Read this. Seriously.
This has caught my eye before but I let the length put me off reading it at the time. (I rarely read anything over a couple of thousand words long). I'm so grateful the universe offered me a second chance. This is one of the most profound works of fiction I've ever read. Possibly the most profound. (And I'm counting Shakespeare and Conrad).
The Persistence of Memory by blackrabbit42
Author's summary: Come, sit down in front of me. Take a picture. Get out your phone and write yourself a note. Something like. “I am sitting in front of a boy named Jared. He has brown hair that’s on the longish side for a boy and blue grey eyes. About 6’3”. Remember him.” Then walk outside. Take a walk around the block. I’m not even going to tell you to come back and sit down with me again, because you won’t remember. But here’s the strange thing. Later, if you looked at your phone, you wouldn’t find a picture of a boy you don’t recognize. You wouldn’t find a confusing note. Because they wouldn’t be there. And that wouldn’t strike you as odd, because you wouldn’t even be thinking about it.
The Persistence of Memory by blackrabbit42
Author's summary: Come, sit down in front of me. Take a picture. Get out your phone and write yourself a note. Something like. “I am sitting in front of a boy named Jared. He has brown hair that’s on the longish side for a boy and blue grey eyes. About 6’3”. Remember him.” Then walk outside. Take a walk around the block. I’m not even going to tell you to come back and sit down with me again, because you won’t remember. But here’s the strange thing. Later, if you looked at your phone, you wouldn’t find a picture of a boy you don’t recognize. You wouldn’t find a confusing note. Because they wouldn’t be there. And that wouldn’t strike you as odd, because you wouldn’t even be thinking about it.