Just One Day

COMING SOON!

Their story continues with Willem’s journey in

just one year

On my wrist is a watch, small and delicate, bright and gold. It’s not mine. And for the quickest moment, I see the watch on a girl’s wrist. I travel up the hand to a slender arm, a strong shoulder, a swan’s neck. When I get to the face, I expect it to be blank, like the faces in my dreams. But it’s not.

Black hair. Pale skin. Dancing eyes.

I look at the watch again. The crystal is cracked but it’s still ticking. It reads nine o‘clock and again, I begin to suspect what it is that I’ve forgotten.

I try to sit up. The world turns to soup.

The doctor pushes me back onto the bed, a hand on my shoulder. “You are agitated because you are confused. This is all temporary, but we will need to take the CT scan to rule out a hematoma. While we wait, we can attend to your facial lacerations. First I will give you something to make the area numb.”

The nurse swabs off my cheek with something orange. “Do not worry. This won’t stain.”

It doesn’t stain; it just stings.