By: Stein Acker.

It works 94% of the time, so it should have worked for Aidan: right after a traumatizing event, zap the hippocampus, and the patient won’t remember a thing.

It was fine at first: a missing day from a couple weeks ago, but who remembers everything anyway? Now, walking past Nelson and Main makes his skin seep a rancid sweat and his eyes blur with tears. Yet when he sifts through his memories, he finds scenes of sunny childhood days, pretentious college discussions, and calm morning walks.

His legs yearn to run, but how do you run from life’s little joys?

© 2025. Stein Acker

Stein Acker (he/him) is an MD/PhD student at the University of Iowa and has work forthcoming in The Examined Life Journal. Originally from California, he’s not sure if he’s lived in Iowa long enough to call himself a Midwesterner yet.

Posted January 15, 2025.