ofherocs-blog

[ofherocs-blog]

outsidequebec:

She watched as he began to understand just how much trouble she was really in. If the two of them were the only people left around, she would have to find a better way of talking with him. Struggling to learn English could take months, or years to say the things that she needed right now.

Watching as he motioned for her to follow him. Quebec nodded and followed him as he had gestured for her to do. They walked the empty streets and Quebec followed feeling rather discouraged about the whole situation. 

he walked her to a tiny bookstore and opened the unlocked door. stepping inside, he almost didn’t know where the book he wanted would be, or if this store would even have it. he turned to the girl, giving her a sheepish smile before saying, “wait here,” like she could understand him and walked off, trying to find a book. he walked through the shelves, trying to find a french to english book, before finding a tiny french dictionary and deciding it would do.

he returned to her and flipped open a page. he chuckled with embarrassment as he tried to say nice to meet you in french. “ravi de...” he trailed off, reading the pronunciation under the simple sentence. “vous rencontrer?” he looked up at her, hoping she’d understand him.

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the-convict-mike:

A snort escaped him at the retort. Only bad thing about having a name scrawled on his chest was that everyone fucking knew it. It was harder to play mystery with people, which was ironic because he still felt like a mystery to himself. He’d taken stock of himself in the mirror and the tattoos spoke volumes for who he was. Not a nice guy, he could guarantee that. Those tattoos, they were the art of a morally ambiguous man at best, and a god damn corrupted one at worst. 

“You mean you shoplifted them?” he asked, brows raised. There wasn’t a judgment in those words and if anything, all doubt should have been erased as he followed it up with a snake-like grin and the words, “My man.” Like they were friends or pals, like they were anything but strangers standing in front of each other. But Mike looked towards the store and he thought a change of clothes might be good. The jumpsuit felt too much like…not a uniform, just someone else’s way of dressing him. Not his own. 

“I mean, who’s gonna miss ‘em, right?” he asked. The change in his mood was sudden. Having gone from on his toes, ready for a fight, to light hearted and grinning. It felt normal, those ups and downs. Defensive and maybe the humor and grin he flashed at the man was just that: a defense mechanism. Something to keep people off their guard around him, so he could maintain the upper hand. Why he felt he needed to with a guy like Hotel, he couldn’t say. “You leave anything good?” he asked, started to head in the direction Hotel had just come from, completely expecting the man to follow him. 

hotel felt better, more at ease. he didn’t feel as threatened or in danger as he had just a few seconds ago. seeing a smile and a laugh from the man in front of him only made hotel feel safer. for now, he didn’t have the threat of a golf club to the head. he let out more of a relieved laugh, he was grateful to not have to fight on his first day of life, or whatever was happening. he let his body relax as he listened to mike’s words.

“i mean, not really.” he said, rather sheepishly. “there’s nobody in there, and it was just open and dark. i mean, it’s kind of stupid but i feel like someone left them there for us.” he realized how stupid his sentence sounded as soon as he left his mouth and he laughed at himself before shaking his head. “nah, that’s dumb.”

he followed mike into the store and gave a sheepish laugh. “i only took one outfit, so... i guess?” he said. it was true, he’d spent thirty minutes in the store and all he took was a pair of sweatpants and white, long sleeved t-shirt. it was stupid, he should’ve taken more, but hotel didn’t even really think that far ahead.

[ofherocs-blog]

ofjulicts:

“Oh-sorry if I came on a little strong. I just-you’re the first person I’ve seen and I’ve been wandering the streets all day,” the girl immediately apologized, internally cursing herself for greeting him in such a strange way originally. She didn’t know his name, though, so hey you was really the best she could’ve done. Anyway. “Maybe these aren’t names…” Juliet mused at the introduction, figuring that no parent would name their child Hotel… right? “But it’s nice to meet you, Hotel.”

