MKE

Town

It was early the next morning that he had gone outside, making sure to have locked the door before leaving. During his shift last night, Joey had given him a key to the front door.

"If you want to go somewhere, thats fine. Just lock the doors."

He hadn't gotten much sleep between the time he went to bed and getting up. The nightmare had kept him awake further into the morning before he finally could get some rest. But that didn't really matter, as he didn't feel tired anyway. But the bags beneath his eyes were a bit darker than before.

The morning air was relatively cold, but not cold enough that he would need a jacket. It was the kind of cold that was comfortable. The small shops and drop-ins along the same street hadn't opened just yet, and the streets laid silent. The clock was somewhere around nine in the morning after all, and by the looks of it nothing would open until ten at least. So for now he would have to be happy with just seeing what was there.

There was a nightclub, whatever that now was, not too far from the bar. The neon sign depicted a girl with rabbit ears, along with the name of the club. A bit further down there was a bookstore, but it seemed like it sold a bit more than just books and books only. Across from that there was a tattoo shop, and on the window a heavily detailed wolf in black and white, drawn in sharp lines. Micke stopped and looked at it for a bit, before continuing down the street.

After this there was only one more shop on this street. Furthest away from the bar, there was an occult shop. In the window there was various crystals, dreamcatchers and a few strange looking books. Most things in the window looked dusty and old, and it made him wonder about how long it had been there for. Shaking his head slightly to focus on what he was doing, he continued away from the area and out into the rest of the town.

He kept walking for a bit before getting to what seemed like the center of the town. It was a big "empty" area with cobbled ground, and a big and pretty fountain in the middle of it all. There were trees neatly placed strategically in the area, giving it all a bit more colour. There were some more stores here, but of a different kind it seemed. There were also people here, which got him a bit surprised since everywhere else there was no one.

He started walking towards the middle, looking around in awe, but completely missing the fact he was crossing a road and...

SCREECH!! BEEP BEEP!!

"HEY, WATCH WHERE YA GOIN'!"

He jumped back, staring wide eyed at the car which had stopped barely inches away, and then at the man behind the wheel. He looked extremely annoyed, and he figured that he didn't want to stand there anymore and hurried over to the other side. The driver mumbled angry cusses as he drove away, and Micke just watched him. He wished he could tell him sorry, and that he didn't mean to do that. But he quickly forgot about it.

He walked over to the fountain and sat down at the edge of it. It was like a mixture of a pond and a waterfall, the water coming from the top of a rock placed in the middle. On the bottom of it there were... Coins?

... Something inside of him told him that he shouldn't touch them. The coins where there for a reason probably. Deep inside he felt like he knew the reason for it, but no matter how much he tried he just couldn't remember it.

He wondered how much there was that he couldn't remember. What had he forgotten? It felt like part of him was gone, or empty. He tensed up at the thought of it. How much of his life was gone?

Apparently a lot, since he couldn't remember further than waking up in a forest and walking out on a road, just to pass out again.

I'll just have to take it one step at the time. First we talk, then we remember. Alright, okay...

He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back a bit. It was a bit warmer now, and it felt nice to just be there. For once since he woke he didn't feel like he was under a threat...

"Hi Micke!"

The sudden voice addressing him startled the man, causing him to flinch violently and loosing his balance where he sat. He fell backwards with a yelp escaping his mouth, as he fell into the pond with a huge splash. It took him a moment to realise what had just happened, as he tried to get up again. Someone suddenly grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him back up above the surface. He coughed, spitting out the funny tasting fountain-water and gasping for air, his hair now tightly stuck to his face and covering his eyes. Great, now he was soaking wet.

"Oh my gosh-- I'm so sorry I didn't mean to scare you!" The voice explained frantically. Wait... He recognised the voice! Wasn't it the other worker girl from yesterday?

He wiped his dripping hair away from his eyes so he could see properly, and looked up at the woman with a confused and surprised look on his face. She was looking back at him all worried and worked up, and he couldn't really understand why. It was just water, no big deal.

He pat his chest a bit and smiled, as if to say "I'm fine, don't worry!". But she didn't look convinced, and changed her attention to his broken arm, gasping in realisation and exclaiming "Your arm got wet!! Shit, thats not good! Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, we need to dry it immediately!"

She then proceeded to take his hand and tug him along, as she hurried away from where he had sat comfortably. Micke had little to no choice but to follow her, but he had no idea what all the fuzz was about still and was mostly just confused. Whilst they were 'running' down streets, he took a moment to look at her properly. Her curly orange hair was fluffy and bounced with every step, or at least the parts that wasn't covered by a grey beanie. She was wearing a white t-shirt, a thin grey jacket and shorts. She was actually... Pretty cute. She led him down a few streets, and to an apartment complex where she led him up to what he assumed was her home. And as soon as they got inside she pushed him into the bathroom and commanded him to sit down.

She went through a few cabinets, practically throwing whatever was in them out on the floor before finally finding what she was looking for; A hair dryer.

"Bingo!"

She plugged it in and turned it on, gaining a fearful look from Micke who was inching away from it. She didn't really care and just grabbed his wrapped arm and aimed the dryer at the soaking bandages.

It itched. And it itched bad. And not knowing better he obliged to the itch and scratched by the plaster.

"Hey, stop that! You're gonna mess it up!" She gave him a stern look, but he didn't really care.

Wait, why did he have to have that stuff on his arm again? Hm... Couldn't he just... Remove it?

Before she could stop him, he was scratching at the plaster and tearing it up, until getting it off completely with a swift move. The water must've really weakened it, as it made an extremely wet sound hitting the ground as he accidentally dropped it.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She turned the dryer off, staring at him with wide eyes, completely speechless.

"Is... Is this some kind of joke?.." She managed to get out, watching in disbelief as Micke was moving his supposedly broken arm as if it'd been nothing at all. He looked up at her with the innocent expression of "what?"

Again she grabbed his arm, causing him to have to lean forward as she dragged him closer to inspect. She squeezed it all over, gaining a few giggles from the man, as she searched for anything bruised or broken. But... It was all fine. Nothing was broken.

"I... Uh. What?" Haley stuttered, confused. Micke just shrugged, giving an equally as confused look.

They both went silent for a moment, just looking at each other. Yep. This was awkward.

"Well uh... Since I dragged you here, do you want something like... Coffee?"