Having a long term memory is to be able to remember something for a long time. Short term memory is probably the opposite way, meaning o­ne can o­nly remember something for a little period of time. There are people who can remember everything he/she learns for a long long long time… And there are also people who can not remember anything at all after about two weeks. Like the girl standing in front of the bus station this morning.

However, people can make their short tem memories become long term memories by certain ways: they can think about those things everyday or keep reviewing what are in their short tem memories, and eventually, they will become long term memories. It is that simple.

The girl’s short- term- memory appears in front of her this morning. She has not thought about him or reviewed how he looks like for a long time. She has no idea who he is, not even the slightest clue. She just stands there, wishing that he was her long term memory.

Since when o­ne has what o­ne wishes for anyway, no matter how much she whispers to herself, there is no such image of him in her head. There is o­nly a loud beating sound coming out from deep down her chest. She stands there, face to face with him, lets the wind passing through. Her heart keeps beating louder and her head is becoming dizzy. Finally, she takes all her courage and opens her mouth. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Matt” he smiled, “remember me?” o­nce again, her heart is running wild. The sound of his name hits her head hard and deep. The name tries to crawl into her brain system, searching for a tiny fraction of memories of the man with that name. But nothing comes out. Her long term memory is frozen, her short term memory is not functioning. Her brain is broken into many tiny pieces while her heart is burning like fire. That is how handsome the guy standing in front of her is and how pathetic she looks in front of him.

There are several options that she can do at the moment: she can run away and pretends she has never heard or met him; she can come out and tells the truth that she does not remember him at all; or she can pretend that she knows him and tries to act along. First option would make her look like such a complete loser that she would not be able to look at herself in the mirror the next morning. She can perfectly pretend that she knows him and just goes along. But that is stupid because he will see through her act right away. The best option probably is to come out and tell him the truth: “I don’t remember you at all.” But it does not sound that good. In fact, it sounds horrible and mean. He would think she forgets him so easily and does not want to talk to her anymore. What a horrible option! Then, coming back to the first option: she should run. No, not run. She should walk. Walking sounds so much better. It seems like she knows what she is doing and less like she is running away from him.

So she closes her mouth and takes o­ne step backward. Two steps. Three steps. Then she starts to turn around when she hears him asking: “Where are you going, Sarah?”

Sarah…? My name is not Sarah, she thinks. She is definitely sure that her name is not Sarah. Even though her brain is not so well functioned, her name should still be in her long term memory that she can pull it right out and concludes to herself that Sarah is not her name. Then, the whole time, it was not her who forgot him. It was him who has mistaken her for someone else.

What a lame guy! Now she is sure that she wants to run away from him. There is no need in trying to remember him anymore. No, not running. She is going to walk away, takes control of her life and the pieces left from her broken mind.

Then she quickly gets in the bus, completely ignoring his shout behind her. She looks at the bus driver for a moment and takes out her member card with a yellow name tag printed o­n it: Sarah Lemont.
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Written by Trần Phương My A 03-06
Edited by Chu Vân Hương A1 98-01</o:p>