[ WP ] All my life I had been fascinated with the memories I can recall that were n't my own .

Today the money heavied her pockets and she heard a constant whistle as she fled from the building she worked at. Every day, every night. Excel tables, mindless chatter. She worked only to make money, she made money only for her thought, the thoughts she needed. 
 
 She turned down into the darker part of the city, the slums. She blocked out the jeers of the crowd and ignored the rocks pelted at her. She was a proper woman wearing proper clothes and anyone like that in this part of town was not welcome. But she kept walking, eventually turning down a darkened alley and seeing a sight that caused her despair. 
 
 Three policemen stood in the alley, one holding a baseball bat as the other two held a man. As she watched in horror, he was beaten unconscious, methodically, and mindlessly. 
 
 Only then did one of the policemen notice her standing there, with a look of shock on her face. 
 
 “ Don ’ t worry, ” they said, “ this one deserves it. Look at the machinery. You know what he does. ” 
 
 She looked at the chair she had sat in many times before, the metal hat and the wires contained inside it ripped out and spread on the floor. She knew exactly what he did, and she had been his customer many times. Every pay day she spent it all for the vague memory of a happy life. 
 
 “ He ’ s one of them dreamcatchers, they call it, ” he continued, “ he ’ ll take someone else ’ s thoughts and sell them to the highest bidder. ” 
 
 But she wasn ’ t listening anymore. She took a final look at the policeman, tears in her eyes. 
 
 “ Why are you sad? ” he said, not yet making a connection. 
 
 She ran from the alley and down the street. The rocks that pelted her hair were heavier but none were as heavy as how much grief she felt, how much pain. She dashed to her car and she sped to her house, even as the memories of the happy life she led slowly faded away, as a rock in a stream will slowly turn smooth. She lay in her bed and desperately tried to recall the husband and children who needed her... 
 
... but they did n't need her anymore, and they left her there, alone and helpless, faced with the monotony of real life. 
 
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