Young Writers Society

James woke with a start. He could smell the salt of the ocean in the air, and the cool earth below him. He sat up quickly, looking out at the waves lapping against the shore.

He was on a cliff, overlooking the ocean, and he didn’t remember going there.

“Must’ve… gotten up in my sleep,” he muttered to himself, looking behind him to see Elliot, standing close by. Elliot wasn’t tied up either. James had a feeling that he might’ve had a bout of paranoia in the middle of the night. Perhaps, in a half-awake state, and that was what drew him here before he collapsed from exhaustion. Of course, he couldn’t remember anything. That seemed to be how it went, nowadays. His memory had never been quite the same. The years of sleep deprivation had chipped away at it, and it used to bother him, but now he accepted it.

He was alive. Elliot was alive. No one seemed to be around. That was all he needed.

With a huff, he got to his feet, brushed himself off, and went to Elliot’s side, taking his reins and holding his head against his own.

At this point, Elliot couldn’t be spooked away even if the earth crumbled beneath their feet. Elliot would always stay, and James would always stay with him. Still, he should’ve known better than to leave Elliot untied and ungrounded, but he’d done it before. Elliot always came back.

James pulled away from his horse and brushed his mane to the side of his face. He didn’t recognize this shore. He must’ve made it further north than he thought. Even the sun seemed to shine in a different way at this point of the hemisphere.

“I suppose we should be off, then,” James mumbled to Elliot, patting his side before he led him away from the cliff so they could continue traveling northward.

Elise was worried about him. She didn't know who he was, exactly, but last night when she left to get some air, she found a man laying on the ground overlooking the cliff side. She wanted to wake him up and maybe report him to Zameer, but she could empathize with him.

He likely drifted from the main group when no one was looking, and maybe it was instigated by his longing for home. Home was different for all of them now, but these were decisions they all decided to make themselves. It was better this way.

Elise continued to walk by the cliff, figuring the man was awake now, but she didn't see him arrive in the room. He must have still been by the cliff side. Maybe it was just instinct to naturally fall into this role, but she wanted to console him if he truly did feel sad.

Plus, he had a horse. At least, she thought it was a horse. She was more confused than anything, but she was curious.

She let out a few grunts as she took several steep steps onwards from a small hill, and then she saw him: awake, walking, and leading his horse along.

"You're finally awake," she said as she smiled and found her ground, starting towards him.

James hadn't gotten very far when he saw a woman approaching through the trees. She was wearing strange clothes - odd in a way he couldn't quite describe. The tunic, pants, and coat she wore were all light colors. Greys and creams. She looked like she was either in her late 20's or early thirties, and she had straight blonde hair down to her shoulders. She looked thin. Not too strong. Easy to overpower if he had to, but she didn't seem to pose a physical threat. He couldn't see any weapons on her, but she didn't look like a traveler. That was all he could make out so far, but she was coming closer. And she spoke to him like she'd seen him earlier. When he was asleep.

Maybe there was a home or a camp nearby up ahead. Otherwise, there were no reasons for her to be out here that were good.

He eyed her with suspicion. What did she mean by finally awake? How long had she been watching? How long had he been out?

"Who are you?" he asked, looking her up and down.

Elise smiled, a bit wary of the man's tone, but glad that he seemed okay. "I'm Elise," she said as she stopped in front of him, gesturing to herself. Her eyes flicked to the horse in curiosity as the coastal wind breezes through their hair. "And you? Where are you from?"

James didn't know where this woman was from, but she clearly had no problems approaching strangers in the middle of nowhere. That meant she was either crazy, or she wanted something. He just had to determine what that thing was.

"Around here," he said vaguely. "And where are you from?"

Elise nodded, noticing the scars on his face. It looked like he got into quite a scuffle, and this was reaffirmed when her eyes automatically scanned him from any other possibly injuries, but only saw the other scars on his neck.

She wouldn't know unless she asked, but it appeared that it was an puncture wound, maybe from a knife or other sharp object. Her heart sank a little when he said he was from here, yet she still saw the scars. Even with freedom, he ran into trouble. He must have been so scared. He didn't even tell her his name.

"I'm from the sectors," she said gently, figuring he wouldn't know much about it. She offered a small smile.

"I'm glad that you found the others so you can find safety."

James stared at her for a moment, and then his eyelashes fluttered, and he tilted his head slightly to the side.

"I'm sorry," he said in a tone that was clearly not sorry but confused. "What?"

Elise wasn't sure why he was confused. If anything, she was more confused. Zameer hadn't mentioned that there was someone from around here, and also -- he had a horse. But he was clearly distressed, and she didn't want to cause more anxiety than necessary.

Maybe he hurt his head from a recent fight? And that was why he hadn't interacted with anyone and was confused...? She was stretching for answers, but she didn't want to make any more assumptions.

She let out a quick nervous laugh. "I, uh, assume you found the others? Or maybe the others found you?"

James raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly.

"Ooookay. Look. I have no idea what you're talking about, so, clearly, there's some misunderstanding here. But I'm not whoever you think I am, so I'm just going to go." He started to turn away, leading Elliot behind him.

"Goodbye."

"W-Wait!" Elise called out, reaching her hand out in the air like she was going to stop him, but didn't. She stayed in place, watching him trot away. "Where are you going?"

"Away," James answered, glancing back at her, and giving a focused look at her hand to make sure she didn't touch him or Elliot. "Good luck doing whatever you're -- hell, I don't know."

He kept walking.

Now Elise was the one who was confused. Did he not...? Well, okay. He'll figure it out eventually. With a sigh, she watched as he walked off in the direction that she knew was going to be a dead end, and the turned around to meet him at the base of the cave when he inevitably had to turn around.

James pulled his maps out from his saddlebags, but they didn't help him at all. He had no idea where he was, and nothing looked familiar. It wasn't uncommon for him to have gaps in his memory, but surely he would remember traveling this far over the past few days, and the last night. Unless something had happened? Something else he couldn't remember? It wasn't like he was injured more than he already was, so it couldn't have been that.

Had he gotten caught again? Did he block it out? He didn't know. He couldn't know. And the more he walked, the more it started to bother him.

Eventually, he hit a wall. Not a literal one, but he was staring up at the steep face of a mountain - one that would be impossible to climb without supports and absolutely impossible to take Elliot up. The mountain seemed to go on for miles, so he followed its edge, trying to place where this mountain was on the map but still coming up with confusion.

Was he that far north?

Eventually, he saw a cave up ahead. The opening looked about the size of two large double-doors, and leaning against a rock at the cave's base, he saw Elise again.

Waiting for him.

So, she was familiar with the area and was able to predict he'd make his way here. But why was she waiting for him?

He looked around, scanning the area for anyone else, but it was just her, and the cave was deep and seemed to have strange little glass lanterns mounted on the walls. He'd never seen ones like those before...

Warily, he approached Elise, but still stayed a few feet away from her.

"Okay. Since you seem so familiar with this area, would you mind telling me where I am?"

Elise felt a little smug that the man had to come back around despite saying his snarky goodbye already, but she did still worry about him. Something must have happened to him to not know where he was. Maybe he fell and hit his head on a rock? She didn't see any injury on his head, but it could be hiding below the tufts of hair.

She stood up straight and nodded, offering him another gentle smile in hopes that he wouldn't walk away again. "Can you tell me your name first?" she asked.