Stuck in the Past

“Mr. Krain?”

I turned around and stared at an unfamiliar face. This couldn’t be happening; I needed more time. I stole the aluminum foil from the broken cabinet, grabbed the sweater that I repurposed into a bag, and made a dash for the fridge. All I just needed to grab now was the-

“Mr. Krain, this is a restricted area.”

I flung open the fridge and stuffed as many bottles of wine into my makeshift bag as it could fit. Now I just needed to get to the stall before they called for backup. I looked around the room for something to fend off the assailant as she raised a device to her mouth.

“Please send security to the storage room in the cafeteria. Connor has broken in and appears to be having an episode.”

I grabbed the empty knife block and chucked it at her head, knocking her out cold. I picked up my bag and made my way to the stall. I could already hear the patter of backup arriving at the storage room as I entered the bathroom and locked the door.

I was already onto my third bottle by the time the door started pounding. I had lined the stall with as much aluminum foil as I could, but I knew it wouldn’t hold. I could only hope that I’d black out before a dangerous memory returned.

I was having trouble seeing by the time I heard them begin to drill through the door. “Stop, if you breach this room you’ll risk coming in contact with an… an infohazard that c-”

“Mr. Krain, that’s not a real thing. None of what you are scared about is real. Those are all just stories from when you were young. You were a writer once upon a time, and you wrote all these fantastical stories.”

“No, you don’t understand. The amnestics… my memories are coming back. I need… I need to stop them.”

My vision was getting blurry and I couldn’t stand, but they were almost through the door. I managed to gulp down one last mouthful before the door fell and they stormed the room. Five armed guards apprehended me while a woman watched from the doorway. I tried to speak, but the darkness swallowed up my vision.