It was a new day in the town of Wilderfort. The birds were flying past, drinking in the pleasant sunlight all the while singing beautiful melodies for the residents to wake up to. The rays of the sun shined harshly upon one man, however. Sitting in an alley, between the garbage bags and rats, was a man hunched over. His hair was matted with a small amount of blood, making it stick together. It left a trail running from his head down to his chin, giving him a striking image. His dark skin was dirty from the night spent between the trash and dust accumulated in the alley.

Hearing the sounds of the birds next to him, the man slowly opened his eyes. Images swirled in front of his eyes and he had to blink a few times to make them lock into place. He craned his neck upwards to look around and felt an ache at the base of it, no doubt due to the position he had been in. One hand on a nearby pile, he hoisted himself up and onto his feet. He had to hold onto the wall for support, as his feet were failing to respond.

He shuffled out of the alley and slowly but surely regained sensation in his body. After a while, he stood up tall and roamed the streets in front of him, watching old carriages move past him. He shaded his eyes against the sunlight, choosing to focus on the townspeople instead. What he noticed were quick glances being shot toward his location, but those quickly disconnected as the people went on their merry way.

The man wondered why that was. Am I dressed poorly? He looked down to his clothes and concluded that, yes, he was. He ran into a shop with mirrors on display on his path and headed inside. The old man, no doubt the owner of the shop, was busy polishing some mirrors and so ignored him. He seemed to be wearing an open vest over a buttoned shirt. The shirt showed his experience, as it was tainted with stains that had faded over time. Turning to the mirrors, the man took in his own image. I have no idea who this is, blasts.

The man touched his own face in the mirror, but accidentally pushed a bit too hard, nudging the mirror a bit too much. ”Uh-“

The mirror began to fall over, but the old man ran over and grabbed it before it could fully shatter on the ground in front of him. “That was very rude of you, boy!” he said to the man.

“One small tap and I would have lost my entire month’s earnings. Do you have anything to say about that?”

“I’m sorry? I didn’t do it out of any ill will, mister…?”

“Geneppo, lad. Were you born with the strength of ten men that you couldn’t see how hard you nudged my poor mirror?”

“I apologize, Mr. Geneppo. I just wanted to have a good look at my face is all.”

Geneppo eyed the man up and down, noticing his haggard state.

“Well, you can have a look after you go and clean yourself up. I won’t let some stranger drag mud into my establishment. Now shoo,” he said to the man and turned away.

“I wouldn’t know where to do that, uhh Mr. Geneppo. Perhaps you could guide me to a location?”

“Never heard of a bath in your life, have you? Very well.” Geneppo turned around to face the man once again. “What’s your name, lad?”

“Wouldn’t know that either.” The man looked uncertain as he said that. Geneppo noticed the face he was putting on. “Oh, right then.” He looked around for a second and set his eyes on the flowing cloth outside of his shop. “Banner, let’s name you that for now.”

The man liked the name so he accepted it. “Right then, Banner, you go down that road and you’ll end up near the hospital. Get them to take a look at your head, alright? I’ve some business to tend to.”

Banner nodded in understanding. “Thank you, Geneppo,” he said and turned to leave. He almost knocked over a small hand mirror on a stand on his way out, which earned him a glare from Geneppo. Banner followed the path that Geneppo had told him of, walking down the same street he was continuing down before. He was distracted by a few children playing in a field when a noise came from his stomach. Banner was hungry, and there was no street vendor or restaurant in site.

He looked around and his eyes settled on a small diner on the corner of a street. He crossed over to it and opened the see-through doors, ringing the bell above him as he did. The diner was fairly empty at this time, with only a few customers apart from himself. Banner didn’t know much about the food they served here, so when a waitress came to take his order, he stumbled over his words.

She was wearing an apron around her uniform, stains covering it. Her red hair fell in front of her, trying to escape from the little crevice she had shoved it in. She looked like your average sort of girl, but Banner knew that he didn’t have much experience with those sorts in any way.

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“You look worse for wear, stranger. Are you sure you wouldn’t appreciate a hospital visit instead of a meal?”

“Uh I wo-Yes, I would… I was just feeling very hungry,” he said to her.

“Well, nothing wrong with that. What can I get you?” she asked Banner.

“Something…sweet? I feel as though I would like that,” he responded.

“Uh huh, something sweet. Well, we have several something sweets here, so you’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“I honestly don’t know, Ma’am.”

The woman gave him a piteous look and stopped writing. “Call me Lin, Ma’am doesn’t sound right to me. I’ll get you a shake, how about that?”

Banner smiled at her. “Yes, I think I would like that.”

