The District of Never Die

 438 Unfamiliar Face

An unfamiliar face with an unfamiliar name in a hospital room for the family member of an unfamiliar victim. Yet this unfamiliar face I watch begins to cry and this unfamiliar heart breaks with every tear that falls. An unfamiliar longing to comfort you fills me but it's wrong. You are unfamiliar. I am unfamiliar. And yet I feel that I know you.
------

It's supposed to be from the perspective of an accident victim who lost their memory of the time before the crash or whatever happened. Their entire family is in the room with them, plus their husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend but they recognize none of them due to memory loss. However, when they see that one person (h/w/gf/bf whatever) crying, they feel like they should comfort them, tell them everything is alright, but they don't know why because they can't remember they loved this person. The love overcomes the amnesia though and tries to reach out to the other.
Love overcomes all! XD that's the cheesy motif pretty much
For all_unwritten btw.

 Time to post my responses to some all_unwritten prompts. I have been responding to some, I just haven't done my normal copy pasting them into the journal here. So now, after responding to today's prompt (or, technically yesterday's seeing as it's past 12:00 am), I shall take the time to refill my journal :)
------
424 "Graves"

434 Libation

Life is not defined by how many rights or lefts you take on those forks in the road, but by how many illegal u-turns you make along the way.

for prompt 420, "rights," on all_unwritten 

     The pretty, puffy clouds were so wispy today. She laughed as a unicorn danced towards the prince, and then frowned when they were replaced by a twisted, twirling dragon. The bunny she was playing with earlier came back and his long white ears stood out against the light blue of the sky. She was watching a princess when the sky completely disappeared, replaced by the harsh glow of orange lights and a solid cement ceiling.
     "Mommy, what happened to my princess?"
     The woman in the front seat just kept chatting away on her cell phone, something about charts and seats and an angry old man who's name was Boss.
     The little girl turned her eyes back towards the orange lights, counting them as they flew by. They looked like big fireflies but their color was off and they weren't as friendly. She was at 7 fireflies when suddenly a loud roar ripped through the dark tunnel. She jumped back into the middle of the seat, her face no longer pressed against the glass. From there, she saw a little yellow car drive by, but it was missing its roof, and there were mean-looking people waving their hands and screaming at the ceiling. She wondered if the dragon was chasing them and that's why they were yelling. Her mother in the front seat just glanced out the window and muttered "stupid teenagers" before talking about Boss again.
     She went back to her window, her nose against the glass as she looked for the dragon chasing the little car. She didn't see it, but that didn't matter - she had seen the bright speck of white light getting bigger and bigger. Soon the big orange fireflies started getting darker as the white light got brighter. She sunk back into the cushions of the seat, her eyes following the edge of the light until it was right on top of her. It was so bright she had to blink a lot before she could see again. And then her bunny was back and the prince had found the princess. She giggled as the unicorn pranced away towards the big office buildings of downtown.

------
all_unwritten 397: "the light at the end of the tunnel."

     "You can't go home! You can never go home!"
     "Hah! Wow, you actually like these movies? What a bunch of b.s.!" His face never turned from the TV screen as he laughed at the actress warning her husband of his fate and yet mourning their situation at the same time.
     I just turned back to watch the scene play out, knowing his eyes hadn't left the old romance drama film since I had turned it on. He secretly like them too, but was too much of a "man" to admit it.

-------
all_unwritten 394: "you can't go home."
</lj>

      Hearing a gasp in a quiet library is never a good thing.
     "Uh-oh, Ana, look what you did!" His whisper was harsh and condescending as it wafted over her. The book cover in his hands was torn, ripped down the seam in a jagged paper suicide.
     "What?" Her whisper was just as sharp as his as she spit back the accusation. "I never even touched that book! You did it yourself!"
     "Nuh-uh! Nobody saw it, it was you! It was all your fault!"
     "You're such a liar, Andrew. Besides, no one's going to believe you. I'm not the one who's going to be in trouble."
     Fear possessed his features for a second before he could regain his composure and repeat his favorite phrase: "Nuh-uh!" He stuck his head out of the line of shelves, making sure the coast was clear. "You're not going to get in trouble because no one's going to know! We'll just put the book you ripped back and walk away." The poor paper book with it's ripped cover was replaced on the dusty shelf, now marked by that deep, tattered scar. Ana followed Andrew's back obediently through the library and out the automatic doors, wondering if books felt pain.