“it’s no problem, really.” he tried to reassure her. his mentality was always manners first, and he’d been rude. he couldn’t blame the girl for apologizing, but now he was sitting there feeling a little bit ashamed of himself. “and yeah, same. it’s been weird.” he shook his head, thinking of the events from the day. so much had happened, yet so little had happened. “i hope these aren’t our names, i mean - hotel, really?” he attempted a joke.

[ofherocs-blog]

indxia:

She didn’t know anything about him. Hell, she didn’t know a thing about herself. But for the first time since waking up in this absolute nightmare, she felt something different; a glimmer of hope. Of trust. And for some reason, she knew that wasn’t something that came easy to her. It felt so foreign. Like a feeling that had been pulled out from the darkest cave in her heart. But it was there - she trusted him.

For the first time, no sirens were blaring. No danger alarms. She just felt safe. And while she didn’t exactly know how to process that just yet, she knew she wanted to stay here for as long as she possibly could. Under the stars. Safe. Light.

It was in that lightness that she chuckled at his admission. “Mine’s India - I don’t know which is worse. Maybe you were the owner of some billion-dollar hotel franchise in your past life.” Past life? Yesterday life? Whenever the hell their lives had been before they woke up here. “Wow, that was a horrible joke I just made.” She continued, covering her face with her hands. 

After a few seconds, she peeked through. “Can I ask you something?” She offered. She just needed to know if what she was feeling was normal. Shared between them. Before waiting for an answer, compelled to share, she continued. “Did you wake up in a random area of the town with absolutely no idea who you are? Because I’m freaking out a little, too. Actually a fucking lot.”

she made him laugh. it was the first time he’d genuinely laughed since waking up and he just felt comfortable. the first person he’d seen and he wasn’t scared, or cautious. he sort of just felt like he’d known her his whole life and that was fine for him. he looked at her, his eyes scanning her face. he didn’t know if he’d forget her, maybe it was a thing where he reset everyday and he didn’t want to forget her. india. that was her name. he repeated in his head while she spoke.

“it wasn’t horrible, trust me i’ve heard worse.” he said in the most reassuring tone he could muster. he was sure he’d heard worse jokes than hers, but hers wasn’t even bad. it made him smile and it comforted him. for the first time today, he hadn’t felt completely hopeless. “and hey, maybe i did own a billion-dollar franchise. if i did, would it make me any cooler?” he asked her, raising an eyebrow and joking back.

he listened to her question, nodding to show that she could ask him. he would tell her anything she wanted to know. he was ready to tell him anything about him, all she had to do was ask. he felt like he just wanted to sit down and talk about the stars, or their lives, or just anything.

“yeah. i woke up in a church.” this time, his laugh was dry. “maybe it’s a sign, or something.” he shook his head, turning his head back to the dark landscape in front of them. he didn’t know if there was anybody else there, he hoped there was, but he couldn’t even be sure. “wanna know a secret? me too.” he said, “i’ve been freaking out since i woke up.”

[ofherocs-blog]

exploringyankee:

It made Yankee stop in her tracks when she suddenly saw someone walking out of a shop. A clothing store. Not that that was majorly important, more important was that it was someone else. She wasn’t alone in this place like she had thought she was after all the walking she had already done and no one to be seen.

Her first instinct was to approach this men slowly so that was what she did. He was wearing the same gray jumpsuit as she was. He had something stitched across the chest as well, but she was too far away to be able to read what was on it. This person had been in a clothing store so he was probably trying to find some other clothes than this stupid jumpsuit.

The moment she was close enough to be able to be heard by him, she opened her mouth. “I’m not the only one?” It was the first thing that came to mind and it just got out. Still standing in the middle of the street, she watched the men in front of her.

he was startled from a voice in the middle of the street. if he’d expected anything from the middle of the street, it was a car, not a girl standing in the middle of the road looking as confused as he felt. he walked over to her, gripping the bag in his hand. he’d only grabbed one change of clothes, which was dumb. he should’ve grabbed more. he didn’t even consider that there might be more people and he could hand out clothes to people he met. he was sure that nobody wanted to be in the jumpsuits.

he attempted to give her a friendly smile. “apparently not. do you know where we are, or what happened?” he asked. it was a dumb question, since she was obviously confused about what was happening. he didn’t think anybody really knew what was going on. anybody being the two of them. he had yet to see anybody else, but then again he’d only been out for an hour and a half now.

