A Distant Memory

It was dark outside, and a young Blake was standing next to his mother. He never looked at her though. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the front porch of the house he was standing outside of. 

Standing there in the door frame was another younger woman with her hair tied up at the back in a ponytail.

She simply waved at him as his mother grabbed his hand and pulled him farther and farther away. Blake's eyes never wandered, always watching the woman as she continued to wave regardless of the distance growing ever more between them.

*Chirp Chirp*
Blake woke up to a blinding light flooding in through the window. Sitting up, he hoped to forget about everything by taking in the beautiful scenery outside. But those hopes were quickly dashed.

"Did you get enough rest?"

The voice came from his severely cracked phone lying next to Blake's pillow, which should have been odd given it hadn't been turned on yet. However, Blake didn't even need to look to know who was speaking to him.

"I'd ask you if my predictions were correct, but I already know they are.", his reflection chimed.

"Well since you're here already, can I ask you something?"

Blake finally looked at his phone only to see a normal reflection. Just before he could say anything though, he was interrupted by his own voice.

"Down here."

Tracing the voice back to its source, Blake dug into his pocket and fished out the glass pocket watch he was keeping there. 

"Is it something to do with this?", his reflection asked.

"Yeah. I'm amazed it survived the crash."

Just dropping it seemed like it would be enough to shatter the watch into a million pieces. Even if it didn't break, Blake at least expected it to have some scratches after how messy things got in the truck.

"Well, you remember what the trucker told you? About this thing being really dangerous?"

"Given your final prediction, I'm assuming it has something to do with the end of the world?"

"Bingo. Now something like that wouldn't be made of some ordinary fragile material, would it?"

"...So, even if I had dropped the watch when I was in the truck, nothing would have happened to it?"

His reflection chuckled slightly as he responded.

"You got lucky he was so uninformed."

"...Hmm?"

Blake sighed as he leaned back into his pillow and crossed his arms. A slight frown coated his face now. He couldn't hide his irritation when he next spoke.

"So, what do you want me to do then?"

"What do you mean?"

"About your third prediction. Did you tell me about it hoping I'd save the world?"

"You were the one who asked me for that information. So, whatever you do with it is up to you."

It took a while for Blake to decide on his answer. He looked away before responding. 

"...I don't think I'd mind it. If the world ended."

"I figured you'd say something like that."

Silence followed, but not for long.

"Scared you're not as smart as you think you are?", his reflection sneered. 

Blake looked back at the watch instantly to discover his reflection was no longer there again. Looking around the room, he spotted some slight movement from the window. His reflection looked at him smugly while speaking once more.

"If you can't handle it, you can always tap out and go back to living how you were before."

Silence. 

Blake unconsciously gripped the blanket covering his legs as he thought about what that would mean. And after a long pause considering it, he finally let go.

"There's something we need to take care of.", Blake responded.

*Buzz*
In a dark room, a man in a black suit lurched over his laptop. On its screen, footage of the attack on the funeral hall was replaying over and over again. Every time the video ended, the suited man would drag his mouse all the way to the beginning and replay it again. 

His partner stood next to him and seemed to be getting fed up with the sheer number of times this had transpired now. He rolled his eyes and hit the space bar.

"The video won't change no matter how many times you rewatch it."

"We searched the trucker, and he didn't have it, right?"

"Yes, we've established this already."

"And it wasn't in the coffin either, right?"

His partner rolled his eyes. He had probably gone through this same interaction multiple times beforehand. The suited man ignored him however, looking over the screen again and again. But no matter how many times he did, he could only come to one conclusion.

"Which means, it could've only been stolen during the funeral."

He rewound, paused, and zoomed. The coffin was now at the center of the screen. The suited man fixated on Blake leaning over the coffin as the truck came crashing in. 

"The camera?", Blake's reflection asked.

Back in the hospital, Blake and his reflection were talking.

"Yeah. I noticed it in the corner of the hall. It won't be long until those men from the funeral check the security footage.", Blake muttered.

"Oh, so that's why one of them dropped in for a visit."

Clicking his tongue, Blake responded.

"You knew they were coming and didn't tell me?"

"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, here's something else you'd like to know. He'll be here in about twenty minutes or so."

Blake stared at him in disbelief.

"That settles it. You and I can't possibly be the same person. If we were, you'd have said something earlier."

"Well now that I have, do you really think it's a good idea to waste even more time whining like this? How about coming up with a plan instead?"

Blake couldn't say anything to that. He was right after all. Every word spoken right now wasted precious seconds they could use to figure something out. Looking at the folded suit sitting next to him, Blake came up with an idea.

He grabbed the thing and put the watch back inside its breast pocket. 

"I'll just have one of the nurses take the suit with the watch in it and move it out of the room for a while."

"Not good enough. Those guys will search this building top to bottom if they have to."

Blake looked out the window. 

"Then I'll throw it in some bush outside."

"And if you can't find it again? Or worse yet, what if some passerby sees you and decides to take the watch for themselves?"

"Oh, come on, what are the odds of that happening?"

"Can you honestly say it's not zero?"

"I guess it's not as safe as I'd like it to be.", Blake sighed.

His reflection did the same as he gazed upon his past self with pity.

"Well, it was unreasonable to expect you to come up with something on such short notice. So, I'll throw you a bone just this once and tell you, a certain someone will be dropping by in a bit. It'll be much safer to use her."

Blake couldn't even begin to imagine who his reflection could be talking about. There was only person who came to mind at all.

"It couldn't be my mother..."

"You think I'd trust her with anything?"

"Well, who then? Unlike you, I don't know everything that'll happen and exactly when it will."

As soon as he finished talking, the door to the room slammed open. Blake jumped from the sudden noise and turned to see a woman standing there. She was young, but still quite a bit older than him.

Judging from the look of embarrassment on her face, it didn't seem like she had intended to open the door with such force. Sheepishly, she scratched the back of her head before turning to look at Blake.

"You haven't seen her in a long time, but you still recognize her, don't you?"

Blake couldn't tell what his reflection was talking about at first. He eyed the woman with confusion, but as she approached, his eyes widened as it finally dawned on him.