"It’s going to be rough, huh?"
Anna asked it almost to herself. She remained seated for a while, staring at Macarius across the table. Her fingers slowly drummed against the metal surface.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
She stopped. For nearly a minute, neither of them spoke. Anna’s eyes wandered over him again. The filthy clothes. The dirt covering his skin. The dried pieces of food caught in his hair. The smell that had already invaded the room despite the air freshener. She pressed two fingers against the bridge of her nose.
’What am I supposed to do with this?’
The situation reminded her of someone placing a newborn baby into her arms and saying, Take care of it. Except this time the "baby" was a grown man.
A grown man who could speak, argue, and apparently doesn’t possess any memories of himself...and smelled considerably worse than anything a newborn had ever produced.
Anna exhaled slowly through her mouth.
"Fine."
She straightened in her chair. Her tone had changed. The irritation was still there, but it had been pushed aside by something more practical.
"I’ll ask again."
She leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table.
"But differently."
Her pale eyes fixed themselves on Macarius.
"You said you don’t know whether Macarius is your name."
Macarius nodded cautiously.
"Why?"
Anna tilted her head slightly.
"Did someone tell you that name?"
She waited.
"Did you hear someone call you that?"
Another pause.
"Did you see it somewhere?"
Her questions came one after another now.
"And what were you doing before you woke up here?"
She rubbed her forehead with her fingers.
"Start with something useful, please. I’m tired."
Macarius stared at her. He seemed to be searching through his thoughts again. His eyebrows drew together. His lips parted slightly.
"I..."
He hesitated.
"I can’t say someone told me."
Anna’s eyes narrowed.
"Then?"
"It was more like..."
Macarius looked toward the empty space beside him.
"...someone showed me."
Anna’s expression changed slightly.
"Showed you?" Anna’s face was like someone who’s a little confused.
Macarius nodded.
"Yes."
He raised his restrained hands as if trying to illustrate something he could barely describe.
"There was a blue screen."
Anna stopped rubbing her forehead.
"A blue screen?" Anna looked at him like it was something similar.
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"I don’t know."
Macarius frowned.
"It was just... floating."
He looked at the space in front of his face.
"Like a window. Except there was nothing holding it."
Anna’s posture changed. She had been leaning lazily against the chair. Now she was sitting upright.
"What did it say?"
Macarius noticed the change in her expression. He continued more carefully.
"It congratulated me."
Anna’s eyes sharpened.
"For what?"
"For becoming an Awakener or something like that."
A silence fell between them. Macarius swallowed.
"Then it called me Macarius."
Anna’s lips parted slightly. She didn’t speak. Macarius continued.
"That’s why I said I don’t know whether it’s really my name."
He looked down.
"I didn’t remember it. I just saw it."
His voice became quieter.
"It was the first thing I knew."
Anna stared at him. The exhaustion in her face had disappeared. Not completely. But enough. Her attention was suddenly focused entirely on him.
"Describe the screen."
Macarius blinked.
"What?"
"The blue screen."
She leaned closer.
"Was it transparent?"
"Yes."
"Rectangular?"
"Yes."
"Did it have text?"
"Yes."
"Did the message disappear afterward?"
"I think so."
Anna’s fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the table.
"And it called you an Awakener?"
"Yes."
Macarius nodded quickly.
"Exactly."
Something clicked inside Anna’s mind. Her eyes widened slightly.
"So..."
She sat back.
"You weren’t told your name."
Macarius shook his head.
"No."
"You didn’t hear someone say it."
"No."
"You saw it on your System window."
Macarius stared at her.
"System window?"
Anna’s voice had become quieter.
"That blue screen."
She watched his reaction.
"The thing that appeared when you awakened."
Macarius’s eyes widened.
"Yes."
Anna slowly leaned back in her chair. For the first time since entering the room, she smiled. It wasn’t a warm smile. It was the smile of someone who had finally found the missing piece of a puzzle.