[ofherocs-blog]

of-tango:

Lima sat on the steps of what he could only assume was the town hall. He’d found a knife and and apple in one of the house he’d taken to exploring, and was slicing chunks out of the fruit when someone approached him. He looked up, raising an eyebrow - and then offered the stranger a slice from the flat of the blade. “Ev’rythins still fresh…”

he didn’t even realize that he was hungry until he saw the man offering him fruit. “where did you even find that?” he asked curiously, approaching the stranger and grabbing the slice from his blade. he took a bite out of it, and almost smiled at the sweet taste exploding on his tongue. “seriously, where’d you find an apple?”

[ofherocs-blog]

outsidequebec:

“Hi,” She answered then losing the rest of what he said to her completely. He smiled though so she tried to smile back. But she was beginning to feel hopeless. Even with other people around she was alone. Hotel seemed nice enough but how could they ever know what was going on if they couldn’t even speak to each other. 

Quebec shrugged her shoulders. “Je ne sai pas,” Her head hung hopelessly. I don’t know, seemed the only answer for anything. Quebec was also aware that Hotel would have no idea what she meant. “No, English.” She said hopelessly. 

her telling him that she spoke no english actually made it easier for him. he nodded and said, “oh, okay.” he recognized her language as french and he knew off the bat that he didn’t know it. he only knew american english - and apparently a little bit of spanish because he remembered a few words. he looked around desperately, maybe a translator would walk into town or maybe there’d be a bookstore.

a bookstore! he’d seen one while walking to the clothing store he was in. they had to have a language dictionary, he could try and communicate with her. if they were the only two people in the town, they had to talk to each other, and yeah - they could just learn by hanging around with each other, but that’d take weeks. “here, follow me real fast.” he walked towards the bookstore and looked at her, making a beckoning motion with his arm.

[ofherocs-blog]

ofjulicts:

How long had Juliet been walking around, attempting to find someone? She didn’t actually know, since she had lost track of time sometime after she completely lost track of the neighborhood she had woken up in. She knew it had at least been a couple of hours without sight of anyone, though, and the lack of anyone else’s presence was becoming more and more distressing to the girl by the minute.

So clearly her relief was obvious when she caught sight of someone moving about. Finally.  “Oh, thank goodness!” the girl remarked, breathing a sigh of relief as she approached the stranger in front of the store. “Hey you!” It was someone in a jumpsuit matching hers… odd, but also comforting? “First of all, hello. I think my name’s supposed to be Juliet. Do you know where we are?”

the girl in front of him was young, something he actually wasn’t expecting. perhaps it was because he hadn’t seen anyone or because he just expected everyone to be older. it seemed odd to see someone young running around an empty town, but truthfully, he didn’t even know how old he was. maybe he was just as young as she was (though, he doubted it. he didn’t look that good from his time rummaging in the church).

“hello?” it came out as more of a question than a greeting, which he regretted instantly, but the way she introduced herself confused him. were the words on the jumpsuits actually their names? if so, how come hers was juliet and his was hotel? his mind couldn’t even process the thought train and he shook his head. “juliet. i’m hotel. i guess.”

[ofherocs-blog]

the-convict-mike:

The man held his hands up in response and Mike tipped his head to the side to observe him. Same grey jumpsuit, same look of confusion that Mike was feeling, numbed slightly by the beers he’d had. If anything, it had calmed some of those nerves, probably saved this guy from getting his head bashed with the golf club before Mike gave him the chance to answer. But he did answer, claimed he wasn’t a threat. Whatever he was carrying in a bag, he reached down to pick up. 

