'Best friend', eh? That's quite a bold nickname you'd give a contact. Youre not sure if this person is really your best friend or you just gave him that contact nickname as an irony (you really hope you didnt have that kind of sick sense of humor before you got amnesia!). Either way, you needed you know. You hope that this person calling really is a friend.
So you answer the phone.
You swallowed hard and carefully spoke, "H...hello?"
"Mike?! Mike, is that you?!" said a rather excited male voice on the other end, "GUYS! I got Mike on the phone!" You heard a lot of rustling and muttering in the background before the guy spoke again, "Thank god. We thought you were dead. What happened to you?!"
You felt nervous as you asked, "I'm... sorry. Who is this?"
"What do you mean who is this?" the guy sounded surprised that you asked, "you dont recognize my voice? It's me, Zane!" Zane. A slightly familiar name, but your mind is far too blurry to remember it.
"Z...Zane?"
"C'mon, Mike, we known each other since kindergarten!" Zane assures, "stop messing around. What's gotten into you?"
"I'm sorry," you shrugged your arms, "I cant for the life of me remember anything at the moment."
"What you talking ab-" Zane suddenly stopped talking and you heard whispering in the back, "... oh my god. No no, that's crazy. Michael's untouchable. There's no way he'd let Al-ahmadr do that to him!" ...Again with that name.
"Mike? Of course you remember me, right?" Zane asks like he's trying to deny the inevitable, "your old pal, Zane Rosewood, Detective of Paradiso County Police? I got our other pals Lydia, Ward, and Perez here too. Say Hi, guys!"
It's a good thing those guys could see the frown on you face when they all said hi. It felt really bad to forget something that important.
"Zane," you swallowed, "I dont remember them. I dont remember you, I dont remember anything."
You heard Zane sigh hard, "Damnit. What did that monster do to you? Ok ok, we'll worry about jogging your memory later. Where are you?"
You scanned around your surroundings. "I'm not really where exactly. It looks some kind of Shinto shrine in the middle of Japan. Two kind mikos here are letting me rest here."
"Japan? What are you doing all the way over there?" Zane groaned, "right, you dont remember. Nevermind, I'll run the phone tracker, give me a second."
"Ok," you patiently waited for him.
"What do you mean 'Location Unknown'?" you heard Zane remark, "you guys got a satellite orbiting the whole planet! Ugh, I knew I shoulda switched. Hang on, Mike, I got a plan B. Lydia, tap the phone!"
"Yes sir," you heard Lydia comply. It was then you realized far too late the little battery icon on the screen blinking red. The phone's almost dead!
"Alright, this might take a minute or so," your friend warned, "dont turn off the phone until we pinpoint you." You got a bit nervous looking at that warning icon. You might not have another minute or so to spare.
"Anything yet, Lydia?"
"Location Unknown," you heard her answer.
"Location Unknown?! Are you kidding?!" Zane became furious, "this is highly advanced 99.9% accurate technology youre using!"
"I'm... sorry sir," poor Lydia got nervous, "that's what it says."
"Forget it. Second time's a charm! Try it again!"
The warning icon was still blinking. Youre running out of time.
"Zane, my phone's almost dead," youre forced to tell him.
"WHAT?!" he shouted over the receiver, "Mike, I thought I told you several times to recharge your phone!" Oh crap, that was a bad habit of yours?"
"Uh, sorry?" was all you could say about it.
"Quick, hurry up and find a recharger!" he tells you, "Lydia's gonna get another reading soon."
You checked the window sill again. Fortunately, Reimu put the recharger next to the galaxy phone! Lucky break that you didnt lose it! ...BUT it wouldve have helped you anyway, because the room youre in lacked a single electrical outlet to plug it in. No lamps, tvs, radios, clocks, any of that stuff. Bad sign.
"Er, Zane..." you swallowed hard again, "I dont think this place has electricity."
"Hold that thought, Mike! Lydia, go faster! His phone's about to die!"
"I'm trying, sir!"
