temporary amnesia

You know that time between unconsciousness and consciousness? When you are neither asleep nor awake but somewhere in the middle? I woke up to my niece crying out for her brother in the dark last night. When I went into the room she was sleeping in, i found her sitting up in her bed, in the dark, frantically calling his name. I sat down on the bed next to her and put my hand on her back and asked her if she knew where she was. She said no. So I explained where she was, how her brother was in the bed next to hers, I was in the room next door, her parents in the room down the hall. After getting all the necesary info she lay back down. I asked her if she wanted me to stay with her but I am pretty sure she was already asleep when she replied yes.

What's funny was that earlier that same day I had a similar moment except I had been sleeping with the lights on...After waking up from a deep nap I opened my eyes and had no idea who the people were around me (my sister and her kids) I didn't know who I was either - I imagine it was similar to waking up from a coma. I just had this panic that there was someone missing. I couldn't remember his name or think of who he was but I knew there was a curly-haired man that was supposed to be lying next me.

It's interesting that even during these malfunctions, your brain, like a computer, manages to save some essential piece of information- perhaps it just holds onto the thing you were thinking about right before losing consciousness...