A snort escaped him when the name introduced himself. “The hell kind of a name is Hotel?” he asked bluntly. It’s like he had no filter and that, he couldn’t attribute to the beer. Or at least he didn’t think so. Though, he doubted the man’s real name was Hotel. Just like he doubted his own was Mike. It just didn’t suit him. Seemed more like a label or a designation than a name and that’s what he’d believe until he was proven otherwise. 

Another moment of keeping the golf club pointed at the man before he lowered it, standing there to see if this Hotel was about to attack him. When no attack came, he swung the golf club up to rest on his own shoulder, taking another swig of his beer as he tried to figure out what to do next. Where to go, if this guy knew anything, whether they should team up. “What’s in the bag?” he asked with a frown, none of the immediately important questions escaping his mouth, just an innocent curiosity he couldn’t quite taper off. 

he could hear the judgement in mike’s voice. he himself didn’t know what kind of name hotel was, but it wasn’t like he could argue and he didn’t necessarily feel like naming himself. he knew he should’ve changed his clothes in the store, if he had, then maybe this would’ve gone differently and he wouldn’t be talked to like he was an idiot. because honestly, who runs into a guy named hotel and takes him seriously?

he shuffled uneasily and shrugged. “you’re guess is as good as mine. i mean you got mike and i got hotel.” he said, almost with a bitter tone. he wanted to bet this mike that if there were others, they all probably got better names than hotel. when he (and probably everyone else) thought of hotel, they thought of a place to stay on vacation, or when you were running away, not a human being and certainly not a name.

he almost forgot he had picked up the bag until mike had pointed it out again. hotel studied him drinking. he almost wanted a beer himself, but maybe it was too early in the day for that. he didn’t even know what time it was, he only knew how long he’d been awake (one hour and thirty-five minutes) and that wasn’t an accurate time teller. “clothes.” he responded, and then cocked his head at the store behind him. “the store’s fully stocked and i wanted to change, so... i just... grabbed some.”

[ofherocs-blog]

outsidequebec:

Maybe Hotel was an English name? Quebec had never heard anything like it before. In French, it meant a place to stay when you were away from home. But that couldn’t be the same. She shook her head trying not to dwell on it. She knew her real name couldn’t be Quebec. So maybe that had been given to him as well. By the way he spoke that seemed more likely.

She didn’t understand the rest of his statement but she nodded at the last part. “Quebec.” Pointing to herself to indicate that is what she was to be called. 

“hi, quebec.” he offered his hand and a friendly smile. “it’s nice to meet you.” he spoke. manners first, right? if there was anything he remembered, it was that he needed to be polite to everyone he met. sirs, and ma’ams were ideal, along with handshakes and warm smiles. he knew that it was step one to making friends - and maybe allies, but he didn’t even know what he was living in. did he need allies?

“so, where are you from? france?” he asked her, trying to get to know the woman standing in front of him. maybe he could learn the language, maybe he could help her. “i’m from america. i think.”

[ofherocs-blog]

limatheliar:

Lima inclined her head to one side, how curious that neither of them knew their true identity– well, beyond what she had surmised from the lettering etched into her jumpsuit. “Lima,” she made the executive decision to adopt the moniker, slipping into it with a strange ease that felt almost natural. A false personality and a foreign name. “I think so– I hope so. Are you… Is it just us then?”

lima. he stared at her face, then repeated her name in his mind. he wanted to remember her name and her face, so that if anything happened he knew what she looked like and he knew her name. if he couldn’t remember anything about his life, he would remember the people he met. “lima. hi, i’m-” he looked at the word on his suit. “hotel, apparently. and i don’t know.” he answered her question. “i have no idea. i haven’t found anyone else, so... maybe there’s more,”

[ofherocs-blog]

indxia:

The first thing she noticed was that he wasn’t in the godawful jumpsuit anymore, and she looked down at the stitching that ran along the side of her body, trapping her in it. She would need to change too, and soon. She wasn’t sure exactly what it would take to make her feel even an semblance of normal, but that was probably a good start.

