I stood in the run down building. I could feel the energy this place once held, the joyful memories that we now feast upon to try to feel anything. I stepped around the rubble of the abandoned building that was falling apart, and stepped into one of the only remaining rooms. It was a dining room, a grand table stretching nicely from one end of the room to the other, it looked to be that at one point a grand feast was placed upon the table, never to be eaten, never to see its inhabitants ever again. A large platter lays in the middle of the table, surrounded by smaller plates. A deck of worn cards sat at one end of the table, a small group of cards sat in front of four chairs, looking like the people had set them down, a pile of the cards sat in between the split deck, the cards in the middle were face up while the rest were face down. It was the only room untouched by the elements. The only thing that suggested it's age was the dust that covered everything. I picked up one of the cards and blew the dust off of it. One side, the side facing up, was discolored, having been bleached by the sunlight that passed through the windows, while the other side held a colorful number. A three with a red background shone brightly compared to the cards with that side face up. Grabbing one of the cards from the middle deck, I once again blew the dust off and looked on the other side. It was a black and red card that held the letters U, N, and O next to each other. I had seen these cards in another memory, I believe they said "Uno" and pulling from another memory, it came from the Spanish language meaning "One." I let my fingers dance on the table while I walked around it, leaving a trail where my fingers once were. The place had an odd sense of familiarity to it, almost like I have been here before. I stopped at a chair that had a pull to it, we usually search for these items because they have the strongest memories within them. As I placed the palm of my hand on the center of the seat, I felt the all too familiar pulse of happiness course through my veins. I had closed my eyes in the process and once I opened them again I was surrounded by colorful decorations that surround the room. It's a different place than the one I remember seeing, must be an older memory. Children ran around the room, boxes covered in colorful wrapping paper being passed around the room. A single thought came to mind, a simple word, Christmas. The memory was replaced with another, this time in the place I was in. A tall woman with flowing blonde hair was in the room, it looked like they just moved in, she was ordering some men around while they set up the room. A young girl with almost pitch black hair with bright blonde natural streaks ran into the room, she eerily looks a lot like me when I was younger.
"Mommy! Mommy!" She yelled.
"Yes sweety? Mummy's kinda busy at the moment so you have to be quick."
"There's someone in the room with us Mommy!" The girl yelled at the mother pointing where I stood. I was shocked when I saw this and almost let go but even though I tried, I was stuck in this memory.
"There's nobody there Haylee. Now Mommy has to finish helping these guys put stuff away."
Haylee. That's what did it for me. I instantly knew that I had stumbled into my own lost memories. I was hit with a sense of nostalgia and deja vu. It was like I was starting to grasp onto memories long lost and forgotten. It was as if there was a lock in my memories and the key was slowly forming in my hand. Finally moving onto the last memory of joy this chair held was Thanksgiving. I could tell it had been multiple years since the last memory for the fact that the young girl, Haylee, was now a teenager. I saw as the family was gathered around the table, some playing Uno at the other end of the table. Haylee, I still wasn't completely convinced that these were my memories, was talking to her parents in the other room, talking about a letter she had received from her first pick college. She was accepted into the University of Iowa. It was happy times until it happened. A blinding white light filled my vision and then everyone was moving around like zombies. We had no memory of who we were or where we came from but did remember how to use everything but memories attached to people and emotions were ripped away from us.
"Who are you, and why do you look like me?" A voice said from behind me. I turned around to see my younger teenage self.
"Can you see me?" I asked, curious as to how she could see me.
"Well yeah, can't everyone?"
"No. I'm just visiting past memories and happened to stumble on my own."