Chapter 1: Pilot

"AHhhhGGHHHHHHH" Irena shrieked at the sky. Her eyes and body were jolted awake. Her hands placed beside her had no strength, and she could only make out a blurry image of the jeans and shoes she was wearing. She was laying with her back against a tall, redwood tree.Her breath, ragged and problematic, needed a remedy.What is wrong with me? Where am I? "My head. UGHHGGHghg."She clasped at her head as a high-pitched ringing shook and pierced her ears.Her eyes were bloodshot and dry, the world was spinning around her despite not moving more than an inch. What was happening? Why can't I remember anything?Irena attempted to get up. She used the bark on the tree to lift herself up despite her body being in a state of limp. All around her were trees, trees, and only more trees."Damn. These trees are so tall, I can't-t seem to figure out-."Her medium-length hair, a brown-ginger entangled with her fingertips. She wanted to rip her scalp off.Her knees fell on the dirt, the cuts on her jeans getting larger. She forfeit standing and curled herself up into a ball as she could no longer take it.Irena's eyes filled with tears, her eyes were burning, it was just a reaction. She felt droplets falling down the side of her face as she closed her eyes. It's too bright.She wished for the day to be over.Night came over.Irena slowly opened her eyelids. She blinked a few times due to her parched eyes.She still couldn't muster up any strength to get up. Her body was still covered in the sweat of the day. Currently, the only thing that seemed to be working was her mind.Uh...my head still hurts. Let's try to calm down.She took her hands and clasped them together slowly. She could barely move, her whole body was sore. She inhaled then exhaled deeply, feeling the breeze of the night.It was an awfully quite night. What could be seen was pitch darkness, there was no moonlight, tonight.Owls cooed, or maybe it was her own mind playing tricks.All she knew was what she saw in the morning.Redwood trees everywhere. Was this a sick joke?The headache would not subside, yet she forced herself to think. She raised her knee and placed her elbow on it, it helped her think better in this position. Using her left hand, she supported her head and closed her eyes. It was much more relaxing with her eyes closed.I remember: my name is Irena, Irena Lee.I don't know how I got here, it's like...I can't remember.Irena was not easily fazed; she expected the unexpected. But she really had no idea how she got into this situation.What do I do?Irena didn't have a fear of the dark. In fact, she preferred it over daytime. It somehow made her feel even safer, but she didn't know why.Her arm was stinging, she slowly rolled up her sleeves, it took a while.She touched around and realized the bruises from punctures.Why? Syringe needles. There's so many, no wonder I feel so feverish. I was drugged. For how long? Why. When.She shuddered at the thought. She was scared yet fought that feeling.The air was not cold here; however, the wind brought a chilly breeze. She was grateful it wasn't cold and decided to take more rest before anything else. She needed rest to gather her thoughts.The early morning sunlight stunned Irena awake.Irena's eyes popped open. She could not begin to find the words for her pain, within her heart and mind.I can't let this kill me. I just need to stay alive and find people. The right people.That was what her mind was telling her. She began to control her over-thinking. Her stomach did a few flips from hunger. She took a deep breath, to calm down.I must be strong.Irena was afraid, truly afraid but knew better than to let that get to her.She had felt this resolve after feeling trampled on.Irena slowly lifted herself up using the tree for assistance.She was on the search for information.I think these are Redwood trees, but does that tell me anything? How in the world did I end up here?Everywhere she looked were just trees."Well, gotta start somewhere." She spoke to herself trying to keep an upbeat attitude, tired but over it.She began looking around the vast forest. It wasn't completely green, a lot of brown and she felt no familiarity towards it.Wandering, Irena kept going to the right. It just feels right to go this way.She had a feeling she wasn't very good with directions, but just followed her intuition. Dirt and sand had covered her hands, orange blouse with buttons, and ripped light blue jeans. As she continued to walk to noticed two stripes of her hair dyed on the right side with colors of light green and dark purple.She patted off the dust and held her throbbing sides. An inclining thought that occurred to her was that she had been thrown down here because there was no other way her pain was this immense.She kept walking, never wanting to return from where she began, hoping someone would find her and help her kindly.Suddenly, there was a store. Or, what looked to be a store. It had a sign that wasn't in English and unique looking architecture Irena had never seen before. The most unique thing was the redwood tree sticking through it. It was unconventional looking, or that's what Irena that. Oh wow. It's like a treehouse, but modern?How random she thought. What's someone doing here? It was interesting but Irena was delighted to see it. It seemed oddly homey like someone lived in it well.The lights were shining brightly from the inside, the walls were neat and comforting.Was there anyone there?Irena clenched her lower half.The exhaustion was coming back, and her head was spinning."F***" She cussed silently. (She had a feeling she didn't cuss a lot, only in horrible situations). I don't have a choice, it's this or death, the timing of th-.She made her way, limping, but before knocking on the door her knees wobbly,she collapsed.Irena slowly blinked her eyes open. Still dazed, she felt a soft blanket on top of her. Feeling like God had saved her, she smiled to herself before realizing where she was."