One Hundred Memories

Chapter One

'The last thing I remembered was falling.'

As I open my eyes, the sight of a crystal-clear blue sky greets me. It is an unnatural blue; one you would only usually see in a children's picture book. My vision tinges with black spots, and I slowly and painfully crane my neck to peer around to the side, seeing cerulean waves lapping softly against the muddy brown sand. Strangely enough, I do not hear a thing. My world is completely silent. Upon looking around, there seems to be no change in the uniform colours and patterns of my surroundings as I blink through the black spots that are now rapidly leaving my vision. 

My sight is now perfectly clear, and I take in my surroundings, drinking in the sight of the monstrous cliff stretching up into the sky with no visible end. In my peripheral vision, I see a seemingly infinite expanse of blue-green tinted water.

Slowly trying to pull myself up, I stumble and fall; feeling as if my weary feet haven't moved in decades. On my second attempt I finally got to my feet, focusing on staying upright. I stagger over to the azure water, and collapse, my already meager energy completely spent. I reach out to touch it, but strangely enough, I do not feel a thing. Only an odd numbness.

'Am I even real..?'  

'What.. is this..?'

Feeling incredibly fatigued, I welcome the darkness, and start to drift off into oblivion; only faintly registering a tiny white note, leisurely floating away from me.

* * *

When I next drowsily open my eyes, I spare a lazy glance around, then my eyes widen in shock as I realise that I am still here, in this silent world. I hadn't even considered that this could be real in the short time that I was conscious before.

I feel like I had seen all of these things before.. but patches of my knowledge just don't seem to be there. It feels almost as if there is a gaping hole in my head which should be rightfully filled with names and memories. I remember some things, most basic things; yet others have completely escaped me. I feel as if everything is right down buried in the back of my brain. So close; yet so far. Not knowing what to do with myself, I decide to look for other people, or an end to this seemingly continuous landscape. 

There has to be an end to this beach. There is always an end. If I keep going I will probably find it. 

As I stand to my feet, I start to walk purposefully forward, parallel to the sea and the cliff; along the bleak and empty strip of sand. While further examining the jagged cliff-face, a jagged point sticking out the side of the rocky wall suddenly catches my attention, and further so when I spy a tiny white slip caught on the sharp edge of a rock. 

Personally, I don't care much for climbing rocks (very sharp looking ones at that!), but I am curious, as this tiny white thing.. whatever it is- is different from everything else I had seen so far, refusing to conform to the pastel colours of this new world. I briskly walk over, and am ecstatic to see that it is only a fraction of an inch above my reach.

I make a small jump, and the note is nearly in my grasp- but then a wind suddenly gusts through the beach; unexpected and strong. The thin white paper is swiftly blown away from me, heading towards the water. I brush my hair out of my face, irritated, then give chase. Is nothing easy around here?

 In a quick burst of speed, I run after the material, legs burning and arms pumping, but soon stumble, and land in the fluorescent water with a huge splash. It feels like an unexpected smack in the face- which I guess it is, in a way. Finding my footing quickly, I make a full turn, looking out for the slip of paper, which is nowhere to be seen

For a split second, my vision goes black, and there is a loud ringing in my ears. Snippets of colour dance across my eyes, and I see something- a memory- flooding into my head, filling one of the many mental holes littered across my brain. 

Flashes of light, and he can feel himself diving down, deep into crystal-clear water.

I need to look under.

Before I know it, I'm submerged. In a moment of stupidity, I forget to hold my breath, my mouth and windpipes quickly filling with water. Oddly enough, I cannot taste anything, as if the ocean water is fresh and clean. My eyes snap open, and again I am not met with any stinging, everything feeling strangely numb. Lungs burning, I peer through the clear water, and still see nothing. Still no note. I rush to the surface, standing up straight in the waist deep ocean, then suddenly double over, hacking and coughing; liquid spewing out of my mouth. I can not feel anything here, as if a dream- but the internal sensations are enough to convince me that this is all very real. 

Water finally out of my burning lungs, I can faintly see the strip bobbing up and down in the distance, nearly dispersed into nothing. Wading over to it is hard, the water resisting my each movement, but I make it- and with a final swipe the note is in my hand, feeling more like a limp tissue than a piece of paper. I'll be lucky if i can even see what's on it at this rate. Apart from black blobs, at a moment's glance I can't see a thing. But the problem is not that my vision is bad, but that I can't understand whatever is on it- great.

With one final cough, I start to wade to shore, completely wiped of energy from my little 'adventure'. From what I can tell, have not run for a long time; it is painstakingly obvious in the wheeze of my breath and the fatigue of my limbs.

Upon reaching the beach, I fall to the sand and cross my legs. I carefully place the paper down on the sand in front of me, being especially careful with my movements, seeing as the paper looks like it could break apart at any moment. 

I take one look at the dark smudges dripping down the paper, making no sense of the random swirls of black. The flash happens suddenly and quickly, so quickly I can barely register it before the faintness sweeps through my head; Sitting in a brightly lit room, school.. writing... writing!?  Well great. I let out a frustrated sigh. Now I know what's on the paper, but I still have no way whatsoever of reading it. Thanks memories, thanks a lot.

Now I'm hungry, thirsty, and still alone. I have worthless piece of paper, and nothing else whatsoever except the clothes on my back. I can't be expected to eat those! Wait... they aren't edible, right?

* * *

A/n: Hey guys (if there are any of you out there) It's been ages since we first posted the original version of this book (well, 7 chapters of it anyway). This time round i have decided to edit the chapters we already have up so that the story is in first person, which is probably a lot easier to understand and relate to. Please comment any errors that I may have missed, and any constructive critisism is appreciated. I will also be slightly changing how things go from here on (as I realised getting memories back is just an easy way to get out of having the male lead actually needing to learn things. lol) I will take down the other chapters for now while they are under editing.

- Charlotte