------
all_unwritten 391 and 392: "book cover" and "I'm in trouble."
The boy has a name finally! We still don't know their relationship though. But at least now he has a name.

     He had never been the copy cat type. Always the original one he was. When Valentine's came by, he gave me candy corn and a DVD instead of old chocolates, soon-to-be-dead flowers and useless jewelry. On my birthday there was no cake, but giant helpings of fettucini alfredo and some smores in the mountains for dessert. At halloween we scared the little neighborhood kids away and ate the candy ourselves. Christmas was a time for making undead snowmen and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas 20 times in a row. So when enough time passed and we were still completely lost in each other, I wasn't expecting the typical proposal, no down-on-one-knee for this girl. No, his was much more elaborate, very planned out and way more personal.
     We'd gone snorkling. It was our 4 year anniversary. 4 years of dating him and I still wasn't tired of him. My friends said we were crazy. My parents hinted at a proposal, our friends agreed, but I just said we'd get married when we were ready. Apparently he thought we were ready.
     But yes, we were snorkling when all of a sudden out of no where, this giant fish swims right in front of my face. A bright yellow one he was too so it was hard to miss. I almost drowned trying to back away from this crazy thing that violated my personal space. My flippers kicked frantically in front of me. Part of me was aiming for the big yellow blob, but I didn't really mean to hit it. It tumbled in circles through the water until it dropped to the bottom of the reef. Stunned but curious, I followed the too-friendly fish. It appeared I had broken the poor thing in half, but that couldn't have been possible, I only knicked it with my flipper and these little rubber things weren't strong enough to kill something. I inched closer, spotting something dark under one of its gills. It looked like a little metal gear . . .
     And then I saw it. The simple silver band tied to its tail fin. It was absolutely beautiful but I had no idea what it was doing here. Then I looked closer. Written on what I thought was a real live fish was a message: "Marry me, love?"
     I turned as gracefully as possible under water in a wet suit with flippers to look at my now-fiancé. My shocked eyes searched for his through the plastic goggles and I saw the smile there. So it was true! The little mechanical fish from heaven had brought me the ring of my dreams and the boy of my dreams had been behind the fiasco all along. He definitely had a very original take on how to propose - and that's why I love him.

----
all_unwritten 388 and 390: "copy cat" and "he knelt on one knee."

 all_unwritten 389 - "he got on my nerves"