She heard the hesitation in his voice, but was instantly warmed when he took a seat beside her. He probably thought she was crazy, sitting up here alone. Or worse - did he think she was here contemplating the end of her life? Not wanting to scare him off before she even got the chance to introduce herself, she looked back over at him and took a deep breath to contain the tears that threatened to spill over with the next anxious thought that popped into her mind.

“Actually. If you don’t mind, I’d really like the company.” She admitted warmly, almost embarrassingly. Wiping the corner of her eyes, she assessed the situation. She trusted him. She didn’t know what it was, but something was pulling her to him. Maybe it was the familiar face, or scent, or aura. Something about him just made her feel safe. And that was the best and most comforting thing she could ever ask for right now.

“Am I okay?” She questioned herself out loud, looking back out at the town before them. “Hm..” She contemplated, biting her bottom lip gently. “Yeah.. no. Definitely not. Please tell me you’re as freaked out as I am right now, because I swear I’m about to lose my mind.”

her asking him to stay was all he needed. he probably would’ve stayed anyways, considering she was the only other person he’d found and he didn’t feel like spending the night alone. he nodded to her, putting his hands behind him to prop himself up as he sat on the roof. it was surprisingly calm. it could’ve been that the town was dark and nobody was moving, or it could’ve been that he was here with her. 

he didn’t feel threatened, he didn’t feel like he needed to lie or protect himself, he just felt calm. after a full day of walking in circles and coming to the worst conclusions in his head, all he needed was calm. sure, he knew that both of them were freaking out and they were both super confused at the situation, but two negatives made a positive, right? 

he listened to her words. he agreed with every word she said, but it wasn’t like he could just flat out admit that. he was the one who had to be strong and he had to be the one to carry those who needed to be. he just felt like he needed to be, no questions asked. there was a voice in his head saying that’s what people expected of him and he needed to give them what they wanted. however, he nodded. the least he could really do was be supportive.

“yeah.” he laughed. it wasn’t a hearty laugh, it fell along the lines of bitter, and dry. “it’s just... it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it. i mean, get this- if we’re going by the words on our jumpsuits, my name is hotel.” he attempted to make her smile. “so, yeah, if my name is hotel i’m freaking out a little.”

[ofherocs-blog]

sanctifiedcharlie:

“Yeah.” Charlie raised the both of his eyebrows in shock, his sandy blonde hair slightly moving in response to the tilt of his head to the man who was standing behind him. It took him a moment to confirm the source of his words but a quick trace into his head confirmed the man was right. This had to be some sort of sign that God wasn’t lost. Even with memories being gone, it brought him joy that the light was able to still shine through the shroud of darkness.

Caution was currently the best way to go, but Charlie couldn’t see a man of prayer and religion attacking him after confirming a bible verse about strength and hope. If so, then he should be struck down right now. The amount of excitement across his face couldn’t be contained, and it was obvious due to the jumpiness of him as he approached the male. “I have this huge arsenal of bible wisdom along with a heavy trust in God still retained. Nothing else except that along with the knowledge that I have Type I Diabetes.” Charlie raised his shirt partially to showcase the pump that was on him.

“I should probably also mention my name is Charlie by the way. Well, at least that’s what I’m going with.”

he recognized shock on the guy’s face and he himself realized he was shocked too. how did he even know the verse? did he just pull it out of his ass, considering he didn’t know anything about himself? he pursed his lips and listened to the man - charlie - talk. hotel assumed that that meant his name was hotel, if they were going to go by the words embroidered onto their jumpsuits. so, this boy got charlie and he got hotel. seemed fair.

“i, i don’t know how much i know about,” he shrugged. “the big man upstairs.” it was only the truth. he didn’t know how much he knew, he didn’t know how he knew the verse, he didn’t know if he knew anymore verses. maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. right now, everything was up in the air with hotel. “but it’s good that you do, at least you know something about yourself, and is that going to be a problem, like do you need refills... and stuff?” he pointed to the pump. he didn’t even register the amount of concern that was in his voice. hotel knew he didn’t want to be alone, if this was the only other guy with him they needed to survive.