Lin worked at the station behind the counter, whipping up the most delicious looking shake that Banner had ever seen in his life. The drink was topped off with a single cherry at the top, perfecting the look. Banner took the shake in hand and began to drink it, enjoying every moment. He bade farewell to Lin for the moment and took the drink with him, as he couldn’t sit still and drink.

Back on the street, he began people watching. There was a business man waiting for a carriage while consoling his children. The three little kids huddled around the man and held onto him, begging him not to leave. The oldest put on a brave face but the middle child was clearly crying at the sight of her father leaving.

Away from them, another child was playing with a ball. She kicked it this way and that, and Banner even saw it come near him at one point.

“Kick it back, Mister!” she asked him. Banner obliged and kicked it back to her, making sure to use as little force as he could.

The last interesting sight was a woman sitting by herself on a park bench, smoking a cigar and observing her surroundings. The sight looked sad to Banner, but he went on his way regardless. Finally ending up in front of the hospital, he eyed the white building up and down. He did glance at the unevenly grown shrubbery for a second. However, that was broken when a nurse on break noticed him and started approaching quickly.

“Excuse me, sir, but are you well?” she asked, tucking away her half-eaten lunch.

“I don’t think so, miss. I can barely remember who I am,” Banner replied.

“Oh, dear.”

The nurse took him by the arm and dragged him into the building, passing by the several people waiting at the lounge and towards the reception. “We have a serious case here, grab me Doctor Bannings immediately.” The receptionist obliged and sent someone away to grab the doctor.

“What’s your name, sir?” the nurse asked her as she sat him down to check for any noticeable injuries. Banner didn’t respond for a while, instead focusing on the dreary atmosphere in the building. The men and women sitting in the waiting area had a dull glow to their eyes. The flowers in the vases were dying and the whole building was poorly lit.

“Banner, but I just got that name.”

“That’s not a good sign,” the nurse replied. After cleaning him off a bit, Doctor Bannings showed up and gestured for the nurse to bring the man into his office. Banner was sat down at the patient’s table and examined for what he assumed was at least an hour.

Several tests were conducted on his body, checking his memory, his knowledge, hand eye coordination and several other things to make sure his brain was functioning normally.

“It’s amnesia alright. Your ability to learn new information isn’t stunted, so it’s retrograded in nature.” The doctor put away his tools and gestured for the nurse to write some things down.

“It’ll be difficult to get any records of your identity but we’ll have to try. It might take a while, Mr. Banner, so I’ll have to ask for you to be safe in the meantime. If you have a place to stay, we advise you to do so and return for a checkup every so often.”

“Thank you, doctor. Is there any way for me to regain those memories?”

“Maybe in time you could learn to remember, but apart from that there are no proven methods to recover from amnesia. If you were a hallowmancer, that would be a different scenario altogether.”

“Do you feel any power inside you, Mr. Banner? Like a pool of energy that you can utilize?”

Banner felt around for it, but came up short. His body was normal, no supernatural phenomena around it. “I’m sorry, doctor, but I don’t.”

“Shame, means we have to go about this the old-fashioned way.” The doctor escorted Banner outside and to the reception, something that he didn’t technically need to do, but was appreciated by Banner nonetheless. “There is the matter of payment,” the nurse brought up.

“Oh…yes.” Banner felt around his pockets for any source of money, but couldn’t find a single note or coin. The doctor began to speak up. “Look, you don’t need t-“ but was interrupted by the sound of a mop hitting the floor.

“And I’ve had it up to here with this crummy hospital! Clean this, wash that! I QUIT!” an old man shouted and walked away.

Banner and the nurse were paying attention to the janitor, but were brought back to the problem at hand by doctor Bannings coughing.

“As I was saying, you don’t need to pay for it now, Mr. Banner.” Banner felt his eyes still fixate on the mop down the hallway.

“I could be the new janitor,” Banner offered.

“What?” the nurse exclaimed.

“You have a position open, and I need to pay off my debts. I could take his position. I could mop the hallways, clean the dust off of furniture and keep the hospital in pristine shape… If you would allow me, that is.” Banner hoped that his offer wouldn’t be refused. He certainly didn’t have any other job that he could rely on at the moment. This would give him time to heal, and time to figure out what had happened to him.

Doctor Bannings was holding his chin in his hand, deep in thought.

“Hmmm, he does have a point.” He lifted his face upwards and looked at Banner himself. “Let me see if I can put in a good word for you. Firstly, I think you’ll need to find a place to clean yourself up, however.”

Banner remembered what he currently looked like and felt a bit embarrassed about offering his services to clean. “No matter, we were going to help you get fresh clothes anyhow. Nurse, if you would.”

The nurse obliged and led Banner down the hall. Banner felt happy that it had worked out.