Cafe at the End of Memory

Write a story using the words coffee, remember and ice in the genre of horror.

The way the coffee tasted at the coffee shop on the corner of 5th street and Main and his name was all he could remember before the ice storm came. It had been such a strange storm, taking away all memories with it as the ice slowly melted over the course of the next few days. 

Tobias didn’t want to be here, but with no memory of the past except for the coffee shop, he didn’t know where else to go. Besides, Joel had given him the advice to stay put. They didn’t know if the ice itself was dangerous, and it still came every couple of weeks or so. It didn’t seem to erase their memories since the first storm, but it made it difficult to even think about going anywhere else.

If he was honest with himself though, Joel’s advice seemed like the worst he’d ever received. They were running out of food. It was tough to know where to go next, but if they didn’t make a choice soon, they wouldn’t be alive to make any decisions. 

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since the first ice storm came, but judging by the number of notches Lena had carved into the wooden bench in the coffee shop each day, they’d been in the same place for at least six months. 

Fingering his necklace, Tobias stared down at the tiny raven that hung at the end. His father had given it to him on a leather rope when he was ten. He only knew that because of a diary entry he’d found in a journal stuffed into a backpack he assumed was his. Lena had found his name and a phone number written inside the leather journal, but when they tried to call, the line was dead. Every line was dead around them. It was like the ice had taking their memories, and with it, the power to get them back.