This is a novella I'm writing. Please Comment on it, tell me what you think, ideas, critisism. If it sucks then tell me I just need something to go on.
Chapter I
I slowly woke up. It was an odd feeling, I could actually feel my brain testing all of the nerve endings in my body, then checking my motor functions and fine-tuning itself. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a bedroom, the walls were white, pictures were hung on them sporadically. They carpet was a light cream and tan mix, it looked very clean. I sat up and was surprised by how weak I was, it was a major effort to lift any part of myself. I took a few minutes to orient myself and got to my feet. I swayed and had to use the bed to keep from falling. I stumbled toward the door, just as I reached it it opened. The woman in front of me didn’t jump or scream, she did look surprised though. She only looked at me for a second or two at a time, then looked away. I tried to say something but all that came out was a harsh, grating rasp. Quietly, almost a whisper she said, “I’ll get you some water.”
She left, I stumbled back to the bed, collapsing the moment I was in reach of it. She came back a few minutes later holding a bottle of water and a bowl of something. She handed me the bottle, never looking me in the eye. I gulped the water, it was delicious but at the same time felt like I had swallowed a handful of razors. I tried to speak again, “W-here am I?” My voice was still a harsh, rasping whisper.
She didn’t answer so I asked another question, “Who are you?”
She turned her head toward me but never looked up, “Alya. Alya Harrison.”
I could tell that something was wrong. I hadn’t noticed at first but she looked unhealthily thin. Her clothes were stained and frayed. She looked too timid for there not to be something scaring her. “Where am I?”
She didn’t answer, just got up and went to the door, I was too weak to follow her. Just before she shut the door she said, “Eat the soup. I’ll come back in a while with some more water.”
I couldn’t think of anything else to do and I felt like I had never eaten anything before in my life so I downed the soup. It scalded my throat and tongue but I didn’t really notice for a while. It was the best thing I had ever tasted.
I can’t remember how long but eventually Alya came back. She was carrying a loaf of bread and more water and soup. She sat down on the far end of the bed and handed me the extra bottle of water she was holding. I thanked her which seemed to be the wrong thing to do. She burst into tears, putting her face in her hands. I didn’t know what to do, I just sat there, waiting for her to calm down.
It was more than an hour later that she stopped sobbing. I gently asked, “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t look at me, didn’t do anything. I almost asked again but she whispered, “Thank you.”
“What?” Why was she thanking me? The only thing I had done was drink some water and made her cry.
For the first time she turned her head and looked directly at me, “You don’t remember?”
“What?”
“Ye-yesterday, when you…When you killed them.”
I almost stopped breathing, “Killed who?” My voice was strained.
“Those two men…they broke in and…They had me here for more than a week. I saw you walking down the street and scream at you. Y-you came in and killed them.”
I think I went into a sort of shock after that. It took a few minutes for me to speak again, “I…I killed two people yesterday?”
She looked away from me, nodding. “I…I can’t remember…god, I can’t remember anything.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes, “What's your name?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?” Again she looked at me, her eyes were oddly colored, I hadn’t noticed before. One was blue, the other pale grey, they were beautiful.
“I don’t know. I-I can’t remember anything from before a few hours ago. You said I was walking down a street?”
She noticed that I was still holding eye contact and she looked away, “Yeah, you didn’t look that good though. You were stumbling, I thought you were drunk but you were the first person I had seen other than those things for more than a week.”
She was trembling, I didn’t dare do anything so I asked, “Am I at a hospital?”
She shook her head, “No. If I had you would have wound up dead. You don’t remember anything from before?”
I shook my head, “The first thing that I know is the ceiling of this room, that’s it. I know what certain things are but I don’t know where I am, who I am or when it is.”
“You’ve got to have some sort of name. Can’t you think of anything that might help?”
I strained to think of anything but there was nothing but what I had seen over the past couple of hours. I shook my head, “Nothing.”
“You can’t even remember a place to go? Anyone that might know you?”
I shook my head again. After a few minutes Alya said, “You can stay here. I’ve got a couple of spare rooms.”
“No, I can’t. You don’t need some random guy here, especially one who doesn’t know a thing about himself.”
“It’s fine. You don’t seem like you would do anything and Atrimes likes you.”
“Who’s Atrimes?”
She hesitated for a few seconds then mumbled something. A giant white raven appeared on her shoulder, “Atrimes this is…uh…well…this is Atrimes.”
A pleasure to meet you. Thank you for saving Mistress Alya. It didn’t surprise me at all that the raven had spoken to me, let alone spoken to me in my head. I somehow saw this as normal.
“She’s my familiar.”
“She’s beautiful. I really can’t stay here Alya. I don’t want to get in your way, if I just walk around I might run into someone who knows me.”
She looked at me again, she looked small, scared and helpless, “Please. I owe you.”
I shook my head, “I’d just get in your way.”
“I want you to stay here, please.”
