The next morning found Jenna begrudgingly trudging to work for the first time. She already couldn’t wait for the day to be over, despite the bright and cheery morning Friday offered. She walked slowly down the sidewalk, iced coffee hanging at her side. 

She shuffled through the security gate and was surprised to see Felicity waiting for her. She looked rather tense and motioned quickly for Jenna to meet her. 

“What’s the matter?” Jenna asked as Felicity pulled her into the women’s restroom.

“He’s back,” Felicity hissed as the door swung closed. She checked that all the stalls were empty. “Ternal – he’s in with Talus right now.”

“What?” Jenna cried. “Why with Talus?” 

“I don’t know,” Felicity shot back. “But Talus sent Jessie by your desk twice already.”

Jenna swore under her breath.

“He stalked me,” she whispered.

“What?” Felicity replied.

“He stalked me,” Jenna repeated. “Last night. He met me outside of work, by the parking garage. He was really drunk.”

“Oh my God, Jenna!” Felicity gasped. “That’s not okay.”

“Yeah, well,” Jenna shot back. “I don’t want to get fired, right? I should probably just let him do whatever he wants.”

Jenna moved to the door. 

“Come on,” Felicity said. “That’s not fair! This is so different!”

Jenna paused at the door and sighed. 

“Sorry,” she said. “You’re right. Let me just try and go deal with this.”

Jenna made her way straight to Talus’s office. It sat at the far corner of the work floor, partitioned on two sides by frosted glass walls. She stopped at the door which read ‘Talus Meelo – Director’. Jenna gritted her teeth and knocked on the door. There was a quick flash of movement behind the glass before Talus himself opened the door.

 “Jenna, hi,” he said. His hair and outfit looked as obnoxiously curated as usual. “Come on in.”

Beyond Talus, through the open doorway, Jenna saw Mr. Ternal sitting in front of the desk. He wore a meek expression and looked incredibly tired. 

“Hi, Jenna,” he said, looking down at his feet. “Thank you in advance for your time.”

“Come on in,” Talus gestured. “Have a seat, please.”

Jenna shuffled into the room but kept her distance from Ternal and refused to sit. Talus, sensing the tension, moved around behind his desk, but remained standing as well. 

“So, Jenna,” Talus continued. “Rob came in to voice some concerns, but also…to offer an explanation and…”

“And an apology, really,” Mr. Ternal added. “Jenna, as you can imagine, I’m not super thrilled with those memories. A lot of my behavior back then was misconstrued and it’s probably no surprise to you that my drinking had something to do with it. After those days in court, I decided to get sober – and had been for many years. But the episode yesterday was more triggering than I realized, and to come back in the evening like that and pressure you. It was incredibly unprofessional. It was the first drink I’ve had in so long, but obviously it was a huge mistake. I’m very sorry.”

Jenna’s could barely take her eyes off the trinkets on Talus’s desk. A number of pseudo-Buddhist knickknacks were interspersed with a few framed photos of him and some of Momento’s more famous clients. She just stared and did not speak.

“Jenna?” Talus said. “I think Rob’s gesture here is a really admirable one. To just wrangle failure like this. Really acknowledge and own past mistakes, you know?”

“Did Miss Montgomery receive such a heartfelt apology?” Jenna blurted. She raised her head and looked Mr. Ternal right in the eye. 

She could see it. While Talus bumbled over his emotionally intelligent word choice, Jenna saw Mr. Ternal’s stare galvanize for just a moment. His entire body bristled momentarily before he caught himself. 

“We are all about memories, here,” Talus said stupidly, “but I can assure you, Mr. Ternal, that we’re also very happy to leave the past in the past.”

Mr. Ternal regained his composure without breaking eye contact with Jenna. The control with which he commanded the subtle relaxation of his body, face, and tone sent shivers down Jenna’s spine. 

“Yes, I appreciate that,” Mr. Ternal said to Talus without looking away from Jenna. “That’s kind of the thing of it, isn’t it? Now that Jenna…accidentally experienced these memories with me, they are hers now too. What a conundrum.”

“And a valid concern,” Talus replied. “But understand that Jenna – all of our technicians really – undergo extensive background checks and assessment batteries to train and guard against the protections of our client’s data. It’s kind of like a military security clearance, but for your protection and discretion.”

“It does make me wonder,” Mr. Ternal said, breaking eye contact with Jenna and turning his gaze to Talus. “Could your software not find those memories and delete them?”

Talus cocked his head and furrowed his brow.

“I…I’m not sure what you mean,” he said.

“Well, they aren’t her memories,” Mr. Ternal replied coolly, now wholly ignoring Jenna. “I’m sure she would be more than happy to forget them – if she could. Why not actively…prune them, say?”

Talus nodded slowly, swallowed, and looked at Jenna for a very brief moment. 

“Mr. Ternal – uh, Rob,” Talus began. “That’s just not something we–”

“Of course not!” Mr. Ternal laughed. “It’s just a joke! Gosh. Look, I really am sorry for the role I played here. I clearly have some more ‘me’ work to do. But if I’m being honest, I’d really like to verify that those files get deleted – today.”

“We’ll get on that right now,” Talus agreed. “Right, Jenna?”

Jenna bobbed her head in some semblance of agreement before using the quasi-direction as an invitation to quickly excuse herself. She shut the door behind her and hurriedly walked to her workstation, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She dumped her things on her desk and went to the break room for a bottle of water, and threw away her still-full coffee. The last thing her nervous system needed was more cold brew. She returned to her desk, put in ear buds, and for several hours ignored everyone around her, including Felicity. 

Thankfully, Talus had already agreed to have the editing of Mr. Ternal’s electrical knowledge reassigned to someone else. Regardless, having to go back through and identify all of his files for deletion felt humiliating. The root files for the courtroom incident were way more extensive than Jenna realized, but this time she didn’t look at anything. She spent the day filing the forms for deletion overrides and turned them in directly to Talus by the end of the day. 

Matt Hebert is an engineer and self-published author. His dopamine-fueled creative pursuits have spanned from chicken keeping, sand sculpture, acting, and public speaking, but writing is nearest and dearest to his heart. He lives in Bellevue with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on Instagram at @jerkofalltradeshebert or email him at matt.hebert.books@gmail.com

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