"Michael, stay with me! Just a minute longer and w-"
No response.
"Hello? Hello Zane?! HELLO?!" the phone's dead, "aw crap." Looks like you stranded with even more questions and even more people you dont remember worried for your sake. You sat down on the floor, rubbing your head trying to remember something else other than vague names and a creepy childlike voice commenting about your brain. But you couldnt do for long because all it ended up getting you was a slight headache.
Minutes after you gave up, the elder Hakurei came in through the sliding door with a hot cup of tea in her hands. She had smiled your as she placed it on the desk in front of you. Seeing the Miko's smile kinda lifted your spirits. Despite seeing a few scars on her face (and a couple on her exposed arms), it didnt do much to tarnish her natural beauty.
"How are you feeling?" she asked you.
"A little better, thank you," you gladly took the cup, "I remember my name, at least."
"What is it?" she was curious.
"Michael," you answered.
The elder Hakurei gave a hmph, " 'Michael'. Of what family?" You assume she asked what your last name is.
"That..." you lowered your head, "I still dont remember."
"Well, it's best not to rush it," she gave you a hint of encouragement, "it will come back to you in time. Now drink your tea before it gets cold."
"Thank you," you took slow sips of the tea. You assumed it was some sort of an herbal green tea. It wasnt bad, but coulda used a little honey.
"Uh... Lady Sendai Hakurei?"
"Yes?" she gave you her undivided attention.
"I need to make a call," you tell her.
"What kind of a call?" she asked you, "a bird call? A wolf call? ...Or perhaps a call to arms? I'm sorry, but we're peaceful shrine maidens." You looked at her oddly, then realized she got the 'call' wrong.
"No no no," you correct yourself, "I mean I need to use my phone. I think I can call up a friend of mine and left him know where I am, but the battery in it just died and I have to recharge it." As you talked, you noticed the Miko's smile getting a bit of a nervous twitch to it, like she's having a hard time comprehending what youre explaining to her.
"Call a friend... battery.... er, I'm sorry, could you please repeat that?" oh dear, it completely went over her head?!
"Um," you skip the unnnecessary explanation and just get to the point, "listen, do you have a place where I can plug in my phone?"
"Plug in.... phone?" she tilted her head questionably. Wow, this is TOTALLY going over her head!
You got a little worried, "Er, all I need is an electrical outlet. Is there an outlet around?"
"Out...let...?" she shook her and shrugged her arms, "is that some kind of noble city-slang?" OH CRAP. Where in the heck are you?!
You began to fear the worst as you asked one simple heart-pounding question. "Do you know what a lightbulb is?"
"Um..." she scratched the back of her head, "... a bulb... made of light?" OOOOHHH CRAP!! Not only do you have amnesia, youre in the middle of an unknown land without knowledge of modern technology! It seems like you didnt go back in time since apparently you still use your phone to contact people from the present, so where exactly is this place?!
"I'm sorry, Michael," Lady Sendai Hakurei blushed embarrassed, "Reimu is more savy when it comes to New World luxuries" NEW WORLD LU-urgghh! "but she's still in the middle of doing chores."
"Nah, dont worry about it," you stashed the phone in your pocket and figured you'd worry about it later. Right now, your mind is still in the recovery process. "Anyways, I have to thank you again for letting me stay here."
"It's no trouble," she said with conviction, "we havent gotten many visitors lately anyway. It might be because of the recent growth of monsters beyond these woods."
Your eyes widened, "Monsters?"
"Hopefully they'll migrate further west by the time the season's over," she says. Youre still stuck on the fact that monsters apparently exists here. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!
"I think it's going to be a while until Reimu finishes her chores," Lady Hakurei states, "since there's free time, I'd better make the most of it training so I dont let my body get rusty." And what a body she had. She looked incredibly fit for a shrine maiden. Maybe she doubles as a martial artist, too. "If youre feeling better, perhaps you'd care to join me? Maybe it'll help improve your mind as well as your body."
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author