Endless: An Autobiography of an Immortal

Chapter 1 - Awakening

"I woke up on an island in the Mediterranean. I looked the same age as I do now. Don't remember anything before that moment, but have remembered every single day since. I opened my eyes and noticed I was on my back in a field. It was bright. I was naked. There was a slight breeze from the East. I heard birds and sat up. My eyes started to focus and I sat there just taking in my surroundings. I started connecting the different sounds with what I was seeing. The birds flying overhead. The breeze brushing past the trees. I could hear the roaring of the sea but didn't see it, so I got up and followed the sound. I came to the shore and saw that the crystal clear beach stretched as far as I could see in both directions. Curiosity consumed me and I ended up walking aimlessly all day following a sound, a sight, a smell; one right after the other, soaking it all in.

When evening fell that first day I was following what I'll call a rabbit; almost as if I were playing with him. When he moved into his burrow I looked up and noticed it was getting dark. I couldn't see as well in the dark back then as I do now. Especially not my first night. I tried to find my way back to where I woke up in the field, but I couldn't. I had not paid any attention to where I explored and my vision at night was still very weak. It was my first day and I was already lost. I'm ashamed to admit I panicked a bit. I started walking, sprinting, then running, in search of my spot. I don't know why I felt I had to go back there; It was my first experience of feeling glom to a random area and I was determined to reach it. A tree branch ultimately made me stop and calm down - by smacking me to the ground. It was as good of a place as any, so I just laid down and thought about what I saw that day. My thoughts came to the rabbit, who had a place to sleep, so why didn't I? Tomorrow, I will make a burrow myself. As completely unlearned as I was at the time, sleep came surprisingly easy.

The next day I learned something new. I found out that I needed to eat. I woke up hungry, but I didn't really know what that meant. I couldn't think straight or focus on building my burrow. But my good friend had come out of his house to show me the way. I saw him nibbling on some plants, so I found some close to me and ate some. It didn't taste good at all, but it abated my hunger. My burrow would have to wait for me to start my new quest to find something good to eat. The island ended up being big enough to grow many varieties of food. I learned what was edible and what wasn't quite quickly. Soon enough, I had tasted everything I could see, some good, some outright disgusting. You might think it strange that I had to learn to eat, but without anyone teaching me what to do, and no childhood to watch and learn from others, I was a complete blank slate.

Once I was fed that morning, the afternoon was busy with digging my burrow. At first I used my hands, but quickly switched over to the rocks I was digging out of the ground. Tools, I learned, were going to be a huge use in my future. By the time I was done digging, it was just big enough to crawl into; and from what I saw from the rabbit, I used some leaves to cushion the floor so it wasn't too cold to lay down on. I was proud of my work. When I went to bed that evening, I had a full belly and I was going to sleep in my awesome new burrow.

My burrow sucked. I learned this just a few days later as it was the first time it rained. I had spent the week exploring more of the island and getting accustomed to the various wildlife that I shared it with. Learned how to go to the bathroom too, but I'll spare you the details of that. On this day, however, I was asleep when in the early morning it had started to rain. The water came creeping in and started to fill up my house. I quickly crawled out and looked up at the sky. Okay, so water is all around me and it now falls from the sky too, great, good to know. At least this stuff tasted fine. As I watched my house slowly get filled with water I was half expecting the rabbit to come over too, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked around and saw some of the trees I had a previous painful encounter with and walked over to them. As I stood under them looking at my old home being flooded, a new realization came to me. The trees helped prevent me from getting wet. My new home will be made of trees, I decided. How, I didn't know, but I didn't lack the time to find out.