Back Again

~Prologue~

It was cold.

Before anything else, I noticed the below-freezing temperatures. It's the first feeling I remember. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I took in the sights around me: the trees that were all crowded together and looked as if they were growing on top of each other; the snowflakes falling from the sky that irritated me more than even the incessant chattering of my teeth or the cold that crept through me and chilled me to the bone; the dark sky that told me with an absolutely certainty that it was nighttime - or at least a time so early in the morning not a soul was awake. 

Where am I? I asked myself. In all honesty, I had no idea, though it didn't matter to me because I was barely awake enough for coherent thought. I'd come back to it later.  I struggled to get into an upright position so I could escape the cold that seemed to burn my skin wherever it touched. Once I'd managed it after countless attempts in which I only managed to sit up for a moment before falling back and knocking the wind out of myself, I was completely breathless. There was a peice of hair hanging in my face, and I reached up to brush it away, but when I caught sight of my hands I could only stare in fascination. They were red as a rare steak and stung. They were also shaking unbearably. 

The physical activity had woken me up more, and with another glance around the forest, I suddenly realized just how dire my situation was. If I didn't know where I was, chances are that no one else did. And if no one knew where I was, it was extremely likely that I'd die in this place. And, really, a forest wasn't the ideal place to die. It would be years before anyone would find me, and when they did, I'd be a mere bundle of bones. Therefore I'd never be identified, and I would be six feet under the ground while my family wondered for the rest of their lives where I was.

Wait. 

I had no idea who my family consisted of. Of course, I knew the basics. I was born to a mother and father, and I was probably married, and if I was married, I probably had children. But what were their names? I concentrated hard as I could to try to remember. If anyone had seen me, I would've looked rather odd, but it didn't matter to me. I was so consumed in what I was doing, I wouldn't have even realized if a crowd of people were around me. 

Family, family, family. It was all I could think. I felt as if I'd sat there looking like an idiot for hours before I came to the conclusion that I didn't remember my family at all. So, instead I decided for a more conventional approach. I'd say any facts I could think of about myself, and eventually remember. It shouldn't be that hard.

"My hair is..." I thought about it for a moment. but nothing came to me. I shook my head. Don't get discouraged. "My eyes are..." Again, nothing. It was beginning to worry me. I creased my brow and began the next, "My name is..." I hit the closest thing to me in frustration, and immediately regretted it. I drew my hand back quickly. I had drawn blood, and I decided instead to keep my hands safely in my pockets. "God damn it!" I cried angrily. How could I not even remember my own name? Surely it was there somewhere.

"My name...it's..." I tried again, with as much success as before. I groaned loudly and allowed myself to fall back into the snow. Looking up at the night sky, I planned out my next course of action. As I had come to discover, I couldn't remember who I was, but I could remember certain things that seemed insignificant at the momeny but may come in handy later. That is, if I lived until this "later". The most useful was a trick to find north, but it was useless at a time like this, as the sky was completely covered in snow clouds. I sighed and sat back up. Now that I was fully awake, movement seemed to come to me more easily. I decided on what I was going to do. In a few not-so-swift movements, I was up on my shaky and uncertain feet. The back of my shirt clung desperately to my back and made me shiver. It made me wonder how idiotic I must've been to go out on a winter's day in merely a tunic, a pair of pants, and some boots. I didn't even have any mitts, which was ridiculous.