“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jessica said. “Memory is in our brains. Like, literally stored in the brain; you can see it on a scan. It can’t exist outside of someone’s mind.”
“I don’t know,” John said. “Think of all the places that have … atmosphere. Old houses, sometimes, places where you walk in and you feel sad or nostalgic, even though you’ve never been there before.”
“That’s not other people’s memories, though,” Lamar said. “That’s subconscious cues, stuff we don’t realize we’re noticing, that tells us we should feel some way. Peeling paint, old-fashioned furniture, lace curtains, details that tell us to be nostalgic—mostly things we pick up from movies, probably. I got lost at a carnival when I was four. I never got so scared in my life, but I don’t think anybody’s feeling suddenly desperate for their mom when they pass that Ferris wheel.”
“Maybe they are,” Marla said. “I don’t know, sometimes I have little moments where it’s like there’s something I forgot, something I regret, or that I’m happy about, or something that makes me want to cry, but it’s only there for a split second. Then it’s gone. Maybe we’re all shedding our fear and regret and hope everywhere we go, and we’re catching traces of people we’ve never met. Maybe it’s everywhere."