"Why didn’t you start with that?"
Macarius stared at her. Anna covered her nose again. Then she shook her head slightly.
"Forget it."
She looked at him again.
"I know who you are."
Macarius’s entire expression changed.
"What?"
His eyes widened.
"You know?"
He leaned forward so quickly that the chains around his wrists rattled against the table.
"You know who I am?"
Anna nodded.
"I can help you."
For a moment, Macarius simply stared at her. Then something almost childlike appeared in his expression.
Relief.
His shoulders loosened. His eyes brightened. A small smile appeared on his filthy face.
"Really?"
The word came out almost breathlessly.
"Do you know who I am?"
He leaned even closer.
"Can you help me?"
Anna looked at him for a few seconds. Then she stood. Macarius’s smile grew. But Anna immediately raised one hand.
"Yes."
His expression brightened further.
"But..."
She reached for the door.
"...before I help you with anything..."
She glanced back at him. Her eyes moved slowly from his face to his clothes. Then down toward the floor. Her nose wrinkled.
"...you need to wash."
Macarius blinked.
"What?"
Anna opened the door.
"You heard me."
She stepped outside, then stopped. Without turning around, she added:
"Preferably before that smell becomes a new form of life."
Macarius looked down at himself. He finally noticed the state he was in. A piece of rotten fruit peel slid from his sleeve and landed on the floor.
Plop.
He stared at it. Then slowly looked toward the open doorway. Anna was waiting outside with one hand covering her nose.
"Come on."
Macarius stood awkwardly. The chains around his wrists were still attached. He looked at them.
Anna sighed.
"Right."
She had forgotten. For the first time, Macarius almost laughed.
Almost.
Then Anna turned away.
"Let’s get you cleaned up, Macarius."
And for the first time since waking up, the name didn’t sound quite as unfamiliar as before.
***
Water continued to run through Macarius’s dark hair, gathering at the ends before falling in slow droplets onto his shoulders.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
He stood motionless in front of the bathroom mirror. For several minutes, he simply stared. The person looking back at him was a stranger.
His hair was dark, almost black beneath the bright bathroom light, still wet and clinging messily to his forehead. His face was somewhat pale, perhaps because of the cold water, perhaps because that was simply how he looked. He was thinner than he should have been, with a narrow jaw and tired features that seemed strangely unfamiliar despite belonging to him.
His eyes were the easiest thing to notice. Goldish-brown. They stared back at him without recognition. Macarius slowly raised one hand. The reflection did the same.
He touched his cheek. The reflection touched its cheek.
Nothing.
He had thought that perhaps seeing his own face would trigger something. A childhood memory. A familiar room or someone calling his name. A forgotten voice. Anything. But there was nothing. Not even a fragment.
Humans were strange creatures.
Give one of them enough silence and a mirror, and eventually their mind would begin wandering on its own. Thoughts about the past. Thoughts about tomorrow. Regrets they wished they could erase. Things they had said but shouldn’t have. Things they should have said but never did. People they missed. People they hated. Dreams they had abandoned.
The mind had a remarkable talent for digging up things that were better left buried. Macarius had none of that. He couldn’t remember anything. He didn’t know what he had loved. He didn’t know what he had hated. He didn’t know whether he had ever been happy. He didn’t know whether someone was waiting for him somewhere. He didn’t know whether anyone would even notice that he was gone.
Most importantly...
He didn’t know what kind of person he had been. His reflection continued staring at him.
Empty. Not sad. Not happy. Not afraid.
Just empty.
Macarius lowered his hand.
"Who am I?"
The mirror gave him no answer. His eyes slowly shifted. Something appeared in front of him. A translucent blue window. The same strange screen.
[Awakener Registration Complete.]
[Name: Macarius]
Macarius stared at it. Something inside him tightened. He didn’t understand why. There was no logical reason to feel anger toward it. The screen had done nothing to him.