“i guess that means i’m hotel, then.” he introduced himself, pointing to the word stitched on the jumpsuit. it was probably the most logical way to keep track of people, especially if nobody knew their own names.

[ofherocs-blog]

the-convict-mike:

A beer still in hand, Mike and stripped off the upper half of his jumpsuit, letting it hand down around his waist so he could walk around in the sun without sweating through it. Tattoos exposed to the open world, he had the drink in one hand and a golf club in the other. Whether he needed something to protect himself or not, he was going to carry it around until he knew better. Or found something better. A gun, would be nice. With bullets, even. But this would do for now. 

The houses had been empty after he’d woken up on the street of some subdivision. He’d followed it right out of there and into what he had hoped would be a more populated area. Shops and businesses lining the road here, convincing himself that it was possible everyone was just at work. Or out of town. Or on vacation, or who the fuck knew. But if empty houses hadn’t solidified his solidarity, the empty businesses had. Shop windows dark and cold. No electricity here, either. A pay phone on the corner didn’t have a dial tone and he growled in frustration, grip tightening around the golf club. 

When the man came out of the store in front of him, it was a combination of the beer and frayed nerves that had him pointing the golf club at him immediately, intimidation and brawling coming to mind before any sort of camaraderie or rescue. “Hey,” he snapped, trying to get the man to stop moving. “Hey, who the fuck are you?” 

he dropped the bag he was holding and in a split second, his mind had to decide between holding his hands up or reaching for the golf club in self defense. he decided to put his hands up. it was logically better to keep things peaceful rather than start a fight with the first person he saw. he looked at the golf club in his face, the toe of it dangerously close to his nose. he knew that being hit in the face with one of these wouldn’t feel great, in fact, he felt like he’d been hit in the face by one of these before and he didn’t want a repeat of it.

“whoa, man, i’m not a threat to you.” he said, shifting his attention from the golf club to the man in front of him. he was about the same height as him, but a hundred times more intimidating than hotel. hotel seemed like a pretty american boy who played football for fun, while the man in front of him seemed like he could hurt him. he surely didn’t want his first day (now one hour and thirty-two minutes in) to consist of him getting into a fight (aka, him getting his ass handed to him).

he cleared his throat and slowly picked up his bag. “i don’t know who i am, i’m going to assume i’m-” he looked down at his name tag (was that what it was called?) and back up at the man in front of him. “hotel?” it came out more of a question than an answer.

[ofherocs-blog]

outsidequebec:

Quebec watched the man from a distance for a long while before he left the store. There were more people around than she thought. That was comforting, at least she was completely alone. He looked as if everything was normal. Just walking out onto the street like any other day. Quebec closed the space between them. Hoping he had no intention of hurting her and that he had some answers to how she ended up here in the first place. 

“Hello?” She asked her thick accent pouring onto each part of the word. It was really the only English word she could recall right now and it seemed to come out more subconsciously than anything else.  She pointed to her jumpsuit then pointed to his noting he was dressed in the same manner as herself.

“Hotel?” She asked looking at the name on his chest.

“whoa.” he muttered to himself, seeing another person approach him. there were others, he wasn’t alone. he almost wanted to hug the girl, he wasn’t alone. he didn’t exactly mind being alone, per say, but he knew he wasn’t meant to be alone. he wouldn’t do well on his own. watching her point to her jumpsuit then his only confirmed his fears. his name was hotel.

okay, so maybe it wasn’t his biggest fear, but it confirmed that that was who he was. this wasn’t a worker’s uniform and he didn’t steal it. “uh, sure, yeah, i guess that’s what we’re going with.” he spoke to her, noticing her accent. he spoke a little bit slower, just on instinct before continuing. “that makes you-” he squinted to see the name. “quebec. huh, better than hotel, i guess.” he said to her.

