1: A Fairly Uncommon Place To Wake Up In

Most people can't really tell where or when their memory starts; some people claim that their first memory is that of hugging their mother's leg while she stands by the kitchen table making lunch or maybe the child is having a lesson with his/her father, or playing with older siblings; others are not that fortunate, sometimes a first memory is that of receiving heavy beatings from parents for asking the wrong question at the wrong time or simply because of their existence. But in some special cases a person can precisely pinpoint their very first thought, their very first movement as easy as breathing not because of something fancy like reincarnation with memory erasure while fully saving a developed consciousness.

This time it's because of a simple waking up in seemingly nowhere.

'I'm in a wet nowhere', that is where this child was. And that was the child's first thought, done while carefully opening eyes that felt heavy enough to make a thought that these eyes have never been opened before appear – but wouldn't that mean that the child didn't exist before waking up here - this (as the child now knew) dark place that smelled like something has been rotting away in here for centuries? And just how It was able to tell that this place was wet if It had never before encountered wetness or anything else at all?

A quiet moan escaped the child's lips while it tried to move – it seemed like not only the eyes have never been used before but the muscles also for they started to ache immediately. 

'No,' the child thought frowning, 'that isn't right.' The ache seemed to be too... heavy to be created from the child's own body; and now that the child thought about it - being wiser and smarter than a minute ago - , the child understood that the pain originated from something that was on top of it. From something big, and heavy, and rotting. And really smelly. Smelly enough to make the child frown again. Nevertheless, the child's pure heart seemed to start beating faster now that the child knew that this wet and dark place wasn't a complete nothingness – even if the rotting thing on It was the only thing that existed besides the child Itself.

- Эй, - a low voice echoed throughout the wet, dark, and smelly place. The child was really positive that the voice wasn't It's own for It didn't remember speaking anything out loud and it didn't even know if It was capable of doing so. And the child also was positive that it wasn't the big, rotting thing's voice for it was most likely dead. Could it be that there was something else in this cursed nothingness besides the child and the rotting thing...? Should the child rejoice for It would certainly learn something new about this place and the reason why It's here? - Все в порядке? - the voice called out again, this time it seemed to be closer.

In fact, it was a LOT closer as the child understood a second later when something suddenly touched where It thought It's shoulders should have been if the knowledge about It being humanoid was true and pulled strongly enough for the child to start a high-pitched scream. - Это... девушка? - the owner of the voice seemed to be surprised, and now the voice was so close that the child felt a bad, stinky breath (it was even worse than the rotting smell!) flowing

inside it's own lungs.

Disgusting.

But wait... where those words (those were words, right?) directed at the child? Did the voice expect the child to answer, to understand what it was saying? Or, or... or the child was simply too stupid, too uncivilized to know something like that?- What...? - the child nervously tried to speak. But the Voice just continued to breath in the child's face, it didn't seem to understand what the child wanted. Well, the child didn't quite know either.

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Then suddenly the child didn't feel the breath, the other person seemed to have turned away. - Она не говорит на нашем языке, - the voice said again.  - Cерьёзно? - another but a lot more annoyed voice from deeper in the darkness responded. Until now the child thought that there was only itself and the person that stubbornly insisted on holding it's shoulders, but.. there were a lot more! Not only the voice that responded to this person with bad breath, but there seemed to be at least three more voices.

...but why was the child unable to see them? Well, it is not like those people would be able to answer even if the child decided to ask, and those people seemed to be too busy discussing something between themselves, not really caring about the child anymore. Was this the time when it should start to pout? “Pff,” the child loudly sighed and the reaction was immediate. Although the child wasn't able to see, but it felt that they all started to look at it.

Once of the distant voices had started to drift closer, while mumbling something. This voice was a more softer one, even the palm that touched the child's cheek was gentle. - Как тебя зовут? - the voice asked. The child knew that this person was talking to it, otherwise it just wouldn't make any sense, would it? But the child didn't understand what it was supposed to say so it just decided to look in the general direction of the voice even if it wasn't able to actually see anything. - Не знаешь...? тогда... Jūra, - the voice seemed to be very pleased with itself, it seemed to be even giggling. The child didn't quite understand why, but the person with the soft voice had decided to point at where the child's heart was while saying 'Jūra' repeatedly.

Could it... be the child's name? Was the reason behind pointing simply to make the child understand that it now wasn't just a child that had woken up in dark, wet, and smelly place but and individual with a name? Or maybe that just meant 'child' in the language of those people – a thought that the child tried to get out of it's mind. - Jūra, - the child immediately tried to say it's name out loud. It rolled nicely on the tip of the child's tongue. - Jūra, - the child called out again, a faint smile had appeared on it's face. 'I have a name,' the smile on Jūra's face grew even wider, while the voices around had started to chuckle.

How is this for a start? It's not like every person can remember the moment they were named, but Jūra could; it was this child's precious first memory. And who cares that Jūra came in existence in a place that is by no means fit for a child? This still was a memory that Jūra held strongly on to.

...because what followed was not pleasant at all.

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* There seems to be something really wrong with the text editing options in here  - I thought I'm going to grow old before I somehow manage to set the text somehow.

* I'm not a native English speaker so there are going to be punctuation mistakes (because the punctuation in English sometimes doesn't make sense and I tend to put commas in places where English doesn't have them but my native has) and missing articles, and beware of strange word order.

Please, don't shy away from pointing out my mistakes or commenting on the work itself. Was it enjoyable? Is it worth actually continuing?

* Seems short. >_<