I sighed, I had to stay. I had no memory of it but I had protected her and she was still scared. “Okay, but if you need help with anything tell me.”
She half smiled, the first positive emotion I had seen from her so far. She got up, “I’ll be right back, if it’s okay with you, or are you going to sleep?”
I shook my head, “No, I’m wired right now.”
“Do you want something else to eat?”
“No. I’ll be fine.” My stomach seemed to disagree, it rumbled just as I finished my sentence.
She glared at me mockingly, “Liar. What do you want?”
I sighed, “Anything.”
She came back a little while later carrying two plates of food and a more water. “I wish I knew how old you were, or your name.”
“I do too,” I said, accepting one of the plates of pasta.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it. I just-”
I smiled at her, “It’s fine. I honestly have no memories. There isn’t even…a fog in my head. I just don’t have anything.”
“Well, it’s going to be awkward talking if you don’t have a name.” I shrugged, “Why don’t we try thinking of one for you?”
“Okay. You pick it out, the only two names I know are Alya Harrison and Atrimes.”
She smiled but looked down at her hands. “What about…” she let her voice trail off.
“What?”
“Kira. How about Kira?”
I didn’t really have an opinion, I didn’t know weather it was a good or bad name, but I kind of liked it. “Okay. What about Kira Harrison?”
She blushed and turned her face completely away from me, “Uh…no.”
“Why not?”
“W-well, i-if…well…s-someone might think t-that we’re married.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I see now. So…when you get married you have one last name?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry.”
She turned back to me, “No, i-it’s okay. You didn’t know, I mean, you couldn’t have.”
“What’s going on right now?”
She looked relieved about the change of subjects. “What do you mean?”
“There’s got to be something happening in the world. I have no idea what is where and when it wasn’t.”
She gave me a dubious look, “What?”
I shrugged, “I don’t even know.”
She smiled, “No memory but a sense of humor, great. Well, there’s…there’s the Council.”
“Who?”
“The Council of Administrators. They rule the world essentially. A few years ago the leaders of every world power decided that they didn’t feel like killing each other anymore. They had discovered another enemy that they all just as fun to kill.”
“What?”
“Inhumans.”
“What are they?”
“Me, you, anyone who isn’t a pure blooded human.”
“What’d you mean ‘you’?”
She looked confused for a few seconds, “Oh, you wouldn’t remember. Yesterday…one of them shot you. When I healed you I had to take off your shirt to find the bullet and I saw the scars on your back.”
“What?”
“There’s lots of them, you’ve got them on your chest and arms too. There were two large ones that ran across your shoulder blades, every singe Halfblood has them, they’re left after the first time we change. I’ve got them on my back as well.”
“What are they from though, change into what?”
“Angel or demon, depends on which half we are. I’m half angel. Megan, a friend from work, is half demon. I don’t know if anyone else there is a Halfblood.”
It was strange, I didn’t know any of this but it didn’t surprise me in the least, “Which half am I?”
“I don’t know,” she shifted on the bed a little, moving a little closer to me not out of any kind of affection or anything, just so she could actually stay on the bed without falling, “I haven’t seen you changed so I can’t tell.”
“Well, how do I change?”
She shrugged, “I really don’t know. It’s not something I can explain. When I want to I just think about everyone I love and it happens, it’s different for everyone.”
I sighed and leaned back, “This is confusing.”
“Don’t worry about it, you’ll get your memory back at some point.”
“Yeah, maybe. It all depends on weather I have any memories to get back.”
We both went quiet. Finally, a few minutes later Alya said, “You want any more food?”
I shook my head, “No, I’m done.” I reached out to take her dish, “Where do there go?”
“I’ll take care of them later. D-do you want to talk for a while?”
I sat back,. “Sure. I’ve got to learn what I can when I can. What’s your family like?”
She looked down at her hands, “I-I don’t know. My mom and dad were executed when I was little. My brother disappeared a few years later. I lived with some friends until I was nineteen. I got a job and eventually moved into this place.”
There were tears in her eyes when she finished, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
She shook her head emphatically, “No, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know. From what I can remember of my parents they were nice. My brother took care of me until they caught him too, I think. I don’t know what happened to him, I want to try and find him but I can’t.”
I decided right then that I would try to take care of her as long as I could. “If you want, I can help you look for him once I’m not so weak.”
“No, it’d just put you in danger, don’t worry about it.”
I sighed, “Do you want me to help out with anything here?”
She smiled at me, “It’s fine Kira. Thanks…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“C’mon.”
“Seriously, I’m fine, it's just that,” She paused for a second, looking uncomfortable. "You remind me of him, that's all."
“Oh, okay."
“Look, you’d better get some sleep. I’ll wake you up before I leave, do you want me to make you some breakfast?”
“No, I’ll be okay.”
She got up and went to the door, “Okay, ‘night.”
“’Night.”
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The Hunted Chronicles
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Doc_The_Clown
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