"Don't know who he is. He can't remember." I lightly open my eyes to hear Savannah speaking in her thick accent, my head still sore from falling onto a rock, the only thoughts not blurred with confusion are the one's I'm about to think, and I'm trying to remember what the heIl I was doing out here in the middle of nowhere, but I can't.
I was in the woods, I got knocked out, apparently I have, amnesia and...fvck, what else? What else?! It's important, I know it is...I was doing something important, like, something really priority was going on...fvck, I can't remember.
I can't even remember my name.
"Go give him some food Sav." My attention is bothered enough to change gears from me to the man's voice I hear, Savannah's father, ordering her to bring me food.
I don't feel like eating. I feel like finding out what the fvck is going on.
Think. Think!
"Uh, I dunno know how to call ya." Savannah's light voice turns my head to face her in the doorway as I lay in her rundown bed, my wound covered up with a strange old piece of ripped cloth as a bandage around my forehead, under my long hair, and I'm wondering why the heck I didn't go get it cut.
I could suffocate in this brown mane of locks.
Well, it does make me look pretty badas$. That or if I were to wear all black, slightly emo.
At least that's what the small square shaped, dirt tattered mirror without a frame resting on the desk in front of me says.
"I don't remember my name." I sigh.
"I gotta call ya somethin'." She slowly shifts from side to side, and I take this chance to get a look at her; feet in old sandals, skin a little dirty like she hasn't bathed in a while, come to think of it, I look sorta like that, except her dress is a tad more stained than my shirt and her face is thin like she's starving.
What the heIl is up with that? Her dad should feed her better.
"Until I can figure out who I am, I don't know what to call myself." I whisper and stare at my feet under the thin green sheet over my toes.
"I gotta call ya somethin...how bout Drew?" I really don't care either way. "Elijah?"
No.
"Mark?"
"What?" Without meaning to, my palm wraps around her wrist in need for her to say the name again, like it's familiar or important, relevant to me somehow. Maybe, it might actually be my name... "Mark?"
"Is that your name?" She smiles a little.
"I-I don't know. It sounds familiar." I turn away to think a bit.
"Uh...Mark, my wrist...?"
"What?" I turn and stare at her timidly smiling at my hand still on her skin, and even though I've got amnesia, I'm not dense enough to overlook the fact that she's staring at me like she likes me. I don't see why. I'm a creep who suddenly woke up in the middle of the woods. "Sorry." I force a smile back and sigh while she giggles, putting a tray on my lap.
"My dad said, you should eat, yaknow?"
"What is this?" I try to be polite, but inside I'm wondering why she gave me stale bread and something that looks like chicken feed soup. And what kind of meat is this? It looks weird.
"Uh, rat, uh, some bread and an invention of mine." She lifts her eyes to the ceiling in recollection, but my head stopped thinking when she said 'rat'.
"Why rat? I mean, why not just, go to a grocery store and get some chicken?" I kindly suggest in a scoff but she halts and widens her eyes at me before sitting down at my side, swallowing like she's about to have a nervous breakdown or something.
"You forgot." She states. "We can't do that stuff no more. Grocery stores, all that stuff? It's gone."
"What-What do you mean, gone?"
"Bout, 5 years, it's all gone. There are dead things out there now. Things that come back to life. Like a video game, except this is real life."
"Uh..."
What the heIl?
"Maybe that's why you was out there? With them things? Them chasers."
"Chasers?"
"If they see you, they chase you. They try to eat you. That's why they're called chasers."
"Oh." I dismiss her explanation because it seems beyond fake. I know I have amnesia but that seems like a pretty big thing to forget. I think I'd know if something as important as that was real or not.
Dammit.
No I wouldn't. I wouldn't know the truth if it hit me in the face.
"How old are you?" Savannah lifts her legs to hug them, resting her chin on her knees before blinking at me. "Or don't you remember?"
"I don't know. I guess about your age?"
"I'm 15 almost." She smiles and I shrug. "You look like you're almost 15 too."
"I guess. Uh, thanks for this. As soon as I can walk ok, I'll leave. Maybe tomorrow."
