Harsh lighting, cold basement, and a dripping heating system—your typical evil lair. Ryder blinked, taking in his surroundings. A million questions raced through his mind. Where was he? Why did it smell like mold? More importantly, whose place was this? He was disoriented, confused, and tied to a chair! He struggled against the tight ropes before suddenly hearing footsteps approaching. To his surprise, it was the friendly neighborhood doctor, Dr. Banner. Ryder, thinking he was there to save him, looked at him helplessly. “Doctor, please,” he whispered, defeated. But instead, the doctor smirked. “You're awake,” he stated, as if it wasn't already obvious. Dr. Banner began to pace the room, contemplating his next move. Ryder piped up again. “Why aren't you helping me?! Untie me!”

“You asked to be here, kid.”

“Are you crazy?! I'd never ask to be tied up!”

Dr. Banner continued to pace, making Ryder even more uneasy. Finally, he stopped pacing, picking up a tennis racket from the corner. Ryder's eyes flickered with familiarity. He knew that racket from somewhere, somehow. It felt like a distant memory his brain had forgotten to file.

“So you recognize this? Interesting,” he noted while scribbling in his notebook.

He continued this process for hours, asking weird questions and then scribbling something down. Finally, he stopped and walked toward the door, causing Ryder to panic.

“So you're just going to leave me here?! What is this?! Let me go!”

“Like I said, you asked to be here.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“You really don't remember, do you? Looks like the experiment worked.”

“What experiment?! What did you do?! I demand to know! Now.”

The doctor's voice dropped to an eerie calm.

“You wanted to forget, Ryder.”

“What?”

“You came to me and asked me to wipe your memory. Looks like the memory of the tennis racket survived. You wanted me to replace a thought: your heartbreak.”

All at once, everything came flooding back, overriding the experiment. Monitors around him beeped loudly as Dr. Banner rushed to save him.

But it was too late.

The tennis racket. The court. The heartbreak. A face he couldn't quite name.

But Ryder remembered.

His childhood best friend, his favorite person. Laughter, happiness, growing up. Then... love. Deep love, genuine love.

Then, letdown. Forgiveness. Trying again.

The cycle repeats, but Ryder held onto hope because he loved her. Because he thought she was it for him.

Then, a tennis racket, and his mind couldn't seem to fill in the blanks.

Finally, darkness.

He glanced around, dazed. Dr. Banner was mumbling as his experiment failed.

“You weren't supposed to remember.”

Ryder's eyes widened as he noticed something. The monitors weren't just normal monitors. They were tracking dreams and thoughts!

What was so powerful about Ryder's thoughts that made him study them?

Ryder became desperate, wanting to know more.

“Why did you take my memories?! Give them back!” he choked out.

“This wasn't supposed to happen at all, kid. Don't you get it?!”

Finally, the beeping stopped, and so did his ability to see.

Nothing but a thought.

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