Day 256
Man has evolved over the moons that have passed. It has been a great amount of moons since I have written. I have taken my friends from the forbidden society. I have taught my new men the ways of the outside world. “I” is the word of the gods; “we”, the root of all evil; and the forbidden word “ego”. Teaching my men their new vocabulary, living quarters, and knowledge boxes has not been easy, as it is the art of teaching old people a new life.

I have read many knowledge boxes called books and learned the ways, things, people, and lives of the Unmentionable Times. As like us, they had to teach themselves how to live new paths. Gaea learned how to make clothing items and how to cook. I have learned how to hunt, build, and assemble things. My new friends with new lives have their freedoms to live however they wish. Our daughter and only child, Rosemary, is more beautiful than the rising and setting sun, more beautiful that freedom itself. She is only 15 moons but learning more everyday, perhaps an infant with more potential than I.

Today I present an idea for much better living . I gathered my people in my home and stood in front of them.
I said, “We the people… we have more potential than the town I have taken you from. We have freedoms that their people don’t have. We must create our own society with our own thoughts, our own freedoms, and our own wants. Are you with me?”

For the moment everyone seemed to agree. Birthing this society will be no less than hard work.
Day 257
Today we begin to structure our society. I have done much planning throughout last night. Gaea has overlooked my planning and has put in her ideas. I shall show my other friends and invite their ideas to my list.
Day 300
After much scouting that Aiolos has done and reported to me, we have found the perfect land. This land is flat, spacious, and resourceful. My friends and I shall move our possessions and build temporary living quarters for the time being. Days later my wife, child, and the other wives are planned to move out to this area with the rest of the important possessions.
Day 343
Shyama, a wife to one of my other men, asked again at our social meeting what our plan was. I explained that we are creating a free society. Everyone can have their own wants, needs, thoughts, and words. It seems as though after another explanation and time, almost 100 days after the first presentation of my idea, there is more objection. I asked my men and their families why they think of their objection and the answers are almost identical.

My followers don’t want to follow my ideas. They don’t like the schematic that they can have their own freedoms, and they don’t know what to do with their needs, how to achieve their wants, or what they can do with their newly obtained freedoms.
Day 345
Two days have passed since the social meeting in which the problem of freedoms was brought up. Other than that little road bump, the society is going up pretty well. We have more houses built and I have coached some of the strugglers through what to do with their lives. Maybe if they get to pick a job they will feel better…

I have given each person the list of jobs they can choose from. There are jobs like birthmothers, cooks, librarians, and scholars. All I would ever want is my people to enjoy life for what it is.
Day 350
Over the last few weeks I have been getting a hurting head for hours at a time. From what I have learned, I think they are called “headaches” and they are “common”. Usually overlooking them, I have noticed them more recently. They have been getting more powerful and I get these weird images in my head of old memories from the Home of Infants and Home of Students for short moments. What could this mean?
Day 371
There is such little time to write. At the last social meeting, the town was named “Bexley”. Bexley is coming along great. More people have joined and the population has grown a lot. Most of the newcomers were stranded with nowhere to go or they had escaped like I had from the old town. I have become buried up to my chin with work to do around Bexley to help out the others and still pay much attention to Rosemary and Gaea.

There has been a conflict though, my old followers and friends from the old society cannot handle Bexley. They cannot handle their freedoms as they said moons ago at one of the first social meetings. I tried talking to them on how to compromise, but it has made little to no change in their ideas. I guess I can just release them from our society…
Day 379
My friends are gone. I will never forget them, especially Aiolos, my first friend I had made from our childhood society. No one will ever find them, as they have departed from our lives- permanently. All I have to rely on is my family.
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Day 3,926
My little angel Rosemary is 12 years old today. She is at her ceremony to receive her job. I have gotten to pick out her job to be my student because I want to teach her about the outside world.
As I have gone through the years my headaches have gotten stronger and stronger with more vivid memories, good and bad. I remember my first invention of the lightbox, but this discovery is felt as a greater achievement. One day I held my beautiful golden one in my arms, and she started to get a headache whilst I was holding her. She said she could see a field of flowers under the gold-dripping sun with each petal dancing in the wind as if it were a dream. Gaea’s headache only lasted until the moment I let go of her, which was about a minute of real world time. I realized that I had been thinking of the book I had just read about a person exploring the open and untouched country, coming across the field. After much research through the few books I could afford to move here from our old house I learned that I could “give memories”.
I want to give this gift to Rosemary. She is rather useless for any other job, as she had inherited my bony structure. Gaea and I are ready to see our first baby graduate.
Day 4,000
The first day of Rosemary’s job as “Receiver of Memory” has approached both of us fast. I am ready to show my daughter the dangers and joys of the outside world, so she can appreciate the life that she has been given. I guided her to my office and I am now writing before her first session, so I will document what happens.