     I swallowed the little caplet like a normal pill. It went down like a normal pill. But, in the back of my mind, I totally knew it wasn't your typical, "normal" pill.
     It was blue for one. Who had ever seen a blue bill? Besides the one Morpheus offered Neo in that ancient movie. But that was totally fiction. This blue pill was definitely real, I could feel it as it tumbeled down my throat and into my system. No waking up in my bed for me, with blissful ignorance. No, I was an experiment. I wasn't fiction. And down went the blue pill.
     They said it'd take a while for it to take affect, but that I shouldn't really feel anything, except maybe a bit of soreness or discomfort. That was "normal," they said.
     An hour passed and I sat there silently in the bed, contemplating the meaning of "normal." That was common for a philosopher right? Except I'm no philospher.
     The static in the background morphed, changed into a static voice. Then the voice broke free, sounding small and yet very clear against the silent white atmosphere.
     "-lo? -ello? Can you -ear me?"
     The scraggly man in the long white lab coat leaned over, almost morphing out of the wall he was propped against, to pick up the walkie talkie. His voice was just as weak as his hair, barely there when he answered. "Yes, I can hear you."
     I smiled to myself as he failed to mention me. I was just the experiment, not a person to be included at all. How amusing.
     "I'm in the blood stream. Heading to the spinal cord now."
     I had asked how this was going to affect me, them poking and proding my body from inside when I couldn't stop them, and I remember being anxious. Then they showed me the adorable little blue space ship that would be in the little blue pill and I didn't fight them anymore. It was just too cute.
     Now however, once I couldn't see that little space ship, now that it was inside me and there was no way to stop it, I was anxious again.
     "Whoa, the heart beat just speed up. The blood is rushing much faster now."
     Apparently they could tell I was nervous too. The scraggly man outside of my body smiled reassuringly in my direction without really looking at me. Ah, to be an experiment.
     "Alright, past the heart, heading towards the spinal cord."
     Scraggles lifted the walkie talkie to his weak voice and said, "Remember, be careful."
     "Careful"? Why was he telling the mini man inside of me to be careful? I thought this was going to be easy.
     "Ow! ow ow ow! What the - !" My back arched in a painful jerk.
     "Whoops! hah, sorry. Is she okay? I just hit a nerve."
     I glared at the walkie talkie. "Okay"? "OKAY"?? He was lucky I didn't sneeze him out right now, that little mini man. So he got on my nerves. Literally. Lovely. I twitched a bit more, spasms shaking me as aftershocks of my bruised nerve. I hoped the little shakes were like earthquakes inside of me so maybe he'd be jolted enough to be more careful. But then again, he might run into something else. I tried to stop shaking.
     Scraggles watched the monitor by my head in silence. Apparently everything was looking good. He nodded or grunted every now and then, using phonics as small as the hairs on his head to approve of the situation.
     "Almost to the top," the walkie talkie announced. I assumed he meant almost to my head but there was no way to know. I never had gathered all the info on this experiment. Damn that tiny adorble space ship.
     The static broke through again as a shiver sent goose bumbs crawling over my skin. That wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't cold at all. Huh, odd.
     "Everyone ready out there?"
     Scraggles looked in my direction one more time. "Yes."
     A sudden itch plagued my head. It itched so much, but oddly, it was inside of me, in the most unreachable place ever.
     "Cord is inserted. Switching to manual control in . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1. . ."
     At one, Scraggles blended into the wall again, the walkie talkie spewed static, a voice unlike my own came out of my mouth. And then everything was black.

     I awoke sneezing like crazy, one after another after another. That was probably the most I've ever sneezed in my entire life. My eyes teared up and my chest hurt when it finally stopped. Scraggles was back, separated from his wall again. He was at the end of the bed over my legs with a magnifying glass. It must have looked odd to any passerby, watching a man scour a blanket with great intensity while I sat there rubbing my eyes with probably what felt like the most confused expression on my face.
     The tweezers snapped out like a dragon towards a virgin sacrifice. Scraggles raised his hand slowly, bringing the magnifying glass right up to his eye. The now-giant eye blinked and squinted, squinted and blinked until he turned to the vial waiting on the table and dropped his speck of dust in.
    The door almost closed on his white lab coat as he walked out. "Thanks for the information," I almost muttered when the door clicked shut. Looking around the room, I was left to ponder what had happened to me. Manual control. Hmm. I wonder what he meant by that. Mm, well I wonder how mini man is doing. . .

      I must have dozed off again because the next thing I knew, Scraggles was back with a strange man. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit with giant bug-eyed goggles propped atop his head. They were congradulating each other on some recent achievement.
     "It was amazing! To see the body is such detail, so up close! It's like you'd never believe! And our experiment - " His sentence dropped off as his face glazed over with nothing short of complete awe and passionate connection.
     "Yes. A complete success. Of course, the nerves are going to have to be avoided next time." Scraggles cocked an eye brow at the young man who blushed and scratched his head.
     "Hah, yes. That was a complete accident." Then he turned to me and quickly spoke as he bowed his head. "I'm really sorry about that."
     Oh! His voice! It was the voice from the walkie talkie! Mini man! Mini man was out of me! Maybe that's what all the sneezing was...
     "How did the controls work?"
     "Oh, very easy. It was like second nature working them. All of that practice paid off! How did it look from out here?"
     "You definitely had complete control. I could hear you and her eyes glazed over so I take it you had them too?"
     "Yes, I could see out of her eyes. She's slightly color blind though, she should see an eye doctor about that." He cast an appologetic glance in my direction before continuing the conversation.
     Their voices faded into the background like walkie talkie static. So that's what happened. He had control of me. I wonder what he did with my body. My hands quickly ran across my body making sure everything was still there. Hah, that sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie.
     I remember falling asleep this time as my cushioned head filled with images of time capsules and miniature spaceships. One last thought faded across my mind as the dreams took over.
     That pill was blue right?

