staring at the floor like she’s searching for something buried deep inside her. Then she looks up, eyes shining with something new—something real. “I still don’t remember,” she whispers, “but… I believe you. And I believe whatever we had must’ve been something worth finding again.” She leans her forehead against mine, her breath warm, her voice steady. “So stay. Stay with me. Let’s make new memories until the old ones come back.” And in that moment, with her hand in mine and the city silent outside, I know the truth: Greybridge can erase a name, a face, a history—but it can’t erase what the heart refuses to forget.