The Vale (Nanowrimo 2013)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I opened my eyes and saw a canopy of trees above me, the sun peaked out in between leaves, blinding me with it’s sudden brightness. I squinted my eyes, as I noticed my excruciatingly painful headache. My muscles ached at the slightest movement. I suddenly became dizzy, as if the world was spinning like a top. I slowly turned my head, as my hearing turned to nothing but a piercing high pitched ringing. My vision blurred, and the world spun around me as I noticed a pair of feet approaching me in the forest, I heard a muffled voice yell something, but there was no way of making out what the person had said.

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            “She’s awake!” I heard a feminine voice yell as my eyelids slowly lifted. The pain I felt before had subsided, but my body still ached when I moved. The room seemed to be spinning, but the longer I remained awake, the more stable the world seemed to be.

            Several nurses were surrounding my bed just seconds after the woman had announced I was awake. I examined the nurses, they all had dirty blonde locks of hair, and they all had different eye colors. As one of them turned her head, I saw something strange. She has oddly elongated and pointed ears. I lifted my hand up beside my face and felt my ears, they were perfectly rounded. Are pointed ears normal?

            “Where-Where am I?” I asked, practically having to force the words out of my mouth, I felt tired, and I was in a lot of pain, but it was not near as bad as it was when I was in the forest. I couldn’t help but let my thoughts drift back to the fact of their pointed ears, like an elf.

            “You are in the hospital. A man brought you here two days ago, he said he found you in the forest in bad shape. He thought you were going to die.” one of the nurses explained, “Nobody knows what happened to you. Do you have any memory that could’ve caused these injuries?” I looked down at myself and realized I had bandages everywhere, I felt my head and felt a large bandage covering about half of my forehead.

            I tried to bring back any memories of what happened, it was then I realized I had no memories. What was my name? I couldn’t even remember my name, how old I was, what city I was in, anything. It was like my memory was completely wiped.

            “N-No...I have no idea.” I replied, rubbing my forehead.

“Hm. Well we thought you weren’t going to wake up at all. You are very lucky to be alive, your head had an extremely dangerous wound, that is what caused you to be in this short coma.” the same nurse responded, “Do you know your name? We need as much information about yourself as you can give us, for records.”

            “I don’t remember anything… not even my name or age. What city am I in?” I asked as I examined the room I was in. I was in a small room, there were two beds separated by a fabric curtain, although I was the only person in this room.

            “You’re in the West District of The Vale.” one of the nurses said as she scribbled something down on a clipboard, “You’re very lucky a troll didn’t find you in the forest first. You’d be a goner if they did.” A troll? This place just felt more and more unfamiliar. I wish I knew what happened, or I knew something… anything about myself or where I was.

            One of the nurses walked over to the window across the room from me and opened the *curtains, blinding me with the sun’s sudden brightness. It was probably midday, I was clearly on the second floor of the small wooden building. I could see down below a dirt path that people were wandering along, pushing wheelbarrows, leading horses, or just walking. I saw one little girl run and pick a flower and then run back to her mother and give it to her. I wonder if I did that kind of thing when I was littler? I wish I could remember… but my mind was blank, my only memory being waking up in the forest for a few short seconds.

            “Ma’am, we are going to have to keep you here for a few days, at least until your strength is back and your wounds are healed for the most part.” one of the nurses said, interrupting my thoughts. I nodded back at the nurse, and returned to watching people in the streets. Watching people made me more and more anxious to find out more about myself and my past, which I would hopefully learn more about when I got out of the hospital in a few days.