     It was night. It had been night for quite some time now. Almost three years now apparently. I had lost count long ago as the days just melted together into one big stream of darkness and stars. It was hard to tell when it was actually 8pm or 8am anymore. A lot of people were beginning to miss work, showing up when their offices were closed thinking they were on time.
     Someone had the bright idea to use artificial sunlight in buildings, using projectors to simulate the sun moving across the sky on a wall somewhere. It was the only way they got to see the sun anymore.
     A lot of people had hope that the sun was coming back. But I wasn't one of them. I knew more than they did.
     I used to think about all the babies born these past years, born into darkness, never to know the light and warmth of the sun.
     That was another thing. It was always cold now. Not too cold, like freezing winter cold, but just cold enough that you needed a light jacket. It was rather aggravating. A lot of department stores ran out of jackets in the first month or so. Shorts and short-sleeved shirts, especially tanks tops, were no longer produced. The cloth used to make them was transfered to the jacket department and now there were long sleeved shirts and jackets made of every material and color possible.
     Fashion had died in favor of functionality. Magazines like Vogue and ELLE were replaced with reports of the latest theories and predictions, trying to explain the current sun-less situation. A waste of paper and ink those were. Not much truth to what the new scientists said. One man even suggested that a wolf had eaten the sun and we had to go to the end of the world to find him and get our sun back. Ha! What a bunch of bull. If only they knew the truth.
     The window started to fog as my breath grazed the glass. It was warm in the building but colder than normal outside. It was almost winter, the news people guessed. They always guessed at the seasons now.
     I could see the traffic flow from my 7th story window, the crowds of people bundled up and huddled together for warmth on their way to work. I laughed at their misery. It was amusing to watch them squirm under my fingers. Too easy.
     I must have laughed aloud because I heard a cough behind me. She must have heard me again.
     I let the reluctance show as I turned, annoyance written across my features. "What?"
     "It's time to leave."
     "I know that."
     "Of course you do. So let's go."
     She turned away and towards the door, grabbing the bright orange and yellow fleece from the coat rack. Her hand was on the door knob when she paused and looked back.
     "Oh, and, before you go, give the people back their sun, please."
     A quick laugh escaped me. So she had known all along.

--------
all_unwritten Prompt 393, "before you go."

 Prompt 387, "along the banks," for all_unwritten 
I got the inspiration from a deviation on deviantART, skyen.deviantart.com/art/Uncle-Danny-84842931
That's where all the "ands" come from, but the story idea was original. I kinda made it so it was like a myth since I've been reading a lot of mythology for my class lately. Anyways. I hope you like it.
And.
----------

     First there was a boy. And his name was Danny. And Danny loved a girl very strongly. And she loved him the same. And they walked along the banks of a quiet babbling brook every day for most of their youth. And they held hands, and they kissed, and they sometimes just sat there.
     And Danny hummed. And he hummed along to the beating of their hearts. And both of their hearts beat in time. And their song was one that could never be erased. And it was beautiful.
     And then one day, Danny waited by the brook for the girl. And she never came. And Danny waited again the next day. And she never came. And so Danny waited a third day. And again she never came.
     And Danny got worried and went to her house. And Danny saw her. And Danny cried. And her parents cried. And the neighborhood cried. And they buried her later that week.
      And Danny was lonely as he sat along the banks. And Danny cried even more. And Danny sat there for so long that Danny became a part of the tree on which he was leaning. And Danny's body slowly lost form. And Danny's heart was all that was left. And Danny's heart became a beautiful flower. And the flower prompted beautiful song from the birds. And the birds sang their song. And the song sounded like Danny's. And Danny's song lived on. And Danny's heart lives on.