"No!" She quickly stands, scaring the sh1t out of me for a second, biting her lower lip and rubbing her cheek with her palm as she thinks up something. "It's...dangerous out there. You should stay here."
"But I don't belong here." I kindly but quickly shoot back and remind her. "I don't want to bother you or your dad. I need to find my family soon."
"What if they don't want you?" Her eyes glaze.
"I still want to find them."
"You shouldn't. You can't." Savannah shakes her head.
"Why not?" I begin to raise my voice and move the tray away so I don't have to just sit here and negotiate why I need and want to go. "I'm sorry I bothered you and everything, but-"
"I lied."
Huh?
"What?" I begin to stand, staying still and a few inches away from the girl that's been taking care of me for over a day, her thumbs pushing against each other before she raises her brown eyes to look at me. I don't know why but she's at least 4 inches shorter than me, and I keep on feeling like she should only be 2 inches shorter.
In fact I'm starting to fixate on a few things that should be different about her. Like my head is struggling to change a couple features to make her more recognizable. Her eyes too...they aren't supposed to be that color...and her hair...Dammit! What's going on?!
"What do you mean?" I try to ignore my head's worries and look at Savannah.
"I know who you are."
"What?" I widen my eyes.
"You went to my school, before. You were a classmate of mine. You're..." She hesitates..."You're..."
"Yeah?" I try to find her eyes again given she's lowering her head, and I'm desperate to hear what she has to say about me, if anything she tells me will sound right. "Savannah?"
"You're names Mark Rogers. You're 15 almost...we grew up together. I didn't recognize you at first...it's been a long time. But, we were really close. Your dad and my dad."
"My dad?" I perk up to the thought of him actually existing. I don't know what it is about amnesia, but it's like there's this big black hole just sitting in my head, already finished consuming every memory I ever had stored in there, and all I do is look at it, waiting for my past to be spat back out, but I can only process the facts Savannah just told me instead. I thought there'd be a bigger wave of relief but...there's not.
I feel like I'm just reading a story book about some stranger instead. Then again I read once, I think, most people probably feel that way when it comes to this sh1t.
"You're dad...he drove big trucks. He'd always go over the Mexican border. He and my dad used to go huntin' together. And our moms would take us to school together." She grins at the memory I don't have, but she does. I guess.
"So..." I slowly sit down before she lowers to sit next to me. "Wait." I frown and hold my head a bit.
"Mark, you're hurt. Be careful." She coos but I turn to frown at her, halting the movements of her hands touching me in a gentle, familiar way. She may know me, but I still don't know her.
"Are you lying?" My deep voice queries and I spot an ounce of hesitation, or maybe hurt, flash in her pupils before she inhales and shakes her face.
Dammit. Her face, is unfamiliar, her voice, unfamiliar, she is unfamiliar. This place, unfamiliar, everything is unfamiliar, I don't even know what was in my life before now, and yet, ever since I gained consciousness, I've been noticing things missing.
And she isn't one of them. I don't know if it's because she's here that I don't feel like she's a missing piece or, maybe my amnesia is screwing with me overtime, but I still can't shake it. This feeling.
"So, my dad, drove a truck over the states? Our families were close and...and then? 5 years ago? Something happened?"
"The chasers happened."
"Right." I give her another look, maybe fully portraying my disbelief before she gets up and slides the tray over next to me.
"Now that you know the truth, you should eat. You'll remember Mark. I promise." Her chapped lips spread into a smile. One I can barely find the energy to return. "Until then, I promise, I'm gonna take care of you."
She's crying.
"What's wrong?"
"Mm." She harshly shakes her head before a laugh busts out. "I can't believe it's really you." She shows me her teeth again, one of them lightly chipped in the corner before I'm caught off guard by a hug. "I missed you Mark."
Mark...
Mark...
Why does that seem so important?
_____________________
I see how you been lookin' at your dad...
My dad? Wait...I'm dreaming?
You don't have to be afraid of me...or him.
What the heIl?
He told me the other day,
My voice?
That's me?!
Wait! I'm remembering something?!
That he was proud of me. That I was a good man, ha... I'm not.
Carl-
I know more now. About what he wanted from me. And I tried but, I still have these thoughts... I'm not what he thinks I am... I'm just another monster, too.
