Where am I?

He opened his eyes and slowly got up on his feet. All he could see was the tall grass and the trees surrounding him which were swayed back and forth by the gentle spring breeze. He searched the area up and down, trying to make sense of where he was. As his unfocused search led to nothing, he looked up to the sky in frustration.

“Why am I here!?” He exclaimed as his voice reverberated throughout the forest.

A howl and then a screech from beyond the tree line made him jump as his eyes searched for the source, he quickly realized that he was in danger by staying put and choosing a direction at random, his march through the forest began. Making his way through gentle hills and finding peaceful looking meadows. Islands of brightness to the dark thickets that surrounded them. While he walked past a herd of deer who curiously observed him, his legs began to hurt and the thirst became unbearable. Tired and thirsty, he stopped at the first body of water he could find, a simple pond.

He knelt down and grabbed as much water as his hands could hold and drank before collapsing on the ground to rest. The noon sun shined through the tree branches onto him. While he rested, his mind was restless as the questions only increased. Desperate for answers, he crawled back towards the pond, expecting it to somehow hold all the answers he longed for. When the pond only replied with his own reflection, he struck at it in frustration. But now another set of questions and realizations came to him. He had forgotten how he looked. As the water of the pond settled down, he took another look at himself.

He did not look malnourished or hurt but became captivated by his own messy golden hair and bright green eyes. He was so captivated by his own reflection that he had not noticed an  irritating buzzing growing louder right behind him until it became unbearable. Looking back, he began to scout his surroundings in search of the buzzing which became louder as the seconds went by. 

“Hey!” A voice called to him, rising above the white noise. He chuckled, assuming he had finally gone mad.  

“Hey!” The voice called out again. This time, he was sure it wasn’t just in his mind. He searched for where the voice was coming from.

“You finally listened,” the voice said. 

“Where are you!?” The young man yelled, raising his fist to defend himself. 

“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.” 

He refused to listen to the voice. Instead, his eyes wandered wildly in search of the source of the voice. Expecting its owner to come out from behind a tree, rock or another hidden place and attack him.

“Please calm down, I will explain everything.” 

“First, tell me where you are!” 

“I am inside your head.” 

The young man was surprised by the voice’s answer. “Inside my head?” 

“Yes, I originally wanted to appear to you in the form of a cricket but I assumed that would have scared you more.” 

“And this doesn’t!?” He crossed his arms. “What even are you?” 

 “I’m… the little voice in your head that will guide you through adversity. Your conscience if you want to call me that way.” 

“If that’s the case, can you tell me where I am?”

“This looks like a forest, a temperate one—”

“Not that! Do you know where exactly we are?” 

“I cannot say for certain but don’t be distraught about this.” 

“How can I not!?” He flung his arms around. “I’ll die here!” 

“Not yet. I won’t allow it.” The voice sounded confident. “We first need to find a river or other body of water.” 

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“How is that going to help me?” 

“People build houses, towns, and cities by rivers.” 

“Like that one?” He pointed at the pond. 

“Yes, maybe there’s a stream flowing from it?

The young man then searched around in hopes of finding what the voice was talking about. He walked by the shores of the pond for a long time until he stepped on something wet by accident. There he found what he had been looking for, a stream hidden by the tall grass that flowed down a gentle slope and perhaps to his salvation. He began to follow the stream down with a renewed sense of optimism and excitement.

“Can I ask you something?”The young man asked the voice inside his mind after a couple of minutes of walking in silence. “Why did I wake up here?

“… I cannot say why. Maybe it could have been an accident that you had?” 

“How come you don’t know?” 

“Just because I’m inside your head doesn’t mean I can access things that don’t exist.” 

The answer from the voice only made him even more anxious for answers, especially the last part. If the voice could not access things that did not exist. Could it mean there was nothing he could rediscover about himself? These sets of questions only brought him distraught. 

“Don’t worry about that. I’m sure that they will come to you.” 

“How are you so sure about that?” The young man said at the edge of desperation. 

“The brain does funny things to you, especially when tampered. Maybe you were hit or fell on the head very hard?” 

With that, the young man’s head was filled with questions to ask the voice and to ponder for hours to come. Did his family or friends know about his whereabouts? What led to him forgetting everything prior to waking up? Did he even have a family to begin with? But there was a growing fear as he looked up at the sky, it was already past noon. Afraid of what horrors might await him once night arrived, he began to look at certain places near the stream and judged them on how they could serve as shelter for the night.

“Don’t worry about that. You are going to be in a safe place by nighttime.” The voice said. 

“How did you—”

“Know? I’m inside your head, boy. I can read your thoughts.”

“That’s good, I guess.” He said, but now his curiosity became greater than before. “Can I ask you something?” 

“And I’d like to add, your family is fine.” 

“But worried!” The young man quickly added. “I just wish I could at least remember my name.” 

“Then… why don’t you make one? It’s better than going around with no name, isn’t it?” 

“You’re right.” 

As they followed the stream downwards through a particularly steep hill, the two of them thought about names for him. The voice was not shy on suggesting extravagant and exotic sounding names while the young man’s suggestions were less opulent and more simple sounding. They finally arrived at the bottom of the hill and he stopped for a while to rest. Laying down on the grass, the two continued to brainstorm names until, like a sudden flash of light. 

“What about Ludo?” He asked. It was a name that to him did not sound too rough and pretentious nor too simple minded and dull.

“It sounds…interesting. Do you like it?” 

“I think that’s the best sounding one we’ve had.” The young man said enthusiastically. 

The voice laughed. “Well then, Ludo. Pleasure to meet you.” 

“Thanks.” Ludo said. “But, what about you?” 

“What do you mean?” The voice said. 

“I can’t just call you voice or conscience. You deserve a name too!” 

The voice then became silent for a while. Ludo grew worried at the sudden loneliness and called out for the voice before it returned minutes later.

“You scared me!” Ludo said.

“Sorry about that.” 

“So, how should I—”

“Ben,” The voice said coldly. “you can call me Ben.” 

“T-then I’m happy to meet you Ben.” Ludo replied, taken back by Ben’s sudden sternness.

Settling the debate on their names, Ludo resumed his march despite feeling fatigued and quite hungry, at least the stream had provided the sweet life giving nectar that was water throughout his journey. Nighttime subtly crept in and the faraway grasshoppers sang and Ludo still had not seen a house, road or even a fellow person. His legs ached and he stumbled multiple times, the forest quickly descended into penumbra and Ludo’s worries mounted until, by some form of miracle, he found what he was looking for. An old road. Ancient, mossy, neglected, Ludo looked upon that road as if he had found the greatest of treasures.

“This is it!” Ben said. 

Ben’s enthusiasm only excited him more as he used whatever energy he had left to run on the road. Soon enough, he began to see houses appear right ahead of him, he did not stop running until he arrived at what seemed like the center of a hamlet. Its houses were one story tall and they were packed together in a circle-like formation surrounding the crude town square. Despite its small size, the houses in the hamlet were rather lavish looking with solid stone foundations, banners with symbols Ludo could not make sense of and an odd domed house sat on the side with a group of people talking loudly at its entrance. The largest house amongst them stood two stories tall and sported glazed windows, the only one that did. 

However curious the buildings looked, Ludo did not care as he cackled and collapsed on the floor at the same time, knocking the wind out of him. He continued to laugh as everything seemed to drift away from him, Ben’s voice seemed like a whisper in a far away land and so did the sound of various footsteps hurrying his way. Through a blurry vision, he saw what he assumed were the locals gathering around him, whispering amongst each other over such a peculiar event until they were pushed aside by an ominous and slender shadow which was the last thing Ludo saw before passing out.