The man woke up and had no idea who or where he was. He sat up with a start, dazed and perplexed, and looked around. He was in a simple bachelor apartment, sparsely furnished. There was a kitchen table, a chair, sofa, TV as well as the bed itself. He got up to have a better look around and was surprised to find he was completely naked.
This got weirder and weirder, he thought. He tried again to remember something, anything. But he couldn't. While his mind wasn't a complete blank (he knew how to walk, for instance) but he had lost all his personal details.
Not knowing what to do next he headed over to the window to see if he recognized anything in the area. It was jammed open. The apartment was at least 6 floors up, it seemed. The buildings surrounding his were unfamiliar, but he nonetheless knew they were distinctly New York City. There was nobody on the street.
He stuck his head back inside. He looked around to see if there was any clothing to wear. Nothing. He felt like he could use a shower (and it would give him something to do) so he went into the bathroom. There, he found a single set of clothes folded neatly on the toilet. There was a pair of tighty whiteys, black dress socks and shoes, dark slacks and a white casual dress shirt with a navy candy striped tie. There was also a single gray towel hanging form the rack. Strangely, all the product tags had either been removed or blacked out with a permanent marker. Everything seemed to be used but fairly new. A mystery to solve after the shower.
It wasn't until he got out of the shower and was getting dressed that he noticed there was no mirror in the bathroom. It seemed as though there were no reflective surfaces in the apartment. Shrugging slightly, he continued dressing and adeptly tied his tie, proving he at least still had muscle memory.
Peckish now, he went into the main room to see if there was anything to eat. he got as far as the kitchen table when he noticed something unusual.
All across the kitchen table, a message had been scrawled by what looked like several different hands. A marker that matched the color was laying square in the center of the table. He read the note. this is what it said.
Dear John,
This probably isn't really your name. In fact, I have no idea what your name is, but I have to call you something and John is as good a name as any other. If you're reading this, then I am dead. my death is not literal of course, but firmly hypothetical. I am you. By this point, you've probably woken up and realized you have no idea who you are. The same thing happened to me the day I wrote this and several times more before then, I suspect.
I spent the day trying to figure out who I am, wandering this abandoned city in search of answers. I found none and with no place else to go I came back here. Now it's late and I'm getting drowsy but I'm terrified of falling asleep and forgetting everything because it will be like I never existed. So I started to write this message to you, my future self, as a greeting from the past. In case I don't make it..for when I don't make it.
The Message is this: don't give up hope. There has to be answers out there somewhere. Keep looking and I know you...we..can succeed. I love you.
No. NO! nO NO? ONO! NO! no. no non!
And on and on the nos went, all in a different hand and script, covering the rest of the table. As he finished reading the note and every single NO, he stood stock still for several minutes. Then he slowly and quietly got undressed, carefully folding the clothes and placing them back on the toilet seat. He went back to the table and picked up the marker, then walked over to the bed and stood on it, stretching himself to scribble a message on the ceiling. He walked back to the table, placed the marker there and dived out the window, plunging the six stories rapidly before hitting the ground with a thick thud. Darkness.
****************************************
The man woke up and had no idea who or where he was. Even more unnerving, someone had written a message right above his head on the ceiling in big blocky letters. It read simply YOU FAILED.
He shrugged and decided to look out the window. Maybe something out there would job his memory...
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