Another monster...what does this mean? Why can't I...remember?
_____________________
"Oh. Good morning young man." I push the door wide open before partly peeking out of my little room, Savannah asleep on the floor after she refused to leave and find her own sleeping space, filling me in on every question I dared to ask her.
Maybe it's just because I'm a cautious person? Who knows, but more or less, I was testing her, wondering if there was anything that didn't match up with her story. So far nothing. Only hesitation here and there as well as vague fill in the blanks.
It was weird though. The second I went to sleep, I began hearing about a million different voices in my head, phrases and words, flashes of odd represented faces that didn't clear up in my mind or anything.
Then that dream. A woman talking to me...a reference to my dad? And a name...
There was also this strange sort of recorded rant going off in my head afterwards about that rat I ate. I mean, something inside me was seriously b1tching about it. I don't know where that came from either. It wasn't that bad. If food is scarce, then I'm grateful they decided to give it to me, even if they knew me but, fvck, just one sort of character embedded in my dream wouldn't shut up about it.
"Water?" Savannah's dad asks before setting down a cup of clear liquid, its attractiveness unbelievable before I drink the whole thing, and it tastes like it came from a creek or something. Hmm. It's good.
"My daughter talk your ear off last night?"
"Yeah." I smile before sitting down to look at the tired face of the guy whose letting me stay here, a tan that seems more like dirt coating his skin settles in between his wrinkled forehead while his peppered beard runs wild along his jaw line.
He looks like a cave man almost.
"Well, she ain't seen another person besides me, let alone another kid for a long time. Be patient with her, she'll start to give you some space. Mark." He uses my...name, and I'm taken aback by it for a second before tapping my foot and looking at the door.
"Is it ok if I get some fresh air?"
"You're not a prisoner. Just be careful of the chasers."
"So they-uh...never mind." I hurry outside.
I was about to confirm that his daughter wasn't lying but I don't think he'd been too keen to think I'm already doubting her when she was good enough to at least bring me inside her home. It's actually gonna be tough to leave, but I'm still feeling a little achy in the head.
I don't need this thing though.
I toss the bandage to the ground after stepping out, the tiny wooden shack behind me stationed in a small circumference with trees bordering around as an entry to the forest they found me in, and the sky is a sickly sun tainted one.
"What am I missing?" I ask myself, looking around before I find a spot in the dead grass, picking at pale colored blades next to my worn out shoes, head going over my dreams before I fall back and shut my eyes.
What if Savannah is actually telling the truth? I mean right now these two people are all I have. If they really are my friends, then I should probably try and get used to the idea of them knowing me even though I don't know me.
Damm, that's frustrating.
Another minute of just lying down, wind blowing over me, soon lulling me back to sleep from my restless night of talking with my old friend, I think, drowsiness starts to sneak around my state of being.
And that's when I hear it...
The voice...just, one voice that...won't turn off inside my head...I don't even know what she's saying. What is she saying?
Pienso mucho en ti.
Spanish? Great. Like I didn't already have enough mystery...
No te puedo sacar de mi mente.
Where is this coming from? What the heIl!? What does this mean?!
Desde el primer día le encontré...Usted ha estado en mi cabeza que me vuelve el loco.
I give up.
I give up!
Do you want me to stop? I don't want to hurt you...
What? Wait, wait...What? My voice again?
It's ok...don't stop. I lo-
"Mark?"
No...No! Don't wake me up!
"Mark!?" My body shifts when I feel a pressure of two hands on my chest, my lids part so I can see Savannah's brown eyes staring down at me, her blonde hair loose from her bow and still wild past her extremely thin shoulders, her face a little cleaner than before while she leans over my body. "I thought you left."
"No." I sit up, thinking and slightly pissed before she immediately hugs me. "Savannah?"
"Don't leave me again." She buries her face in my neck and I want to pull away, but force myself immobile so I don't hurt her feelings, even though I know that she's probably telling the truth about who I am, who we were to each other, good friends, all the things she explained to me last night...I can't help but actually really feel like...Dammit! I don't know...there's something wrong here.
There's something missing.
And these dreams. What's going on with them?
