The Memory Collectors

by Dete Meserve

Aeon Expeditions promises a journey into our past but does not guarantee that what happens will be meaningful.

Got it okay i lowkey forgot the premise for a hot sec

Then he will be forever gone, his future erased in a senseless accident.

Bro how many books do i have to read this year where the son d*es. I am still recovering from Broken Country (not a spoiler) but this is legit the THIRD book i read this year with a son who dies

If you could spend an hour in your past, what would you do?

Great question. Probs see th Jonas Brothers at the When You Look Me in the Eyes tour

Live long enough and you accumulate losses.

they also say "if theres a reason im still alive when everyone who loves me has died im willing to waijt for it"

I had no idea back then that once you love something—anything—all you can ever be sure is that you’re going to lose it someday.

Shit

Why was the pistol we kept in the safe missing, along with three thousand dollars in cash?

I assumed it was a car accident but okay

Here’s what I know. If I hadn’t lashed out in anger, he would not have been on that stretch of highway when that car spun through the curve and took his life. He would be still alive.

Ok so tech a car wreck

But we can’t get rich by knowing the future. We can’t bring any physical object from the past. Not our dad’s antique watch. Or any sentimental item we’ve got our heart set on. We can’t secret away the Willie Mays baseball card that’s worth a quarter of a million dollars today. And no, I can’t buy some valuable stock, squirrel it away in a safe deposit box, then look

Interesting

That’s because the way we enter and exit the past creates a reset when we return.

Right like avengers endgame

No matter what we do in the past, the future we return to remains unchanged.

Oh so not avengers endgame

I thought we were becoming a couple. Until she didn’t show up for the picnic she’d planned for Emma Wood State Beach on August 26.

Uh oh

I heard about one guy who jumped and found himself on the crapper in an outhouse in Mexico on a family vacation. He had food poisoning and spent the entire sixty minutes in misery. He asked for his money back, but Aeon refused. Nothing’s guaranteed.

This would happen to me

I’m someone who rarely cries, so these thick tears are foreign and yet strangely inevitable at the same time. They’ve been locked inside since the old me died on August 25, 2025. The day I became paralyzed.

Oh shit

Yet, a week and two days after my rejection, I received a notice indicating that my status had been modified. Congratulations. Your Aeon Expeditions trip application has been moderated and approved.

Weird first the handicapped guy now this... Sus

I glance at my phone on the coffee table: August 20, 2025.

Same date as the other guy...

But they are less than five days away.

Feel like rhat was the same amount of time as the guy who met the girl. Sorry i am not keeping track of anyones names

Later that day, the Ventura County Star reported that one man had been found dead and another was injured on the Pacific Coast Highway in what appeared be a hit-and-run. The California Highway Patrol was searching for the driver. A

Knew it

I’d paralyzed another.

Yo...... She killed the son from the first chapter and paralyzed the one from the hiking chapter. NOW it makes sense

“A few of the readings are out of range,”

The handicapped dude and the hit and run guy

wish you had died instead of Sam!”

Oooo thats brutal

“This is maybe my best day ever,” he says softly.

Sad

Didn’t Van Gogh—or maybe it was Tupac—say that?

DeF tUpac

few years ago, I made a living selling pills and spending my free time at tailgate parties and bars.

So he was a dealer

After I pay, I have the feeling the woman is still watching me. I glance over and get a good look at her. And then I realize, that’s not lust in her eyes. It’s tears. And I know exactly who she is.

Yuppppp the mom

Like she was either channeling Lex Luthor or celebrating what she’d done.

SUPERMAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“You wouldn’t know him. His name is Sam Saunders.”

Shit

The name on the license isn’t Kate Montano. It’s Sarah Canford. The address is in Grand Junction, Michigan. I can’t process what I’m seeing. I slip a credit card out of its slot. It’s also embossed with the name: Sarah Canford.

Wait have we met this character or see this name before? Im confused

“I got a surprise visitor while you were out.” She motions to the man on the couch whose back is to me. “Andy, this is my friend Sam.”

Oh shit

“If there was something—or someone—there, why didn’t the police find them after the accident? And if it was people—humans—who ran across the highway, why didn’t they stop when they heard the accident?” “Elizabeth’s right. Maybe light was playing tricks on our eyes,” Logan says. “It’s dark on that highway. Why would anyone be running across that highway at 11:30 at night?” My voice is small. “Maybe for the same reason Sam was there.”

DO we know why sam was there btw

My reasons for following her are, well, crummy.

I cant read this guy he seems like a love bomber

That won’t happen. I’m free.

Yeah i think shit is still gonna hit the damn fan

Her voice catches. “My friend is bringing me something that will keep me safe.”

The gun sams bringing the gun

“That’s when I realized I wanted to marry you.” His retelling of a memory reawakens feelings I’d long buried. And the way he’s looking at me makes me see myself—and us—in a different light. How did I give up on us?

Happy for yall but i dont care and were wsting time

“My ex,” she says. “Dane Reynolds. I left—escaped—from him last January.” “Your … husband?”

Figured this was the case

“The story’s been all over the news. Did you know there were four of you stranded in the past? They’re calling you the Memory Collectors. Reporters are gonna fight to get your story. Luckily for you, none of them have your cell phone number.”

Lol

He hesitates. “Every time we tried to extract any of you, the system malfunctioned. Eventually, we realized it was because your paths kept crossing.”

Kindof doesnt make sense but aight

I’m on the hunt for Dane Reynolds. And when I find him, I’ll bring him to justice.

Ok big guy

She wonders if I’d like to meet up for drinks and attaches a photo; she’s pretty with kohl-lined eyes and dark brown hair falling loosely to her shoulders.

Lol shoot ur shot mama

“Once we knew we could send up to four people to a specific date, we decided to scour the applications to find candidates. We received an application for the man who was paralyzed on August 25, 2025. I realized then that he was the man you and I’d been searching for all this time. The former drug dealer who’d been in the same accident as Sam. Logan Sandoval. The Aeon board had initially disqualified him because of his health issues. But once I saw the application, I convinced them to put him through.”

Doesnt shock me that this was orchestrated

“And yet you’re on social media looking for Dane Reynolds. Pretending you don’t know that he’s dead. Or that he’s the Man at the Pier.”

teaaaaaaaaaaaaa

“Dane Reynolds is my brother,” she says. “After you and I chatted on social media, I took your advice and read He’s Gone.”

Shitttttttttttt

Did Kate kill Dane?

Now did she

Your declaration is giving me “red flags” vibes. Dude, she might have moved on for a reason.

Yeah like lowkey love bomber vibes

When I look up, I see someone standing a few yards away. Kate.

Its just too convenient

She releases a breath. “Just because we had a relationship in the past doesn’t mean we have a future.”

Thank god someone recognizes this isweird