Reset by Jacqueline Druga Read Free Book Online Page A

somewhere in Cleveland. Anyhow, things were going. Someone was speaking, I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was focused more on the two men in the back of the room. The bio cam picked up their heart rate, body temperature, they were abnormal readings. I wasn’t watching the speaker and when they left, the ground shook. Things fell, there was panic.”
    Nora said, “The explosion you mentioned.”
    “Yes,” Malcolm nodded. “It happened fast, just as I registered something had happened outside the ball room, they were escorting people out. I remember thinking, ‘oh, yeah, bet bio cam B caught the culprit’, then I got dizzy. I started to pass out. I noticed a lot of people were falling. Gas leak. Gas attack. Those were my thoughts and that was the last I recall.”
    Grant spoke up. “The passing out, I remember. The explosion is … faint. I was in the ballroom. That is clear. I play with the New York Symphony. I was asked to play with my strongest string quartet. We received a lot of money to do so. I don’t do shows such as that, but my father coordinated the event so I did it for him. Everything else before that, I recall.”
    Amy lifted her hand to speak. “I remember the explosion. Well, I didn’t feel it.  I was at the Astoria as well.” Her eyes shifted about as she spoke. “I wasn’t at an event. I was actually at a conference. My room at a much cheaper hotel had a problem and the management put me up at the Astoria. I remember thinking how I lucked out. How I was going to embrace every moment in this plush hotel away from my children. I was asleep. Two men pounded on my door, they were wearing masks. I don’t know anything after that.”
    Jason spoke. “I don’t remember the explosion. I know I was nervous. I got a call to do the prayer and introduction at a big awards ceremony. The whole thing is sketchy. My life before that isn’t. But the event is.”
    “That would have been my event,” John said. “I was there for a prestigious writing award. My vision of the future from reality based science fiction. It is up there with the Pulitzer, the event was at the Astoria. So at least four of us remember being there.”
    “Five,” Meredith said. “I was there. I was at the awards. My current lecture tour dealt with where the human race would be in fifty years if it follows the current path of economy, population, and so forth. It was frightening and I, too, had just won an award and that’s why I was invited to attend. So that leaves you …” She turned to Nora.
    Nora tossed up her hands. “I’m blank. I know my name and that I am from Ohio. I am certain I have a husband and kids. But I don’t remember them any more than if I dreamt them. I don’t feel them. A part of me knows I was in New York, but again, it’s like a dream. Real? Not real? That’s how it feels. It’s frustrating because I was one of the first ones awake. Here’s something odd …” She shuffled in her chair. “I keep thinking I’m funny. Like …” she crinkled her brow. “Like I am a really funny person. I’m remembering myself being full of life … funny.”
    John cleared his throat. “Don’t take this as an insult. Based on how you are now, that may be the dream portion of your memory.”
    “No,” Malcolm snapped his finger. “No, it’s not. It’s not. You are. You are funny. I knew you looked familiar. You do a feature once a week on Late Night with Johnny Cramer. You do insane dares. That portion is a huge part of your life. You are funny.”
    Unexpectedly, Nora heard John’s voice in her head.
    “ Aren’t you just funny,” John said.
    Nora looked over to John and she saw him, not at that moment, but in the ballroom, wearing a tuxedo.
    She heard her own laughter.
    “ Pretending not to know the guest of honor,” he said, reaching out, grabbing her arm in a flirtatious way.
    Nora stood, her heart raced.
    “Nora?” Jason called out.
    Instantly, her mind was filled with images, a fast moving