It was that time of day again. Tea time. The cool spring breeze blew through the window, bringing with it the smells of nature and the sounds of the outside world. Gretcha loved it. As she made the tea, her husband Mark sat in his recliner watching the news. Humming to herself, Gretcha took the teapot off the burner and poured Mark and herself some tea. Walking over to the couch to sit, she sat Mark's cup on the table next to him.
Sitting on the couch, Gretcha pulls out a datapad and begins reading a book on it, tuning out her surroundings. After about five minutes, she hears a crash. Startled, she looks up to see Mark's cup of tea on the floor and Mark standing in front of the TV with a shocked look on his face.
"What's wrong Mark?" Gretcha asks.
"The news," Mark said in a shaky voice, "they just said the entire city of Talboid was wiped out by terrorists."
"Oh lord," Gretcha says. "Isn't Talboid the city on the other side of the forest?"
"Yeah it is, or was" Mark says.
All of the sudden, they hear a thud outside. They looked at each other for a moment before rushing to the door. When they opened it, they found a young boy no older than 10 lying unconscious on the ground. He appeared to have numerous cuts and bruises on him and was covered in blood. They quickly picked him up and carried him into the spare room where they laid him on the bed.
"What do you think happened to him Mark?" Gretcha asked.
"I don't know but I'm calling a doctor," Mark said as he walked towards the door.
"I'm going to try and clean him up a little," Gretcha said as she went to the bathroom to get a rag and some water.
As Getcha cleans the young boy up, she starts to notice some things about him. His shaggy hair is dark brown, almost mistakable for black. He has a scar running from the left side of his lower jaw across his face to the side of his right eye. He also has a thin scar on the right side of his forehead. As she continues cleaning, she notices the name tag on what she assumed was his school uniform. The name tag itself was scratched and broken, so all she could make out was TALBOID PRIMARY.
"He was there. That's why he's in this condition," Gretcha muttered to herself in shock as Mark walked back into the room.
"What was that?" Mark asked.
"Look at the name tag on his clothes, Mark. Talboid Primary. He was there," Gretcha says.
"My word. How in the world did he make it across the forest by himself, in that condition no less?" Mark said.
"What did the doctor say?" Gretcha asked Mark.
"Oh right. He said he'll be here in about an hour."
After an hour passed, the doctor finally got to their home. He examined the boy and said he's surprised the boy hasn't died from blood loss. He said the boy just needed rest and that once he awoke, they should inform the authorities.
*** 3 DAYS LATER ***
A sensation. A warm sensation. It's also soft. On both of his arms? Or is it his chest? Or is it his waist and legs? All of them. Opening his eyes, he realizes he's in a bed with sheets and covers up to his chin. Looking around the room, he notices that aside from the bed he's in, there's a bedside table and a dresser in the room. The room is a tad bit warm, but he attributes it to him being in the bed.
"Ugh, where am I?" he asks himself. And why am I so sore?
As he's inspecting his body and the bandages all over him, he hears the door to the room open. Quickly looking up, he sees an older woman staring at him with a shocked expression on her face. She is just standing there looking at him. She apparently comes out of her stupor and rushes over to the bed and begins inspecting him. Now that she's closer to him, he takes notice of her appearance.
The woman looks to be of average height, about 5'5" or 165 cm. She has raven hair that appears to be graying. Her piercing blue eyes were like an endless sky. She is wearing a pair of gray jeans and a loose dark blue shirt. Her complexion is quite fair, but the signs of aging are there.
"Mark! He's awake!" the woman yelled to whoever must be in one of the other rooms.
"Really? I'll call the doc!" the man who he assumed was Mark yelled back.
"Hey, are you alright?! How do you feel?! What's your name?! Can you remember what happened to you?!" the woman asked him in rapid succession.
"Wha?" is all the boy manages to get out as he's overwhelmed by the questions.
"Slow down Gretcha. He's just woken up," the man he guessed was Mark said as he walked into the room, "and he's probably confused right now."
The first thing the boy noticed about Mark was that despite his aged looks, he was fairly well built. The muscles that could be seen under Mark's shirt were well defined and seemed to stretch the shirt a little. The shirt was short sleeved and green, though somewhat faded, in color. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans with the knees looking worn. His face was aged and he had a small scar on his right cheek. His eyes, like the woman who he identified as Gretcha's, were blue in color, though less piercing. His hair was blonde but the graying was much more pronounced. The last thing the boy noted about Mark was his height, which appeared to be greater than average, of about 5'11" or roughly 180 centimeters.
"Thanks," the boy says as he nodded at Mark, grateful that the stream of questions was over.
"Doc will be here soon," Mark says to Gretcha.
"Good," Gretcha says as she looks at the boy.
"So let's start with a simple question," Mark says looking at the boy, "what's your name?"
"My name? My name is… Hmmm," the boy says looking as if he was having a hard time thinking of his own name.
"You know your name, right?" Mark asks.
"Ummmm, yes. I think," the boy says.
"You think?" Mark asks with a raised eye.
"I think my name is Matthew. My memory is kinda fuzzy for some reason," the now identified Matthew says.
"What do you mean fuzzy?" Gretcha asks.
"Like, I can't remember anything before waking up in this bed aside from my name," Matthew says as Mark heads towards the door when there's a knock.
"Must be the doc," Mark says, causing Matthew to frown as he doesn't want another stranger questioning him.
"Don't worry," Gretcha says seeing the look on Matthew's face, "He's a good friend and the doctor who helped close all of your wounds."
This got Matthew to nod. A few minutes later, Mark and an older looking man in a suit walked into the room. The older man came over to the bed and began to look Matthew over, checking his bandages. After making sure everything was in order, the man backed away and spoke.
"Well all the wounds appear to be healing nicely," the man says.
"That's good I guess Mr.?" Matthew asks.
"Just called me Doc," Doc answers.
"I'm Matthew."
"So how are you feeling Matthew?" Doc asks.
"I'm pretty sore but besides that, I feel fine."
"Good good."
"My memory is kinda fuzzy though."
"What do you mean by fuzzy?"
"Like I told Mark and Gretcha, aside from my name, I can't remember anything before waking up in this bed."
"It's true. He had a hard time remembering his own name at first," Mark says.
"Interesting," Doc says, "do you remember anything? Home? Parents? Friends? A pet perhaps?"
"Nothing," Matthew says while looking down at his hands.
"So you don't remember what happened that left you in the condition that Mark and Gretcha found you in?" Doc asks, hoping for at least that mystery to be solved.
"No, I'm sorry," Matthew responds.
"So what's wrong with him Doc?" Gretcha asks.
"Well, this is based on what I know and what little I've observed," Doc says, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts.
"Well?" Mark asks.
"I believe he has amnesia," Doc says.