[ofherocs-blog]

limatheliar:

A face. Not one that she recognized, but it was human all the same and thus inspired momentary relief to billow up in the depths of her abdomen. How to approach this individual? How to draw from their well of knowledge and pluck out necessary information? Already she found herself inspired to milk the stranger dry of their usefulness. “Thank god. I thought I was alone,” she began in a falsely timid voice, testing the waters as her timbre echoed down the hospital corridor. The needle previously obtained burning a hole in one palm as she kept it flush against her lower back. “Who are you? What’s your name?”

he didn’t even know how he ended up in the hospital. maybe he thought it’d be a good idea to see if he could get help, people went to hospitals to get help, right? unfortunately, it was empty like the rest of the town. at least he thought it was until he’d heard a voice. it didn’t scare him, considering he didn’t feel scared from the hospital in the first place. he felt like it was just another place. he wasn’t scared at all, just... uneasy. he walked towards the woman who’d spoken up. he thought about her question - who was he? “uh, i’m not sure.” he replied. “who are you? are you okay?”

[ofherocs-blog]

indxia:

India was perched on top of one of the low-rise buildings overlooking the main road, legs dangling still off the edge. It was all too much right now. How was she supposed to make sense of it all if she literally had no clue who she was? Nothing made sense. Where was she? What was she wearing? Was her name even her name? With the foreign, dirty residue it left on her lips every time she attempted to address herself out loud, she knew it couldn’t be.

So, she got away. And even though she knew nothing about herself anymore, she felt pulled to the roof. Closer to the stars in this dead of night. She didn’t know why or how, but she felt safe there. She also highly doubted that anyone would join her up here. She knew how to use her voice, how to command a group. But she needed to find that voice first. She needed to be alone to process it all, re-root from ground zero. Literally.

Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and shook her head lightly.  Every time she tried to remember anything at all, she was slapped in the face with a big, blank, unknown. A black wall. Void of any clues or memories of the past. Was this her life now? What had she done to land herself here?

Eyes startled open by the sound of footsteps emerging behind her, she cleared her throat to shake herself out of the daze she’d been in for what felt like hours. How long she she even been up here? Turning her head to face the stranger, she looked up at them and then back towards the expanse painted in front of them. “I guess this hiding spot wasn’t as creative as I thought.” She said with a light, insecure chuckle, gripping the edge of the pavement until her knuckles went white. As she processed the fact that she was sitting on the edge of a foreign building, joined by one of the twenty-five strangers she was suddenly stranded here with, her eyes burned with tears. This was some sick joke.

he had changed. he had been hesitant to change at first, but he couldn’t stand what he felt like in the bland, plain jumpsuit. hotel had been stitched into the jumpsuit and he was still confused as to what it meant. he really didn’t know if that was supposed to be his name, or if he actually stole a hotel worker’s uniform, or if it was a prank that maybe his friends were playing on him. he didn’t even remember if he had friends, was he the type of guy to have friends? he had decided that he was. his mind and his heart were telling him to be someone good right now. he needed to find other people and he needed to help. maybe he could round them up, maybe he could learn everyone’s names, maybe he could go get water or find food for them. he was itching to do something and he was waiting to help.

seeing someone on the roof only made him curious. there were other people here and he wasn’t alone. this was a good sign, maybe this girl would know who he was, or what was happening. he’d found a way on the roof quickly. it wasn’t hard to get up there, all it took was a little jumping and a little work. he felt strange on the roof. he felt distant from the town as he approached the girl sitting on the edge of the roof.

was she okay? she wasn’t going to... jump, or anything, right? he couldn’t help but think of the worst situations in his mind. he didn’t remember anything, but he knew that jumping off of a roof wouldn’t be good for anybody. he listened to her words and instantly felt sad. not like, desperation sad, but sympathy sad. she wanted to be alone, and maybe he had been intruding. he hadn’t found anyone else, she was the first other person she’d seen and he didn’t even stop to consider her feelings.

“sorry. i can leave if you want to be alone...” he said, starting to turn when he looked down at her face. he recognized that look, it was one he’d been familiar with his whole life. or, was it his whole life? how old was he anyways? he pushed that thought out his head as he sat down next to her and asked, “are you okay?” with all the sincerity in his voice.