“What do you remember about why you were in the forest?” he carried on as if no question had been asked.Great. He was no longer making eye contact with me.
A twinge of anger sparked inside my chest. “Nothing.”
“And before that?”
“I don’t fucking remember anything. You didn’t answer my question,” I snapped impatiently through my frightened, clenched teeth.
“Well...” He leaned back into the matching pillows. “Perhaps you’ll receive some answers after resting.” His eyes gazed out of the window blankly.
“Am I being kidnapped?” I spat, irritated by the vague responses from the person currently holding all the power in the room. “Who are you? What’s going on?”
“Do you want to get out? I thought this was an improvement over your previous situation.”
My eyes strayed back to the window where the foreign countryside was beginning to speckle with buildings. “Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
“Why bring me to your home?”
“Do you have anywhere else to go?”
I was silent.
“At the house, you can have a home-cooked meal and a place to sleep that isn’t in the middle of a dark forest, or a carriage. I’ll tend to those poor feet of yours and get you some clothing. Let’s start there.”
“A carriage,” I repeated, my eyes scanning the wooden walls of the small box we were enclosed in. I felt silly as the words left my mouth, realizing the sound of pattering hooves was an obvious giveaway to our mode of transportation. “Why don’t you have a car?” As I looked again to the expansive farmlands with no signs of civilization, I knew that I was asking a stupid question. I couldn’t picture a Honda Civic out here—it would feel misplaced—two eras colliding.
“Only the rich and powerful own cars—doctors, scientists, politicians. They’re just a status symbol. Frankly, they’re inconvenient,” he droned on.
My brows furrowed with confusion, and I found myself scowling.Okay, so cars do exist.But they aren’t standard?Maybe I was in a less developed country. But his accent was similar to my own, and I was certain that vehicles were the norm where I was from. I was using the last of my waning energy to find answers, and he was wasting those efforts with every nebulous response. My breaths came quicker as anxiety filled my lungs.
Glancing at the leather watch revealed by his rolled-up sleeves, he muttered, “You truly don’t remember anything right now, do you?” His mouth formed a thin line, and his fingers snapped against his palm three times.
“Nothing.” As much as I tried to keep my last spark of anger ignited for my own safety, I found my voice cracked into a near cry as I tried to focus on my breathing.
I was determined not to show weakness. A strange man found me in the middle of nowhere and put me in his…carriage. He intended to take me tohis home. Not a hospital. Although, I was beginning to wonder if those were also restricted to the elite after his little car rant, if they existed at all. He wasn’t offering me any explanation for my situation, and it felt distinctly intentional. How would I react if I were in his shoes? I was certain I would do everything I could to fill in the blanks for someone frightened and disoriented—after all, context would be everything. Contextwaseverything. I couldn’t find any gratitude past the fear of his intentions and the confusion of my situation. And fuck if he was being helpful at all.
The man took a deep breath and forced that neutral smile back onto his dimpled face. “Well then, I’ll have to teach you everything. But perhaps we’ll hold off on all of that until you’ve had some food.”
His words brought my awareness to how empty my stomach was. One more discomfort to grin and bear for the time being. “Where am I… uh… Graysen?” His name almost escaped me, but I used what little mental energy I had to recall it.
“You’re in my carriage. We just drove through the fields of Aqualae and are now entering a town called Virylan.”
“But where is that? What state, country, continent, time period, world?”
“You’re on the Western Continent of a world named Trebianna, in the year scientists have decided to be one million and four.”
My face fell into my own cleavage in exasperation. This wasn’t good. I didn’t know much, but I was certain that this world wasnotwhere I was from. My mind raced, trying to remember where I had been before walking down that dark road. So many things were on the very tip of my tongue, but they all slipped away from me and back down my throat whereI couldn’t reach them. Fortunately, one beautiful word managed to get choked up from my mass of irretrievable memories.
“Earth. I’m from Earth.” I stated each word with triumph. Confidence swelled in my chest. It was a very broad sense of identity to grasp, but at least it was a start.
“Earth,” he repeated quietly. My eyes peered through my lashes to see his gaze falling down to his lap, where he picked mud from his fingernails. His strong brow furrowed with thought. He probably thought I was insane.
“I don’t know how I got here.” My heart raced with the emergence of this detail from my past. “But, Graysen, will youpleasehelp me find a way to get back? People must be worried sick.” I didn’t know who those people would be, but there had to be somebody missing me. I could feel the loss in my core.
He was silent a moment, as if thinking carefully, before replying, “Of course, I’ll help you however I can. But without knowing more, I wouldn’t know where to start. Perhaps it will become clearer as you take time to recover.”
The carriage slowed to a stop, and Graysen rose to his feet quickly, barely ducking his head on time to avoid hitting the ceiling. He twisted the ornate golden knob of the door and stepped out onto a small platform to look around. He investigated the surrounding area thoroughly before turning back to me and announcing, “Here we are! Home sweet home!” His enthusiasm seemed to spawn from nowhere, causing me to blink in surprise at the sudden shift in tone. His smile was a bit unhinged; something strange was behind it. But, hehadsaved me. I shoved the thought away.
