Everything is a blur.

My open eyes aren’t showing me a clear picture of the world in front of me. Everything sounds muffled. I try to move my body, but I can’t feel anything, can’t even lift a finger. I try to breathe in through my nose, and smell nothing. I try to breathe in through my mouth, and not even my tongue can taste anything on the air.

Everything is a blur.

Still, deep in my core, I know I can’t stay here. I don’t know why, but I can still feel a sense of urgency. I need to act. I need to move.

If I don’t, my life will be in danger.

Feeling this, I try to force my confused body. The colored blobs before me start to take shape. The sounds of many people speaking, shoes hitting the pavement, fill my ears. My hands touch something wet, kind of warm. Seems like it’s drying fast, though. Actually, I think most of my body is covered in this stuff.

Wait. This smell, the taste in my mouth, all this red that I see…

Blood?

I feel the urgency again. More, this time. Focus! Get control over your feet. Stand.

With some effort, I am able to get my legs moving. I pull myself from the ground and finally stand upright. Looking around again, I see the blood-splattered walls and realize that I’m in a narrow space. An alley, maybe?

I don’t think all of this blood is mine. I don’t feel any injuries that are that serious. Just standing here isn’t going to help me get anymore answers, so I’ll go out into the street.

Man, it’s bright. The sun isn’t out, just the moon and the stars, but with all the street lights and glowing neon signs, it almost looked like it could be daytime.

“Whoa, what’s with that guy?”

“He’s covered in blood!”

“Don’t go near him! He could be dangerous!”

It seems I’ve attracted a crowd to myself. I feel like I should ask them something but the fear and confusion I see makes me hesitant. Maybe I should just walk away. I guess that’s what I’m going to do. Before I realize it myself, my feet are carrying me away from the scene, sending me walking deeper into the shining bright city.

As I wander around, I’ve started to realize that I haven’t seen a single adult. No children, either. Everyone seems to be in their teenage years. That’s odd. Where is everyone else? I can’t help but wonder if some cruel joke is being played on me right now. The expressions I see on everyone’s faces as they see me pass by them seem to be authentic enough, though. More than anything else, they’re probably bothered by all the blood I’m covered in. I’ll have to get myself cleaned up once I’ve figured what the heck is going on.

“Hey, you!”

I turn around to face the person talking to me. A pretty big bald guy, carrying a baseball bat. Two smaller guys are following him.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“A weak looking guy like you should know you can’t just walk past me!”

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.” I say, without really thinking about it, not realizing what’s happening. A couple of people in the crowd that’s forming (I seem to have a strange talent for attracting a crowd to myself) chuckle at my response.

“Do you think you’re fucking funny, bitch!?” He shouts, right in my face. Man, his breath stinks. “If you don’t want me to kick your ass, pull out those pockets!” In all seriousness, I’ve just realized that I don’t know what’s in my pockets right now, either. I don’t think this is a good time for me to check, though.

“Meh, I don’t feel like it.”

“You must be stupid or something! Do you not know what comes next!?” I try to think of something to say to that, but I can’t come up with anything. He seems to have taken my silence as a challenge. “Well, aren’t you smug? We’ll see how much of a smart-ass you are once I do this!”

He swings. It’s slow, and there doesn’t seem to be a ton of power behind it, despite how much effort he seems to have put into it. There are a million ways I could deal with this. For now, I just choose to move the bat off-course, pushing it to the side with my right hand.

“W-what!?”

Considering how easily I did that, what move should I make next? A real punch or kick seems like it would break this guy. While he’s causing me trouble, I don’t think I should go quite that far. Maybe I should just push him away so he gets the idea.

So, with my left hand, I do just that.

“Whooooooa!”

He goes flying back quite a bit, tumbles, and lands on his back, fallen unconscious.

“Uh…”

Wait. I didn’t hit him that hard, did I? Why would he go flying so far?

“Bastard! What kind of trick are you using!?”

I don’t have time to think about it, though. One of the other guys is coming after me.

“Wait--”

On instinct, I grab the fist flying at me. Maybe a bit too hard.

“Aah!!!”

I hear the sound of breaking bones, can feel his hand being crushed by my own. Regretting my action, I let go as quickly as I can.

“Gah, my hand! My fucking hand!” He cringes in pain.

“Let’s get outta here!” Says the last one, grabbing the guy in front of me. “This guy is a freak!”

With that, they run off without saying another word to me.

“What the hell?”

The crowd is still standing around, watching me with great curiosity.

“What’s going on!?” I shout. “What’s going on!? Where am I!? What is this place!?”

The crowd seems just as confused as I am. They don’t seem to know how to react.

“Is that guy okay? He’s got a weird look in the eyes; do you think he’s shooting up Riser?”

“Nah, Riser doesn’t get you that confused. Something else is going on with this dude.”

“Man, that was badass! How did you do it!?”

Why won’t they answer my questions!?

“Dammit. Please move,” I say, pushing through the crowd. Many of them step aside without much resistance. “Move! Please don’t bother me!”

I keep walking away from that crowd, that seems to have decided to leave me be. The chatter of the people starts to fade away.

I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. Nothing is making any sense, and I’m getting tired. None of the doors around here are opening for me, so unfortunately, sleeping inside is out of the question. I’ll have to call it quits, for now. With that, I go into the nearest alley, and try to make myself comfortable enough to get some rest. I’ll have to continue my search for answers in the morning.