• 'I dreamt last night, that I was in an irreversible coma. A coma which I was destined never to awake from.
    Do you believe in parallel universes? It's just a thought... or perhaps, a recurring dream...'

    I was greeted by a blinding white light...
    At first I thought I might've been dead, but the throbbing pain I felt in my hand made me curl into a little ball and realise that that wasn't the truth at all.
    Fluttering my eyes drowsily, I felt my pupils expand and contract, as if the muscles hadn't been exercised and were having trouble adjusting to the brightness. The light pierced my eyes like a hot knife to a bubble.
    Looking back, I think I would forever associate that room with searing pain, the kind of pain where you shut your eyes and instead of seeing darkness, you stare into a bright, inhumane, light.
    Eventually my eyes adjusted to the room I was now residing in, darting from side to side jerkily as I tried to take in my surroundings. The room had a strange feeling about it.
    The walls, made of marble and still in pristine condition, mirrored the colour of the gigantic white light glaring up at me from above. The ceiling had not survived in a good condition, with cracks running halfway across it, similar to legs on a spider, before finishing in branches on various parts of the wall. It was a wonder that it could still hold the building together in one piece.
    I turned my head to the side slowly, pain ricocheting down my neck haphazardly as I tried to examine the opposite side of the room.
    Gigantic double doors stared back at me, directly adjacent to my position. Beside the doors stood a surgical table and a screen, with clothes dangling lazily from a metal bar suspended above it.
    I assumed they were mine.
    Clad in nothing but a bedsheet, I rose and made my way across the room on unsure legs. They felt like jelly, weak and aching, but at the same time I knew that they had once been strong, the muscle definition on my lower calf unnerving me a little.
    Just exactly who had I been before all this?
    I peered behind me and realised that I had been lying on a makeshift hospital bed, looking awfully rustic and brittle in it's obvious old age.
    It would seem the only thing not touched by the irreversible age of time in this room had been me.
    I staggered over to the screen and reached up towards the clothing on the metal bar, my bedsheet sliding across my sore stomach and breasts. Whatever had left me in my incapacitated state earlier must have had the solidity of a brickwall, I mused.
    My hands fumbled with the clothing as I attempted to slip the baggy t-shirt over my head. I leaned against the wall to steady myself as I slipped the underwear on awkwardly. Laying the pair of track pants over my arm, I searched under the screen for a pair of shoes. The process was slow and painful, as every muscle in my body seemed to scream in protest at the slow, crouching movement. I couldn't find any shoes, so disentangling the large white sheet from myself, I finished dressing. The pants, it seemed, were slightly too big.
    Tightening the waist cord as tight as it could go, I wobbled over to the metal doors and peered outside the glass windows. All I could discern was never-ending darkness, chasing itself down a long corridor. I contemplated following the corridor deeper into the hospital, but found that the short burst of strength I had gathered to get myself across the room and dressed, had abandoned me.
    Deciding it was best to wait until I had recovered somewhat, I slid down, back against the marble wall and let the gentle lull of sleep overtake me once more.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    'Wait up Lysander!'
    Was that my name they were calling? I couldn't be sure, all my memories were shrouded in a weird haze.
    'Hey! I said 'wait up!' you know?'
    I cracked an eye open groggily and wiped away a bead of drool from my mouth hastily. It seemed I was moments from being discovered, two sets of footsteps, one hurried and one slow and deliberate were heading in my general direction. I pulled myself up onto my forearms, my back resting against the metal door and attempted to gather some strength together.
    'Are you sure this place was here before?' the same voice questioned. It sounded like it belonged to a young female.
    'Sure it was,' another older voice reprimanded, this one was male. 'Places don't just spring up out of the ground overnight Jen.'
    The footsteps stopped. I pulled myself up the door weakly and peered through the small windows. A child and a teenage boy were standing just outside, their backs facing in my direction.
    'But I've never seen this place before?' She squeaked angrily in reply. 'Not in all the time I've lived here!'
    The boy just shook his head and turned around to face me.
    As he did, I gasped in surprise and lost my grip on the window, crashing to the floor and taking a few surgical tools from the table with me.
    The boy recoiled in surprise before ripping the metal door open.
    He took a step inside but stopped when he saw my lowly figure, sprawled across the tiled floor, his eyes wandered over my face for a moment before he waved to the girl named Jen.
    'Don't come in here Jen. Must be some mental patient or something.'
    He said it with a trace of fear in his voice, but I couldn't help but hear the contempt he held for my 'apparent' mental state. I felt the smallest tinge of anger at the judgement and discrimination.
    'Do you speak to all people in need that way?'
    I stopped, my eyes widening a little. Were those hoarse sounds... the remnants of my voice? I clutched my throat uncertainly.
    The boy eyed me curiously before signaling for the girl to come back inside.
    'Who are you exactly?' he said, taking the girls hand. His eyes narrowed when I was unable to answer straight away.
    I raised my head slightly and pointed to my throat. It still hurt to talk, perhaps that was a blessing in this situation. I pointed to him though, raising my eyebrow in a quizzical manner.
    'Me?' he said. 'My name is Lysander, Miles to those who I like enough to call me so.'
    I nodded my head slowly, acknowledging the introduction before looking up at the little girl, who stood beside him, clutching his loose t-shirt.
    Jen looked up at Miles uncertainly before bounding forward happily.
    'Hey lady!' she near shouted, with a smile like a beacon. 'My name is Jennifer Locotes. Pleased to meet you!'
    I was almost taken aback by her bouncy nature, but I felt a smile worming its way onto my face regardless. She filled me a number of warm and fuzzy emotions, the way her smile was large enough for two people.
    Jen let go of Miles hand and shirt and made her way over to me. I started to pick myself up off the floor when I felt a foot push down on my lower back.
    'I don't think you should be getting up just yet,' drawled Miles. 'I don't trust you.'
    I looked up at him angrily. He didn't realise how much the small hindrence was hurting me, with all my muscles as useless as wet paper. But of course he wouldn't know, he didn't know anything about me.
    I didn't know anything about me...
    'I don't know who I am or why I am here...' I managed to croak out. 'All I know for sure, is that if you don't lift your foot, you are going to pay...'
    Both Jen and Miles' eyes widened a little at the implication, but only Miles' narrowed afterwards.
    'You must take me for an idiot?' he jeered. 'You're as weak as a kitten right now. What on earth could you possibly do?'
    I knew his logic made absolute sense, felt the weariness wracking my body apart but I could feel it deep inside me.
    I had the potential to do great things...
    Memories of devastation and destruction flickered briefly on the edge of my mind. An overwhelming bubble of anger was welling up inside of me.
    That boy was going to pay!



    Fin ~ Chapter 1 by Genki Asemo