It's honestly strange that I'm still alive to tell this story.
Not strange in a good way. Just strange enough to make me wish some things had never happened at all.
This is a story about what I couldn't see, what I couldn't hear, and what I wish I had never felt.
It happened on a hot afternoon.
The sun was blistering, the kind of heat that makes the air feel heavy. At the playground, all you could hear were the joyful voices of children running around without a single care in the world.
I was six years old, and I was one of them.
At that moment, it felt like nothing existed except me and the playground. No worries. No problems. Just the sound of laughter and the feeling that the world would always stay that way.
I wish that had been true.
Because the next moment… everything stopped.
All motion left the world.
All sound, movement and thought alike felt like a memory I didn't have.
The birds passing, breeze flowing, my own voice was gone.
Then there was a feeling.
Something that seemed quite irregular.
Like broken glass in my soul.
And before I knew what was going on, it was over.
Everything moved again.
The birds flew.
The wind returned.
The voices of the other children filled the air like nothing had happened.
For a moment, I thought I had just dozed off.
"What just happened…?" I muttered to myself.
No one answered.
I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.
"Probably nothing… I should just go home."
So I did.
I ran all the way back, dusting the dirt off my shoes before stepping inside the house. The moment I entered, I dashed down the hall and went straight into the kitchen, where my parents and my sister were already sitting at the dining table.
I greeted them like I always did, expecting the usual smiles.
Instead, I was met with silence.
Not normal silence.
Heavy silence.
They were all staring at me.
"What's going on?" I asked.
My mother hesitated.
"Nothing… um… dear."
That felt wrong.
She didn't usually call me that.
I tried to remember what she normally called me… but the thought wouldn't come.
It was like the memory wasn't there anymore.
Then my sister spoke.
"Hey… what's your name again?"
The question hung in the air.
I opened my mouth to answer.
"My name…?"
I frowned, trying to think harder.
Trying until my head started to hurt.
"I have no idea."
Silence filled the room again.
My father leaned forward slowly.
"What do you mean you have no idea?"
"I was at the playground," I said.
"And then something happened. Everything stopped."
"What happened?" my mother asked.
"I don't know… there was this presence. Like a breeze, but not really. Like something was there even though I couldn't see it."
My hands tightened.
It felt like glass in my chest
and then it was gone
I think so was my name
"That's impossible," my mother said.
"You're saying some wind blew past you and took your name?" my father asked.
I didn't answer.
Because I wasn't the only one who couldn't remember it.
You would lose money and blame your pockets,
lose dreams and blame old age,
lose a name and blame the Wind.
They tried to give me a new name that night.
"It's fine," my father said. "We can just call you—"
He stopped.
No word came out.
My mother tried next.
"We could name him—"
Nothing.
Every time they tried, the name disappeared before it could be said.
It was like something wouldn't allow it.
Days passed.
Months passed.
Years passed.
Every time someone asked my name, I gave the same answer.
"I don't know."
Most people laughed at first.
They stopped laughing when they realized I wasn't smiling.
Some thought I was joking.
Some thought I was crazy.
But I knew the truth.
Something had taken my name.
And whatever it was… never gave it back.
Fifteen years later, I worked as a researcher in a government laboratory.
Officially, I studied abnormal phenomena.
Unofficially, my entire life was spent trying to understand the thing that took my name.
I had worked there for four years.
I stared at the papers on my desk.
"I'm at my wits end…" I muttered.
"How's it going?"
I looked up.
Blaker stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, smiling like always.
For the four years I had worked there, he had been the only person I could call a friend.
"I've been looking for years," I said.
"I haven't found a single clue. Not one."
"Maybe that's because there's nothing there," he said.
"No," I replied immediately.
"I wouldn't be looking for it if I didn't know it was there."
"You've been chasing this thing your whole life."
"And I'll keep chasing it."
He smirked.
"You have way too much faith in this."
I looked at him for a moment.
I don't have too much faith in what I believe,
I simply don't have enough faith not to believe.
Because whatever it was…
It took my name.
It took my identity.
I'd be crazy to think that was normal.
Blaker laughed.
"You're the weirdest guy in this lab."
Maybe he was right.
But I knew one thing.
The Wind was real.
And one day…
I was going to see it again.