After her first session, I have never been so proud of her. Rosemary was relaxed and withheld the pain from receiving the memories. I only gave her two memories, that of sledding down a hill in the snow and also the memory of sunburn, her first encounter with pain in a memory. Rosemary was very quiet though, she didn’t ask many questions.
Day 4,050

50 days have passed since I have started mentoring my daughter. She seems to be fine with the idea so far, no protesting to learn yet. I have showed her 100 memories so far but I still haven’t heard any questions from Rosemary. She is starting to concern me because I don’t think that she will be able to handle it. Should I assess her on the memories? Should I see if she can transfer them to me?
Day 4,073

Rosemary hasn’t shown up everyday for a while. I think I should ask her what’s going on. I wonder if I am hurting her too much so that she is scared to come to every session. She still isn’t asking me any questions and my poor baby hasn’t been getting much sleep. I wonder if she’s starting to get the headaches that I got years ago and it’s giving her bad dreams. Gaea should probably talk to her.
Day 4,100

I am sitting in my office alone, browsing through my collection of books and old journals. Rosemary hasn’t shown up for a while. A break is dearly needed for both of us, so I will just leave her alone for the rest of the week. Today I will go around and walk upon my beautiful Bexley and admire the people at work.

I visited the Release Center to check the records. I walked in and learned that someone was in the process to be released. I asked whom it was… and it wasn’t an elder. I heard it was a young girl. I looked at the monitors and saw my own Rosemary, holding the syringe. I couldn’t help but fall to my knees and tremble. I couldn’t open the door fast enough to stop her, once I got in she was laying down. I asked her if she was still with me. Rosemary was gone… Rosemary is gone… forever.

I called Gaea and told her to get to the center as fast as possible. Within five minutes she was here. I lead her in and she immediately drowned herself in her tears. We held our first child in our arms when she was still warm and limp until she became cold and stiff. Dr. Kingsley came into the room with a knock and held our shoulders. He looked into my wife and I’s eyes with true sincerity marked in his water-flooded eyes and said it was time we should go with a choked and croaky whisper. With his dark hair and tall stature, he fixed his lab coat and lead us outside of the room. There were no look-backs. A funeral is to be planned for the weekend.

Day 4,102

Rosemary’s ceremony was the best that it could have ever been. The whole town joined in to view her open-casket. Gaea had dressed Rosemary in the dress she had stitched together for her graduation earlier in the year. After the time that had passed and the funeral ceremony had been over with, it was time to carry her casket to the graveyard. Gaea and I held each other upon the dais as we caressed Rosemary’s gelid hair, face, and hands bittersweetly. My eyes couldn’t hold back their tears and the amount I had cried during those hours could have watered every basket of flowers donated in Rosemary’s honour for a week. I feel as though someone had tied a cinder block to my chest, but my pain can’t possibly one-up Gaea’s.I will always be a father to my society, but Gaea possibly won’t ever be a mother again.
Day 15,000

I stopped writing after Rosemary’s death. Whenever I saw my journals all I could think about was the day that I last looked through them, which was the day of her death. It has been 30 years and many moons since I stopped writing. Bexley has improved in countless ways. Our population has increased and the town has expanded. Our elite team of scientists have brought back the things from the Unmentionable Times. Bexley is a thriving town.

I have not taken in any students to be “Receiver of Memory” after my daughter. I have been watching this child named Jonas. His father is one of the “Nurturers” for the new babies. Jonas is very unpredictable. I don’t think he has any choices about jobs and he seems to act like a good kid, but there’s something about him that stands out. Jonas is an eleven and soon-to-be graduate. Since I have started monitoring him, he seems to get these jolts of confusion as if he were have headaches and visions like I did…
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Day 15,100
Jonas graduates today. I have chosen his vocation to be my new student. I watched the ceremony from the safety of my annex. My weary bones and muscles can barely handle a walk around town. I will await his appearance tomorrow for his first lesson.
Day 15,101

I feel as though Jonas can handle a painful memory easily, but just for today I will explain the concept to him and give him two memories.

When Jonas arrived he moved slowly into the annex and looked around. I greeted him sweetly and sat him down. I explained to him what it takes to become a “Receiver of Memory” and told him about monitoring him. After the talk with Jonas, I told him to lay down and I gave him the same two memories I gave Rosemary on her first day; sunburn and sledding down a hill. Jonas took the sunburn well, but what I have noticed about him is that he asks a plethora of questions unlike my daughter did. Jonas will be a great replacement for me in the long run.
Day 15,172

The days have gone by so fast. Jonas is very knowledgeable and almost never wants to quit. I have barely had enough time to write. The last memory Jonas received was the memory of release. Jonas has now seen a release. I don’t think he can handle it or the idea that it was my concept. Now that he holds the secret to my society, he should leave so that he can’t tell anyone else. He’s going to leave with my secret as I left my old society with its secret.

Day 15,175

Jonas is gone with one of the newborns that was threatened to be released. I created this perfect utopia so that people feel that they have their own freedoms. I feel like my ways are dirty, but painless. Now that I look back, I escaped from my society for a dirty little secret too and since Jonas has much potential, I bet he will turn out great. He will live the rest of his days well with his new friend.
My bones are weak and squeaky. My writing is wobbly and light. I have a hard time leaving my house and can barely walk. I think it is time for my release from accomplishments. There is no more for me to teach and no more for me to learn. I wish the people of Bexley the best as I will give my wife a kiss and walk to the Release Center.