"Savannah? I think I remember my name." I wait to see her reaction.
It's only a moment of silence before she pulls back with a smile.
"I told you your name."
"Mark?"
"Yeah."
"I think I remember someone calling me Carl." I tilt my head and frown at her a little in wait.
"That's your middle name." Her voice is almost a pout.
Wait. My middle name?
"Mark...Carl Rogers?"
"Uh huh." She grins and nods, her small eyes squinting a little from her smile and for some reason, I'm really disappointed.
"Oh." Ha. "Is that all?" I scoff and feel her poke my cheek. "Ah...what?" I smile at her. I don't know why, but that's wrong too. I keep on feeling like if she's going to tease me...it should be different. Damm, I'm really losing my mind.
"Nothing! I'm just poking your cheek!" Her high pitched country voice giggles. "We used to tease each other like this all the time!"
"Could you stop?" I really don't want to lose my patience with her; she's really being nice but... "I'm sorry I don't remember you. Savannah-"
"Sav. My nickname. Sav. You used to call me Sav." She states with a frown and slight glare.
"Ok...Look, I'm not who you remember. I'm different."
"I know. But, I can't help what I remember about us. That one time, when you- when we were at school, and...and we-we made a promise never to stop talking, no matter what."
"I don't remember that." Instead I remember someone saying 'I love you' to me and I can't even remember the face or even figure out if it's really real, or just a dream instead of a memory!
"Well," Savannah sighs. "Maybe you don't have to. I mean, as long we're together now, who cares about the past?"
Who cares?
Ha...I do.
I care...and I don't even know why. I just know there's something important in the past, that is affecting the now...and I feel like it should be affecting the future...I just don't know what.
I don't know!
__________________
-5 Hours Into The Following Day-
"Mark!? Could you come help me?" Savannah calls to my name while I'm spread out on her bed, my arms crossed under my hair as I stare at the ceiling, sighing every 2 minutes whilst thinking about that erotic dream that I glimpsed last night.
I don't know why that one keeps repeating over and over in my head, but its one thing I don't mind thinking about. I mean, it makes me wonder what kind of person I was if it's more than a dream and...I was actually intimate with somebody but...then again, I'm probably just kidding myself. I can't help but blush though.
"I'm goin' outside! Come on!"
"Coming." I lightly speak before stretching a little to stand, wondering what chore Savannah needs help with, only to hear the sound of a bucket being dropped to the floor, the tin it's constructed of hitting straight down the steps to the house it sounds, and I look out my room to see Savannah's dad, Joseph, staring outside the front of the house like he sees something strange.
Wait. What if it's a chaser?
I'd finally get to see what the heIl everyone's talking about! Who knows?! I might even remember something!
Not caring to sit around and feel like an idiot anymore today, I leap to my feet and hurry towards the window in my room, the glass a little dusty around the corners, expecting to see some creepy as$ thing chasing Savannah, wondering where she put my gun that I noticed her staring at when I first woke up in this house 2 days ago; I'm guessing I had a gun in the first place because I used it for reasons like killing chasers, but instead, I see something...else.
Not a creature that would attack any of us, not a wilted being the way Savannah and Joseph described those monsters out in the world to be, but...something, odd. And just as surprising.
Eye opening...
A girl.
A girl, with a long sword of sorts on her hip, a sort of tight necklace, on this strangers neck, and if I'm seeing things right...a trait that takes my mind's sense of logic away.
Gray hair.
And I've never seen anything so beautiful in my entire forgotten life.
This I know for sure, no matter what I can't remember, I know this one thing, for sure.
I'm looking at the most beautiful thing this world has ever shown me.
This girl.
_______________________
EMERGENCY: Somehow the next chapter switched up, so instead of chapter 36, you'll see chapter 37. so just skip over it then go back if you will. I'm sorry. T-T I had some sort of freakish panic attack and it sucked for maybe 3 seconds. it was awful. I THINK i fixed it, but I'm not sure. so, heads up warning in case.
Sorry this chapter was rushed but I didn't want to drag this particular chapter out. Who could stand it? XD And oh my gosh. -TRIES TO BREATHE- 6K+ READS O_O -Heart attack and dies-