Hunger

Chapter 8:9: Turning Over History - Lost Completely

"Ahh! My head! It hurts!"

We were in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the last time what I did before dropping by here.

My vision started to get blur, my head started to ache and my right arm started to limp. I could barely see a couple of tall trees and I could barely listen to the chirping of the birds, which reminded me that I was in the woods.

What was I doing inside a wreck of a helicopter anyway?

"Jacob, are you alright? You’re bleeding", a woman said.

She was clad in a red, cocktail dress. Alongside with her was a family. It must be hers.

"Who are you people?" I asked them without a clue.

"Jacob, it’s me, Clarisse. He’s Hudson, together with his wife and daughter, Clara and Hannah. What happened to you? You seemed to be . . . odd."

"What’s going on? Wait. Did you just say that my name is Jacob?"

"Yes, I did. Your name is Jacob Styles, remember? You were a cop. You’re supposed to be getting us out of that city."

She pointed out the view of a distant city, hidden in huge, black smog.

"What happened to it?" I asked.

"It has been stormed by a nuclear attack, my friend. Until now, we do not know who is the responsible for that", Hudson said.

"But what the most important thing is that we have survived the attack. We can no longer go back. We’re here now", Clarisse said.

I walked a little bit closer to the cliff, staring at the denuded city. After several minutes, I turned to them and said:

"I’m sorry. I think; something has happened to me. Something . . . not okay. I don’t remember you guys. I can’t even tell your names, and even, the fact that has happened to me."

"Clarisse, I think that he suffered from memory loss. I’m not a doctor, but I can tell you that he has amnesia", Hudson said.

"What?! You mean, I’m stuck like this forever?!" I asked him.

He turned his back on me, without a word.

"This is not happening. This is not happening! I don’t even know why I’m with you, people!"

"Because you saved us from the attack. What part of my recalling that you still don’t understand?!" Clarisse asked.

"Calm down. He can’t recall, remember?" Clara told her.

After that, everyone decided to keep silent.

I started to search the pockets of my pants to find something helpful for me to understand this situation I was in. After a second, all I found was a brochure about Rushford City.

"Rushford City? Where is that?" I asked.

"There, where we’ve come from", Hudson replied, as he pointed at the distance.

Suddenly, my head ached. It seemed that it took me to a flashback. It showed a picture of a fat, middle-aged man in a police uniform and he was telling me something, "We’re partners in crime, remember?"

"Ahh! My head!"

"Jacob, what is it? Tell us what’s happening to you", Clarisse asked.

"There was a man . . . He was fat . . . A policeman . . . He told me something . . . Partners in crime . . . I’m still clueless."

"Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what it was. Good thing that you’re regaining your memory gradually", Hudson said.

"Yes, but I hate it when it hurts", I said.

"So, what’s our plan? It’s getting dark", Clarisse asked.

"Not a problem", Hudson said, as he handed her a flashlight.

"Good idea. Whatever your plan is, we should continue our way out of this forest. We must find a place that we can stay in", I suggested.

"We should go to Flintmore. I know that it’s only a mile away from here. We shouldn’t take months to walk our way to that place", Clarisse said.

"And to let you also be checked out. You’re in a bad condition, my friend", Hudson told me.

"You’re right. I’m getting close to be decimated", I said.

"Don’t worry. You still got more time to retain your old self. Come on. It’s getting late."

Although, we were on our way to the right place, we were still lost, and so was I. We were going to Flintmore City. I was expecting too much to reactivate my focus. I’m Jacob Styles and I wanted to know everything about me all over again.