Lost and Forgotten

I - Where am I?

                              I suddenly awoke. Ashes and flames surround me. The air is stale and the sky is dull and lifeless. The sun is overcast by dark clouds. My mind is scattered. It's getting harder to breathe. I struggle to move around the flames surrounding me. I start to hyperventilate. What is happening? Why am I so panicked? I try to calm myself down but I am not successful. So, I ignore my stress and push through the flames. I then decide to look around for a sign of where I am.

                                "Ow!" I mumble to myself as I begin to stand. It was hard to get up at first, but I managed to lift my feet off the ground. My head immediately begins to throb as I stand. It felt as though I banged my head into the pavement! What if I did? The thought makes me tremble. I let out a deep sigh in an attempt to calm down.

                                The ground beneath me is dry and ashy. A breeze flings the dust from the ground beneath me in my eyes. I immediately shut my eyes and rub them. This just gets worse, I think to myself. I open back up my eyes and I glance down at what I am wearing.

                                I have a withered and torn faded green dress on. My legs wobble as I walk around, my dress dragging under me. The dress weighs a thousand pounds beneath me.

                                 I explore the area and notice that there are abandoned buildings. A few of the structures are burnt and others have been torn down and graffitied. It finally hits me. I don't know where I am. Nothing is familiar. I can't remember anything before the moment I woke up. I feel like I could cry, but I swallow the tears back.

                                 I start to observe what is happening around me. I hear screams, yelling, and swords clashing. Oh no. As I realize what is happening, I run away to avoid getting hurt. Many thoughts scramble in my head. Is this really happening? Am I going to die? The sudden fire of a cannon interrupts my thoughts. BOOM! The gust of wind from the cannon knocks me to the ground. I duck down and curl into a ball to avoid the cannon ball. The hot tears begin to fall off my face and into my knees. I'm not going to make it.

                                 As I lift up my head to see if the cannon has passed, I see an explosion in the distance. I decide to get up and I try to run in the opposite direction. My legs tumble from underneath me while running and I begin to fall again. My knees impact with the dry ground but the adrenaline causes me to barely feel any pain. I decide to not look at the damage and pick myself up to start bolting to the calmest place I can find.

                              I run and run, hoping I will find a recognizable building or sign. I can't seem to find anything familiar about this demolished town. No memories flooding back, no signs of help, and I start to feel hopeless. While I am running, my ribs begin to ache. I have to stop running and catch my breath. With fire and smoke surrounding the area, it is not easy for me to run.

                              As I am catching my breath, I notice a tent in the distance. I begin to slowly walk over to this mysterious tent because this is the most calm place I've seen since I awoke. Hope. Because I'm calming down, my knees begin to ache due to the fall from earlier. I look down to see the damage and I am stunned by the blood on my knees. From the sight of blood and the stress, I am in a daze and my eyes begin to close...

                                                                                     ***

                               I slowly start to wake up. My vision is blurry and my ears are ringing. All I can smell is blood. I start to hear muffled talking through the rings.