Yet...
He hated seeing it. His eyebrows slowly drew together.
’Is this the reason?’
He couldn’t explain the feeling. But somewhere deep inside him, a strange suspicion began to form. Maybe this thing wasn’t simply showing him his name. Maybe it was connected to why he had no past.
Maybe...
It was the reason his memories were gone. His hand slowly clenched. The screen remained perfectly still.
Then–
Knock. Knock. Macarius’s attention snapped toward the bathroom door.
"Hey. You finished?"
Anna’s voice. Macarius stared at the door for a moment.
"Yes."
His voice sounded tired.
"I finished washing."
"Then use the green towel."
A brief pause.
"Don’t touch the others. They’re mine. I don’t use the green one, okay?"
Macarius looked around. Only then did he notice the four towels hanging neatly beside the shower.
White, black, gray and green. He reached for the green one.
"Got it."
He dried his hair slowly, rubbing the towel over his head until most of the water was gone.
A few minutes later, he opened the door and walk thorough the hallway. The first thing he noticed was the silence. The second was the view. He stepped into the living room and stopped.
The apartment was considerably larger than he had expected. A broad wall of glass stretched across one side of the room, rising almost from the floor to the ceiling. Beyond it, the city spread beneath them.
Buildings stood like enormous blocks of light against the evening sky. Thousands of windows glittered in the distance. Roads wound between the towers below, filled with moving headlights that looked almost like streams of white and red light.
From this height, the city seemed strangely peaceful. Too peaceful. Inside, everything was clean and carefully arranged.
A large gray sectional sofa occupied the center of the room, easily large enough for four people. A dark coffee table stood in front of it, its surface almost completely empty except for a few neatly arranged objects.
A television was mounted against the opposite wall.
Shelves filled one side of the room, holding books, small decorations, and several objects Macarius couldn’t identify.
The furniture followed the same restrained palette. Gray, black and white. A few muted wooden surfaces broke up the coldness.
It was modern without looking sterile. And expensive. Very expensive. Macarius looked down at himself. He was wearing nothing except the green towel wrapped tightly around his waist. His old clothes had apparently not survived the cleaning process. Or rather, Anna had decided they didn’t deserve to.
Near the sofa was a neatly folded pile of clothes. Macarius approached. They were simple. A long-sleeved gray shirt. Dark gray trousers. A lighter gray jacket. Nothing flashy. Nothing extravagant. But they looked comfortable.
He reached toward them.
"Those are for you."
Macarius turned. Anna stood in the hallway. She had changed clothes since their meeting.
Her short blonde hair was still slightly messy, as if she hadn’t bothered fixing it properly after returning home. She looked much less like an interrogator now and more like an ordinary woman who had come home after a long day and wanted to collapse somewhere comfortable.
"These?"
Macarius pointed at the clothes.
"You can use them."
His expression softened.
"Really?"
He picked up the shirt.
"Thank you."
His voice carried genuine warmth. Anna waved one hand dismissively.
"It’s nothing."
She walked toward the kitchen. Then, almost casually, she added:
"You might have to pay me for them later, though."
Macarius froze.
"...What?"
Anna glanced over her shoulder.
"They’re pretty expensive."
His face immediately changed.
"You said I could use them."
"I said you could use them."
"So..."
She smiled.
"Not necessarily for free."
Macarius stared at her in disbelief. His mouth opened slightly. Anna held the expression for another second. Then she laughed.
"Hahaha!"
She covered her mouth with one hand.
"I’m kidding."
She shook her head.
"Don’t look at me like that. They’re free."
Macarius remained frozen. Anna laughed again as she walked away.
"Go get dressed before you catch a cold."
Macarius looked down at the clothes. Then toward Anna. Then back at the clothes. For some reason, despite everything that had happened since he woke up... He felt slightly different but he didn’t know why. After all there was things waiting for him that was hard to describe.