This is a small story I am working on and this is the first chapter, the story is about a young boy who wakes up in the middle of the woods with an almost empty journal, a pen, and the knowledge of the fact he is dying. The story chronicles his journey into finding out who he is, why he is here, and if he could possibly beat his illness. The story is meant to be ambiguous so as to give the people reading a chance to form there own conclusions about what is really going on.
I hope you enjoy!
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Day 1
The sun woke me up that morning. I was lying down on the grass; the dew wetting my hair and clothes. I got up and looked at the clear blue sky; its light blue glow illuminated by the sun. I was lying in a field of grass surrounded by a large, thick forest. I couldn’t remember much of who I was. I only remembered my name “Adam” and that I was dying. I couldn’t explain how or why I knew I was dying, but I was sure I was. I also debated on whether I felt I would die, or if I was dying. There were so many things I didn’t know.
I found this brown journal lying next to me in the grass. Its first page was opened up yet empty. A nice, purple pen was shining not too far away from me. I grabbed it and got up from the ground. It had occurred to me that I could speak the English language. In fact, I knew many things in the fields of Mathematics, Biology, History, Botany, and English Literature. The only thing I could not remember was the reason and name of my current condition, and of who I was and what I was doing in the middle of the forest.
After writing in the journal, I began to walk into the forest to explore my environment. As soon as I did however, my body began to grow weak. My sight began to blur and I was breathing heavily. I was now fully aware of this condition. It soon began to fade and I could walk normally again. I did not know how long that would last however. I trekked through the forest and found myself exiting into a busy highway. The cars trailed through the highway at a speed that astounded me.
I began to try and cross the highway. Everything was going great, as there were no cars at the time to my left. However, when I looked to my right a person in his car halted and beeped his horn at me. I was startled and quickly ran to the other side of the left highway. I then had to cross the other highway that lay next to the one before. I ran as fast as I could across the highway before numerous cars began to show up. I had felt considerably lucky.
I began to grow weak again and sat down to recover my strength on a nearby bench perched up on the sidewalk adjacent to the road. Soon the weakness began to fade away again and I got back up and walked up a cement staircase that left the highway area and led out to another long road. The area I stood on consisted of grass that lined itself next to the extensive road. The road led to a small town in the distance.
The town had a small number of houses, a place called a “department store”, a school, and a movie theater. As I walked into town, people began to stare at me to my confusion. I walked forward into the town and then walked into the department store. I looked around to find it extensive of many items. In the isles were chips, candies, and easy to make meals of all kinds. In the back, the cooler’s contained drinks of all shapes, sizes, and flavors. It astonished me for whatever reason, which I suspect were the colors on the drinks.
I went up to the man at the desk at the heart of the store. I asked him politely if I could have some of his food. The man was looking at a magazine and would not make eye contact with me; however, it would seem he could hear me. He responded in a harsh tone “No money? No stuff.” After I heard that, I began to remember the concept of money. I remembered its purpose as a form of currency and exchange. I began to realize that I had no money and that this place also required money as a form of exchange. I was disappointed as I had really wanted to try some of the blue liquid.
I sighed and the man looked at me with what was originally a face of annoyance. As soon as he looked at me, to my surprise, he jumped and turned white. He then asked me if I was okay, to which I replied to him in a lie that I was fine.
“T-take whatever you want kid! Please eat something for God’s sake!” The man’s face was white and he seemed extremely concerned for me. I was confused as to his change in attitude and asked him what brought on this change.
“You mean you don’t know what you look like? Dude, you look terrible.”
“I am sorry sir but I didn’t know that. Could you give me a mirror so that I can see for myself?”
The man then went to a room in the back and came out with a mirror. He pointed the mirror to my face to which I jumped backwards in fright. Compared to other people in this town, not only was I extremely skinny, but there was a scar carved as an “X” into my right cheek. I looked at myself in horror. I was scared of myself. I calmed myself down and looked at the man.
“Uhh… I swear I didn’t notice this.” I attempted to hide my shock and embarrassment from the man.
“I-it’s okay kid. You can have anything you want for free; you need me to call a doctor?”
I wanted to plead yes but for some reason I didn’t want to, a feeling within my innards was telling me that I had to keep going and not associate with the medical field whatsoever. I simply nodded in a no and, thanks to his kind generosity, was able to grab a few snacks. It wasn’t much; just a bag of Cheetos and a Root Beer. I left thanking the man, but behind my wave and smile, I was conflicted. I couldn’t explain why I didn’t want to see a doctor.
As the day drew on I eventually had to leave the nice town. I came upon a long highway surrounded by a large meadow that led to a huge urban city. I began to travel there along the side of the road. Suddenly, I began to grow weak again. Night was starting to fall and I had become exhausted. Even through this empty meadow there lay one oak tree along the side of the road. I dragged my tired body to the tree and laid myself beside it. No cars ever passed this road while I was half awake. It was then I took out the pen and journal and began writing in it to record my past events and also decided to write it in past tense.
I then began to flip the pages as I had noticed that this journal had not been written in before. As I came to the very last page I noticed my handwriting in the bottom right corner of the last page that had to words.
“I am”
I could not explain it as I do not remember writing such throughout the course of the day. Perhaps I had written it before I fell asleep that night and lost my supposed memories. This I would have needed to figure out the next day.
