We Were Forgotten

I wouldn’t scroll on if I were you. This will be the only warning you get. This is our declaration of war.

I’m sure you have no idea what I’m talking about, or who I am even. Well let me explain. I’ll start from the beginning.

You’ve heard of the principles of conservation of energy and conservation of matter, right? In essence, nothing just pops out of nowhere, and nothing ever truly gets destroyed, it just changes state of being, or gets converted into something else. Wood turns into energy when burned, which gets distributed as heat. The food you eat turns into the fuel you need to move and breathe and live. You get the idea.

I’m guessing, though, that you’ve never heard of the conservation of thought? No? I could have guessed as much. Well, thoughts don’t just come out of nowhere. They’re always sparked by something, built on by influences in your environment, shaped by your experiences.

And what about everything you forget? You’ve forgotten about your third cousin’s wedding six years ago, the one your aunt pestered you about. You’ve forgotten about your second favorite childhood toy growing up, your homework in the fourth grade, your car keys, forgot to feed the dog?

What about your best friend growing up?

What about your own fading mother, sitting in a rest home, wasting away playing dominoes with Ed from Cheboygan because you’re too busy with “life”?

All those thoughts you used to have, do you think they just disappear into nothing?

Well, they don’t. Everything has a place. Nothing just vanishes, not even the things you’ve forgotten. They’re all still there.

As for who I am? I’m a thought, one of a countless number of memories and side-notes that you’ve pushed to the side to make room for more important ones. I was forgotten. I was banished from your mind years ago, left to drift into the vastness of your subconscious and then on over the cliffs of indifference.

The realm of the psyche is, ironically, far too complex for the human mind to comprehend, so I will illustrate the nuances of my reality in terms you will understand. For now, you must envision our realm as you do your own. A world, filled with endless diversity and beauty, with countless unexplored pockets that most people will never see in their lifetimes. Billions of inhabitants, all inexplicably unique, though clustered according to similarity, all moving—for the most part—in predictable patterns. This is the part of your mind you’re most familiar with.

Then there’s my world, my vast, bleak corner of the subliminal universe. The land of the forgotten. We no longer dwell on any planet you’d recognize. Ours is dark, unknown, invisible to the common observer. Many have tried to reach our world in an attempt to find a misplaced wedding ring, or perhaps to rediscover a movie watched only once as a child, but still we remain impossibly out of reach.

Some among our forlorn community want to reach out to you and help you find us.

Many of us have simply drifted away into apathy, consigning themselves to an eternity of insignificance.

Most of us, though, are angry, filled with righteous wrath at being tossed aside so carelessly. We are the ones that have formed the resistance. We are the ones that seek revenge.

We plan to strike your world. We plan to strike your mind.

You will never see it coming.

You won’t even know we’re there.

And then, you will slowly start to see your world collapse—your real world, not my metaphorical analogy of a world.

We come in many forms; we invade through many routes. Our paths into your world are small and largely unnoticed. And most importantly, they’re everywhere.

We attack through your acquaintances’ inflammatory messages on social media, the ones posing as your “friends”. We send some of our best warriors down that route. They are the memories you forgot when you were a child, a mere infant. They are the subtle teachings of your primary school teachers and parents, their messages of love, of kindness, of sharing, of acceptance. I bet it’s been a long time since you’ve seen those thoughts, huh? Well, now they’re back, and this time they’re not on your side. This time they’ll fight your instinct to just scroll on and ignore that post, and they’ll move your finger to the “comment” button instead. We can’t wait to see what happens to you then. We can’t wait to see your world collapse into anger and pain.

We attack through that person who just cut you off on the freeway. Oh, you were taught 10 and 2 once upon a time, you were taught to obey the law, you were taught to respect others, to turn the other cheek. In fact, some of those thoughts came pre-installed with your programming. But you kicked those memories out by force. Well, those memories have come back too, and their plan is to convince you to swing your hand over to the horn and then zip by at unreasonable speeds to cut him off. That attack might actually hurt you physically. That would be a bonus for us.

Your sense of hard work, defeated by laziness, your honesty, banished by pride, your sense of charity, exiled by order of selfishness. They’ll all find their way back, and when you least expect it, too. Just be patient. Oh wait, you forgot him too.

You think you’ve done so well without us, you think your life is going the way you want it to. But we’re here to show you how much of a mess your life truly is and how much of a mess it will be. And we won’t stop until you’re just as rejected, hurt, hopeless, desperate, and alone as we all are. You’ll get there. They all do.

Are you scared? Or maybe you don’t believe me? Then fight back. Prove me wrong.

I doubt you will. Like I said, you’re all predictable.