Chapter 1: Remember not to Forget

Everything was hazy. The world was spinning. I felt as though I was going to be sick as I tried to stand up. After three unsuccessful attempts I managed to at least bring myself onto my knees as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

I felt a cool breeze brush against my face as my eyesight slowly adjusted to the light. It took longer than I would have liked to finally get a bearing of where I was.

Besides the dark cement at my feet, the only thing as far as my eyes could see in every other direction was an orange sky.

Finally regaining some sense of balance, I stood up, rubbing my head as I did so.

"Anyone have an aspirin?" I asked to no one in particular.

I shook my head as the headache began to fade and walked to the edge of the concrete and looked down. I immediately regretted that decision.

I was on the roof a a decently sized building in the middle of some city that I've never seen before. At least... Not that I can remember. For some reason I had a strange case of déjà vu as I tried to think about where I've seen this place before.

My hand immediately returned to my forehead as the headache kicked back up.

"Why is it so hard to remember?" I thought aloud. "How did I even get here?"

As more questions beat their way into my skull my headache worsened to the point where I was afraid I might collapse. But at the peak of what seemed like an endless stream of pain came a thought that caused my entire being to freeze. I stared wide eyed at the ground as I brought my hand in front of me.

'Who... Am I?'

The pain in my seemed like nothing compared to the ache left behind by that question. I was drawing a blank. No longer worried about WHERE I was, I began panicking about WHO I was.

Did I have a family? Friends? Where did I go to school? How old was I? What was my favorite color? What did I look like?

I looked up, I had fallen onto all fours and was breathing heavily. I looked at my hands, they were shaking. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

I decided it wouldn't benefit me any to just sit on a roof losing my mind. It was getting dark and I needed to try and find a way down.

Once again, I stood up and checked the roof for a way down. Luckily, I found a ladder that seemed to lead down to a fire escape for the building. I figured that would be my best bet.

I stumbled over to the ladder and began my decent. The building was only about six or-so stories tall, so even in the state I was in, I had no problem making my way to the alley below.

After taking a moment to compose myself, ensuring that I wouldn't stumble or pass out again, I stepped out towards the front of the building and onto the street.

The street lights had come on and even though the sun had just gone down, there were still plenty of people walking the street and going about their business. A variety of different shops selling a number of different goods lined both sides if the street. Things like clothes, food, electronics, and dust. Whatever that was.

I decided to walk along the sidewalk, as I had nothing better to do. As I passed by a cafe I happened to notice my reflection in the window and stopped to give myself a good look. Physically, I was nothing special. Kinda tall, kinda toned, just enough tan to not be considered pale. But the most prominent feature that I took account of was my hair. It was RED! I took a small step towards the glass and noticed that my hair was actually brown with a tuft of red that took up a good portion of the front in the shape of a star by the looks of it. I ran my hand through my hair, which came down to about a couple inches before my shoulders in the back, and continued to look at what I was wearing. A set of dark blue pants with a set of two belts and black high-top sneakers. I also had a slightly tactical looking jacket that was some shade of dark red that was open in the front to show off my black undershirt. I don't know what I thought about this outfit before, but I liked it now!

I smiled and backed away from the glass, accidentally bumping into someone walking behind me.

"Oh! Sorry about that..." I spun around coming face to face with a grey haired man wearing strange glasses and a green scarf. "...I didn't see you there."

"No harm done." He replies, pushed his glasses higher onto his nose. "But you should be sure to take better note of your surroundings. Not everyone is as forgiving as I am." He gave me a look that was stern, yet tolerant. I gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you sir, I guess I'm a bit... distracted at the moment." I admitted, looking away and bringing my hand behind my head. When I looked back at him he was looking me up and down. After a few seconds he gave a small smile before speaking again.

"Would you like something to drink?

We sat across from each other inside the small cafe. I held an full glass of water in front of me as he drank his coffee. He had been staring at the newspaper in front of him for the past several minutes, and I was beginning to feel a bit on edge. Where had I seen this man before? I started to rub my head again.

"Are you alright?" I looked at him. He had turned his attention to me for the first time since we had sat down. I brought my hand back down.

"Just a headache." I tried to stop thinking about it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew something about this man.

"Hmm..." He sipped his coffee again. "Do you know who I am?"

My head felt like it was going to explode! The answer was trying to beat it's way out of my head, I'm sure of it! I brought both hands up and grabbed the sides of my head, as if trying to hold it together. A hint of concern swept across the mans face.

"That seems like much more than 'Just a headache.'" He shook his head and chuckled. "Drink some water, it will help ease the pain."

"R-Right..." I picked up the glass in front of me and took a drink. It wasn't as cold as I had expected. Setting down the now empty cup I once again rubbed my head, trying to clear my mind. "Maybe I should go..." I stood to leave. "Thank you for the drink. Sorry for wasting your time professor." I made my way towards the door.

"Young man."

I looked back at the stranger sitting back at the table. He was still facing where I previously sat, and took another sip of his coffee. "Yes?"

"Curious." He said, unmoving. I looked around, confused.

"What's curious?" He looked at me from his seat. He had a small grin on his face.

"I don't recall ever stating that I was a professor. So I assume you know who I am?"

I hope you guys enjoy this story. I've never actually written out any of my stories before and i figured i might as well start doing that. ^^;

Let me know what you guys think! (My writing will get better I promise! XD)