Anamnesis

Waking up

A/N: I highly suggest playing the video while reading. I generally prefer songs/music that doesn't interfere with my imagination. So I'm adding songs/music that is both subtle and relevant to the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Pain.

All I felt was pain.

My head was pounding, I felt my heartbeats pounding against my temple, heard it rattling in my head. I tried to open my eyes, everything was so blurry, tilted, out of place. Too bright, too out of focus, couldn't keep my eyes open for too long.

I feel cold.

As I slowly regained my senses, I felt the chill that continuously ran up and down my spine. I'm outside. Somewhere. I don't know how I got outside. I don't remember ...

Heavy.

My arms felt like lead, my entire body felt too heavy like I forgot its actual weight from spending too much time floating in the swimming pool. The shivers continue. I felt so sore like I just finished a marathon that lasted hours upon hours.

It's raining.

I felt the raindrops pelting across my back, soaking through. It's numbingly freezing. I tried to open my eyes again, my vision still blurry, but slowly adjusting. It wasn't bright, yet it hurt to keep my eyes open as if I was looking head-on at a flashlight.

I need to get up.

I knew I had to get out of the rain, I needed to move, but my body wasn't responding to my brain's signals properly. Almost as if there was this huge delay, this lag, between my brain and the rest of me. Ever so slowly I started to get myself up. I grunted as I managed to get myself into a kneeling position, standing up will take some more effort but I decided to just rest and check my surroundings first.

I didn't recognize where I was. There's a river just a few feet away from me, gushing and rushing through due to the heavy rain. It was raining so hard the hills in the distance seemed to merge with the grey sky. It smelled like rain and soil, a calming scent that helped clear my head a bit. Lightning flashed and thunder followed a little bit after, it sounded far away. Aside from the running river water and the rain, it was pretty quiet. There was no one else around me, not even critters or animals, probably hiding. Which I should be doing right about now. I slowly pick myself up off the ground, grunting as I felt every muscle in my body protest and crack from the movement, I was shivering pretty badly, just how long have I been out?

I inspected myself for injuries but it seemed the only source of agony was coming from the back of my skull. Trying to assess the damage, I gingerly touched it and hissed in pain when I felt a huge lump that felt incredibly sore and sent jolts of pain down my spine.

I need help. I need medical care and shelter. Where do I go? Do I follow the river?

I looked around again trying to find any semblance of a trail to follow but I was surprised to see a person moving slowly towards me a few feet away. He was holding something, my vision was still hazy and the hail wasn't helping so I couldn't tell what he was holding. I blinked the rain out of my eyes a few times and tried to focus. That's when I realized ... a shotgun. He's holding a shotgun. Is he aiming it at me? Why? A cold shiver ran down my spine, and this time it wasn't from the freezing rain.

"Why the fuck is there a singular screecher out here and alone like this?" He asked.

Screecher? What the hell is a screecher?

"Tsk, I was hoping to save ammo today." He kept talking seemingly to himself as I saw no one else around. He adjusted the shotgun and I heard him pump it, ready to shoot me.