Nostalgia (Riker Lynch)

Dazed

"Where am I?" was a question Riley asked herself a lot. She often found herself lost in the midst of trying to get home after she stayed out late past curfew. She wonder around in the dark, walking all the lonely streets. Her mother absolutely hated when she did, she would say "Riley, Los Angeles is a dangerous place you can't just wonder around whenever you feel like it, you could get hurt!" Even with her mother's worries she felt safe in these streets. These were the streets she'd grown up on, she knew them, and she loved them. It was her home.

Here wasn't home, wherever here was. For once she didn't feel safe, she was more afraid of these unfamiliar streets in broad daylight then the ones in the dark. There was so many questions. How? Why? What happened? She couldn't remember a thing, it was all so confusing. Tears stained the corners of her eyes, there was no worse feeling in the world than being lost. That's what she was: lost.

Nothing looked the same, nobody looked the same. Right now she would do anything just to be with her family, she wanted to be in the presence of her angry mother yelling because she missed curfew. She wanted to be bothered over, and over by her little brother begging her to play with him. She wanted to go home. If she was going to get anywhere she needed to find out where she was. A small antique shop was sitting to her left. Maybe there was somebody who could help her there. She opened the large heavy glass door causing a small bell to ring.

"Be right with you" a voice spoke from out of view. Riley turned around in the store to take a mental inventory of where she was. The walls were old and rustic. There was red paisley wallpaper peeling off on the corners of the wall. There was shelves and desks set up everywhere with random antique parts such as old lamps, or china dolls. Everything in the shop had to be at least 80 years old including the man who came around the corner and sat on a stool behind the register.

"How can I help you today young lady?" He spoke. His voice was old and crackled a little. He had a unique accent she couldn't interpret.

"Um...hi" she replied feeling shy to speak to the man. "I just have a...I was wondering...well where am I?" He chuckled.

"A little lost are we?" He smiled. His smile was reassuring. She shook her head, and nodded.

"Yea."

"Well we are on the corner of 17th and Milton right now. Amare park is across the street." Amare Park? A bolt of memory shot into her brain. For a second she saw a picture of the park in her mind. A flicker of memory that was gone within a instant.

"Amare Park." She mumbled to herself. She looked up to the old man again. "Amare Park...are we in LA? The old man chuckled a quaint, and low chuckle.

"The one and only." She stepped back. Suddenly she felt very uncomfortable with her surroundings. How was she in LA.? How was she by Amare Park? She lived by Amare Park all her life, but none of this seemed familiar.

"Something wrong miss?" The man asked. She gulped, and lightly shook her head.

"Uh no. Thank you." She politely replied and quietly turned around and excited the shop. She was in a daze. The world around her wasn't how it was supposed to be. As she turned around to take an inventory of her unfamiliar surroundings she realized the place wasn't so unfamiliar after all. After seeing everything again she came to the horrible realization. She was in LA.

Even though she was outside she felt she needed air. She couldn't breathe. What had happened to her home? Her brain was spinning. She needed to sit down. She waited for traffic, and crossed the street. She sat down on a small wooden bench. Once she was sitting she realized she was in the exact spot where she was just before everything went black. When everything was normal. She jumped up from the bench, and put her hand to her forehead. She needed to clear her head.

She looked up to see somebody she actually recognized. It was the first familiar thing she'd seen in this whole place. His presence brought her a small rush of relief. She took a deep breath knowing now things may be okay now that he was there. She ran over to him where he was sitting on another bench across the park.

"Thank god you're here!" She exclaimed bending over, and giving him a hug.

"Whoa there." He muttered.

"I thought I'd never see you again, I was so confused." She sputtered. The man, Mark Lynch was his name, chuckled.

"You're an R5er I'm guessing." He spoke. She nodded her head, and replied.

"Yes of course." Like it shouldn't even have been a question. Of course she was, how could she not be?

"Well it's nice to meet you." He obliged. She stepped back and looked at him. Nice to meet you? Was he joking? Of course he knew her, how would he not know her?

Then she realized she had been so excited to see him she hadn't realized how different he looked. His face was much younger, the apparent wrinkles weren't present. His hair was less gray, and he wasn't wearing glasses. It was quite peculiar. Why did he look so much...younger? He looked drastically younger, not like he was having a good hair day younger, like his whole body had aged in reverse younger.

"Grandpa what's going on?" She uttered. He chuckled some more.

"Grandpa huh? Well I've been called the father of this fandom but not the grandpa. Must be getting old huh?" More confusion struck her. Relief didn't come just more frustrated confusion.

"Sure." She responded. Tears filled the surface of her eyes, but she blinked them back. Why didn't he know her? Why was he acting like this? Why was everything different? Was now a good time to panic?

"Well it was nice meeting you. Come to the concert tonight they're having at club Nokia. There's a few tickets left. What was your name again?" It hurt that he even had to ask that. That somebody she loved so closely didn't even know her own name.

"Uh Riley." She admitted. "Riley Lynch."