(起きていますか?)Awake now?""Huh?" Irena blinked her eyes a few times again and launched forward.A bright light suddenly appeared. She silently screamed, trembling quickly hid under the blanket. Her body couldn't stop shaking even with her eyes closed. She couldn't understand why. Her nose caught the soft scent of cedar wood from the sheets."Are you okay?" The man's soft yet husky voice could be heard through the blanket. It sounded quiet yet very concerned.Irena was very scared, she wanted to cry but her heart clenched in panicked ways. She was simply very dazed and confused.All the lights suddenly went off.The sunrise had not yet fully appeared, and the room was dark. As the light's disappeared only, it was seemly as if an overwhelming number of sounds had been taken away from Irena's mind. Only the sound of the fan and small white sounds remained."Are you okay?" The voice sounded once again but even quieter and softer this time.What was he saying? What language was he speaking? Spanish? No, Japanese. She recognized it for some reason. Ah, yes, it was oddly familiar.She took a few deep breaths. "Um, I'm okay." she stammered as she removed the blanket. She wanted and needed to assess the situation.Despite the room being dim the slight sunshine from the window allowed her to see the shape of the boy standing near the light switch.The room itself had the fresh smell of edible herbs. What a comforting scent.She looked at him again and made eye-contact. He looked quite young to her."Thank you...for saving me." She averted her eyes in shame at the end of her words. Quickly, wanting to show her gratitude she waited and realized maybe he didn't hear or understand her."(え?)Eh?" He questioned in a cute manner.Irena got up and decided to turn on the lights. She realized her shoes were off but told herself would ask about them later.It would be okay as long as she expected it, the light. Her legs treaded over to the boy, and she flicked on a switch. She blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath.As she opened her eyes, from the white light she was able to notice his unique features.His eyes, which were staring at her were olive green, puppy-like and large. They held his dog-like expressions along with his thicker eyebrows together.Irena thought they were beautiful, not because of the color, but the reassurance it held as if looking into his pure soul.Moles were placed across his face as if intentionally trying to distract from his eye-catching features yet only added more harmony.His darker, tan complexion melted into Irena's mind. He was very burly and muscular, yet she was not scared due to his youth-full looking expressions. His dark brown hair that looked black was wavy almost curly covered his forehead and stuck out unkemptly.She was at a lost for words from his looks. He looked East Asian, but she knew he wasn't fully Japanese, at least not ethnically.He is so cute...like a dog! Irena wasn't sure what prompted her to think that way and shook it away.She made hand gestures as she slowly said,"Thank...you...for...saving...me." While she pointed at him and smiled. Feet away from each other, they shared their meaningful words."Ah!" He slightly bowed and smiled back.For a slight moment she was able to forget the pain, until Irena realized her body was still sore and winched.She sat back on the bed which was well cushioned to her.She began to get a good look at the room.Around It was filled with different kinds of herbs and spices.On the wooden walls were strange things hung up like tools in a different world.The room was oddly modern yet had items that seemed prevalent only in world outside of the city.She had never seen such items before and felt quite peculiar. She was clenching her teeth. She was just glad nothing was broken or injured. Today, the pain felt much more bearable. It was perhaps the rest she had gotten. Irena thought it was an interesting and unique room, things looked handmade, in-fact everything did.She looked at herself and realized how dirty she was.I was sleeping in such a clean room in these dirty clothes. She was slightly embarrassed at herself and knew she looked like a mess. How embarrassing.Irena noticed he was looking at the floor, hands shaking slightly."Daijoubu?" Irena asked. She was essentially copying his words from earlier. But why was he shaking too? Maybe because this random girl looks hysterical and can't speak Japanese."Ah...uh." He nodded shyly."あなたは ?(And you)?""I'm better....What is your name?" He looked slightly like a lost puppy.He paused for a second."My name is Ike." He said softly in English. His Japanese accent was prevalent."Nice to meet you, Ike! I'm Irena." She smiled gently. Irena was happy and grateful that someone so kind and gentle saved her.