It's... leaves. The wind is chilly, as it blows across my previously unconscious body. Unconscious... Right, I was unconscious. From what? What knocked me out? Uhhh... Shit. What knocked me out?
Ok, I'll just retrace my steps. What can I remember? Uhh...
Uhhhhhhh... This is a problem. I don't remember anything. No, that's a lie, I do remember things. I know how to speak English, I know my name is Isaac, I know my friends call me a "twink." I remember what a "twink" is, unfortunately... It's weird, I remember things, but not actual memories. Like how you remember most things from school, but you don't remember what day you learned them all.
I guess it wouldn't be long until I remembered you, either.
I'd ask "How's it hanging," but it's clear how unusual of a situation this is.
Also because questions are unnecessary when you're just a figment of my imagination, Maribelle.
I may not be real, but I'll love you all the same.
Thank you. I'm a little suprised my waifu was one of the first things I thought of when retracting my steps.
Is it because you love me?
Yeah... probably.
Awwwww~
But we both know I only show up to help you with your boredom, and there's not much else to do in this forest except to walk around, hoping to find a way back home.
As I'm getting to that, I start to look around, noticing the leaves. Looking at it's color, it appears to be fall... But, I swear it's April.
That's tough, think you lost your memories?
That... I don't want to think about that.
Okay... but keep that in mind, alright?
Speaking of my memories... Why is it that I can't form any memories?
That is strange. Especially because you can recall my appearance perfectly.
Yeah, with the large, baggy purple cotton pants, long, wavy hair that reaches halfway down your back, creating a nice black to dark blue gradient.
Don't forget my star necklace! My name means "Star of the Sea" for a reason! That reason being... a justification for an outlandish visual design.
And your... y'know.
Yeah my tits are pretty big. I mean, for being an anime character they're not the largest, but I don't think any real women would be dissapointed with these puppies.
Moving on.
Don't act like you don't appreciate them. You are literally making me say all of this.
"Hey." Ah!
The sudden interruption snaps me out of my weird fantasy, as I look around for a moment, seeing... nobody.
"Uhh... Look up?"
I look up to see some white guy in about his 30s showing off while standing on a branch about 15 meters off the ground. Wait, how the hell did he get up there?
"I should probably get closer to you, huh?"
"Well, not much you can do about that, can you?"
"Well, actually..."
Then this guy just... jumps? And lands completely fine on the ground? No "crunch" or "crack" noises either he just... does it. How the hell...?
"How the hell did you do that?"
"Trade secret, I suppose." You suppose?
"You're lost right? Good thing I found you early in the day." Ah, so it is early.
"You got a place near here?"
"Yeah, only about 30 minutes from here, you hungry?"
"Not really, I only woke up about 20 or so minutes ago."
"Well, let's walk and talk then." ...and walked we did.
"So, I sort of glossed over this earlier but how the hell did your legs not snap earlier?!"
"You didn't gloss over it. You asked "How the hell did you do that?" and I said it was a "trade secret", were you not paying attention?"
"Yes, I was! But there's no way I'm letting that slide!"
"Why not?"
"Because no matter how strong your boots are, there's no way you can just walk off a fall like that!"
"It's not that strange, you can find a bunch of weird stuff around nowadays." Yes it is!
...Right? What the hell does he mean by "nowadays"?
"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by "nowadays?""
"What do you mean: what do you mean?"
"It's obvious what I mean! And stop mocking my voice!"
"Alright, alright. I'll stop."
Good. It was super annoying. I guess I also mocked him too, but... ugh! The scary part is how well his impression was... and also-
"Hey, are you gonna answer my question?"
"Geez, don't know why you're so hung up on that comment, where have you been the past five years?"
"I don't know! I'm forgetting... lots of things right now!"
"Oh wow, really? You could've started with that." I...
Shit, he's right.
"So uh, what can you remember?"
"Not much. Outside of me walking around, really no memories to speak of."
"Yeah well, that's what happens to memories before the fall. Or "The End." or... whatever you want to call it."
"Call... What?"
"You know, the apocalypse!" What?
The world... ended?
"Maybe that's a bit of an over exaggeration. There's plenty of survivors, and there's no viral outbreaks or zombie infections in sight."
"Internet's down, though?"
"Unfortunately." Are you kidding me!? This has been reality for how long!?
"What the hell happened? How long has this been happening?"
He just shrugs in response.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I feel like you know what that's supposed to mean."
"I do, but..."
"It's a weird feeling, yeah. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but the world definitely ended, to a certain extent. Even if the only thing left behind is craters, burn buildings and... us."
Wow. I'm not sure if I'm processing everything. Actually, scratch that, I'm definitely not processing everything. I wonder how my family's doing...
Oh shit. I have a family. Two sisters, one older, one younger. Georgie and Paisley. How the hell did I remember about Maribelle before my family?!
"Either way, your amnesia apparently has completely removed any information and memories of at least the past 5 years." 5 Years?!
"Damn!"
"I think that's enough exposition dumping, I see my place up ahead." I squint my eyes for a moment to try and find it. Nope. Still don't see it.
Regardless, I take his word for it and keep walking with him. I guess taking his word for it is all I've done for the past 30 minutes. For once, I hope someone is lying to me.