A mirror. A surface, typically of glass coated with a metal amalgam, which reflects a clear image. A simple object, so I wondered if the mirror not being there was important at all. Was there ever a mirror? The dream was so perplexing and convoluted. There was a possibility that my brain had misplaced a memory. I barely even remembered anything from that 'vision', the entire process was a bit indistinct. I decided to take no notice of the missing mirror, if it was ever 'missing' in the first place, and turned back to the nurse.

She was just looking at me with her hazel eyes as if I were a fish in an aquarium. A peculiar reaction from someone who looked scared stiff of me when we held eye contact for longer than a few moments, but everyone is special in different ways. She looked away again, her short hair bobbing, as if hearing my mocking thoughts.

I apologise Ms Nurse. I shouldn't be that rude.

"You were found lying on the side of the street. The people who found you said that they never noticed you falling or even lying there. You just appeared," the nurse said accusingly. ”But anyways, are you feeling better?”

The horrible pain in my head had regressed into a small ache located at the back of my eyes, not currently clouding my perception or thoughts. At least, that I could make sure of.

"No, I just feel a slight discomfort in the back of my eyes," I replied, only feeling a bit dazed from my trip in dreamworld.

The nurse continued to jot everything I said down in her small little notebook, the strawberry and blueberry cover contrasting with the nurse's strict but nervous demeanour. Her name tag on her collar read "Selina". She was quite slow at writing, I noted. Selina looked back at me.

I'm sorry, I said I would be nice. This time I would follow my word.

"Well, we can give basic treatment for that..." Selina answered after careful deliberation. “We tried to find you manually through the city’s system, but we weren’t able to. May I ask your name? I just need to fill out this form.”

My name. Of course, I was fine with telling her my name, there was no harm in it.

”Of course. My name is..." My voice slowly drifted off into silence as my brain blanked out.

What's happening?

"Sorry. Mind blank," I said sheepishly. Let me continue.

"...si eman yM" I t'ndluoc kaeps.

Why. Why why why why. WHY

Is something stopping me from saying my name?

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Or... do I even know my name?

My mind scattered into a million pieces, turning into glass shards. The light reflecting off of these pieces pierced through the room, eventually reaching some point right before infinity. The shards of glass danced in the light, jumping around, stabbing parts of my skull until I let out a ghoulish scream. The glass started slowing down, letting wisps of dark mist escape into the hospital room, trying to reach Selina. I grabbed the glass pieces with my bare hands, cuts marring the ethereal surface of my arm, and stuffed them back into my head.

"May I ask your name? I just need to fill out this form.”

My name. Of course, I was fine with telling her my name, there was no‒hm?

There's something wrong with this situation. I looked at the clock, the time being 4:57 PM. I looked back at the nurse.

"My name is‒" I stopped speaking in the middle of my sentence, noticing something extremely amiss about this situation. A small buzzing sound had appeared since I had noticed the clock, as if trying to warn me something was terribly wrong. I looked back at the clock.

Was there ever a clock there? I'm sure there was. After all, there are usually clocks in hospital rooms. Of course, there's a clock there.

Its hands waved at me in mockery, its slight tick-ticking sound annoying enough to make someone slowly go insane. The generic but familiar pattern was a bit off, maybe a manufacturing fault. Something was misleading with this clock. I stood up, ignoring the warnings Selina, the nurse, gave me and headed towards the ominous object.

It was right in front of my face now, its ticking getting increasingly louder the longer I stared at it. Through my eyes, I noticed it morphing from a generic clock into a pool of metal, its hands curling in on themselves, and the wall behind it starting to crack.

I reached out with my finger and tentatively touched the surface of the metal slump.

***

In a small crevice located underneath the outskirts of the city, a large spherical object hung from the jagged ceiling, spitting out steam and creating subtle echoes within the cavern. A small red light beeped upon one of the surfaces of the sphere, pipes creaking and engines humming as a voice began to deliver a message.

"One of our artefacts has been discovered. We can't locate it anymore.”

***

"May I ask your name? I just need to fill out this form.”

This has happened multiple times before. I looked at the wall that previously contained the cursed clock, but there was nothing there. I looked at Selina.

"Do you feel any sort of deja vu?" I tentatively asked the nurse.

She just looked at me like I was stupid.

"Sir, if you would just tell me your name?”

Now, we're back to the original problem. What is my name?

"My name is…”

It still doesn't work.

"My name... I'm not sure. I can't recall it..." I haltingly tried to explain to the nurse. "What is my name?”

I could see concern lighting up in Selina's eyes. She wrote down something else in her notepad. If I wasn't so worried about my identity, I would have thought that Selina had her entire life logged on that tiny notepad based on how many times she was using it. Crap, I was still being mean while she was here worried about me. I'm a terrible human being.

"Your injury might be more serious than we thought... Are you sure you cannot remember your name? Do you remember any other important details? Where do you live?" Selina asked gently, attempting to impart a sense of hope through her words. "Do you have any family?”

Where I live, if I have family... I could not find anything of note. I tried going back in time, but it was as if there was a sturdy wall blocking me from accessing any parts of my memory before I had woken up. I could only pick up the pieces that were left, like pieces of paper that had been shredded. I could barely connect some pieces of paper, displaying irrelevant information. How was this possible? Who am I?