i. i stare in the mirror until there is nothing left and my features starts to melt away. ‘who am i’, i wonder, ‘without my memories to serve as a foundation?’ i caress the mirror and try to remember something, anything from my distant past but i cannot. all i can hear is the endless, empty, and meaningless ballroom music i once danced to years and years ago repeating over and over again in my mind. perhaps i am just an empty shell now- ready to be thrown out with the rest of the trash.

ii. day by day, my memory worsens, until i am unable to remember what happened only the day before. they are worried, but for what? my memory and mental state have already deteriorated beyond fixing. and when i tell them to take care of my rose garden when i am gone, they begin to cry, their salty tears running down their cheeks.

iii. today is my final day, i think. i can no longer remember the faces of my loved ones, and the only people i see crowded around my bed are strangers. suddenly, i remember a long-lost memory, but it is too late, because i am already slipping into nothingness, and the strangers are all crying, and i wonder why, and