Prologue: The Accident

Fiery liquid spewed from the mountaintops, forming rivers at their feet and streaming away. On one of the narrower streams floated a wooden boat. It didn't burn; there wasn't a smoldering scent nor ash in the air. My skin felt no heat despite sitting in the far back. Everything, from the thick magma to the mountain peaks, was colored in remnants of shade. I believed this to be reality, but after prolonged darkness, my vision realized a dull ceiling.

Only my eyes could flicker around the room; blurry dim fluorescent lights poorly illuminated the walls. My first instinct was to lift myself using my arms, but I couldn't move. I managed to gain minor movement in my neck and looked around. An array of technological machinery surrounded my peculiar bed and a pale blue blanket lay over my body. The only visible parts of me were my arms over the blanket, tubes piercing my bulging veins.

More bemused than panicked, I thought, What happened?
My throat choked up from unbridled breathing. the cold atmosphere wrapped around my exposed arms, and the ticks of the machines filled my ears. I took a deep inhale and drew my eyes to a closure again.

How did I get here?
I tried to go through my memory, but there was nothing to recall about my arrival at this place. Not only that, but I couldn't remember anything in general. There was an emptiness within my mind, like being in an unknown region of the universe with the stars long gone.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer the only person in the room.

"Aah, have you finally awoken?" said a woman in scrubs. "I'll get the doctor right away, Vieira-san."

Finally? Doctor?

More nurses and a few orderlies entered through a door to my right. The nurses analyzed the machines to check my medical status. The orderlies brought in a silver trolley that had a light snack on the trays. Assertive footsteps shortly followed, and a man in a white lab coat entered with a tablet in hand.

"Okay, what do we have here? Uh… I see."
He lifted his head and looked at me with compassionate eyes.
"Vieira-kun, what I'm about to tell you will probably be shocking, so I want you to prepare for some unfortunate news."

My brow furrowed, and I returned my eyes to my veins. I was partially skeptical with what to expect, but with little purpose in overthinking, I let my growing curiosity take over. As I prepared myself, I felt as if my heart was already missing from my body.

I parted my lips to softly say, "O-Okay."

"You and your family were involved in a car accident… Four weeks ago. After being brought here, we feared for your brain and the damages it may have suffered. To limit excruciating pain, we induced you into a coma to lessen any risks worsening with consciousness."

I didn't know if I was meant to be shocked, but if anything, I was rather intrigued. Not at the news about the accident, but at the trolley that was wheeled in. My neck, quite painfully, turned so I could see the items—two on the top tray. An aroma—albeit weak—entered my nose, and a memory had finally materialized.

➼ ➼ ➼

"See you there, [Inaudible Name]-chan!" I said with glee.

I was fervently skipping down a driveway with a woman to my left—Is this my mom?
The memory couldn't fully solidify my surroundings, but it was probably a place I knew well. A vehicle pulled up to the sidewalk in front of us, Dad?
We approached it, and I realized in my hands was an object.

It was a cubic cardboard box, it's back to my chest, with a logo of some cat and English lettering on top—the name too fuzzy to scrutinize. My mom was also carrying something: An open stainless steel bottle. I tried to pinpoint the aroma, but the memory became static as if I was losing connection. I couldn't try too hard, but I wasn't ready to let go of the sole reminiscence I had.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I transferred my focus to finishing the memory. I saw my mom sitting in the front passenger seat while I sat behind her. I rolled my window down and looked out at the house we came from; most of it was intangible. A figure stood on the inside of the house's windowsill, but due to the yard's reddening garden and my attenuated focus, they were nothing more than a blocked silhouette. A thought I hadn't a chance of remembering shot across my mind.

Then I heard, "One half of your eleventh birthday is done. Just a quick change at home, then we’ll head to..."

The last clear image I had was the front of our car wedged underneath a semi-truck's chassis, minor movement inside the car, and flashing ambulance lights. The pain was still fresh.

My transient memory came to an end at the moment.

➼ ➼ ➼

Returning to reality, I kept my stinging eyes shut to gather myself. I then opened and directed them to the doctor.

"Wh-What happened to m-my parents?"

He displayed downturned eyes, an emotion I later knew to be pity was prominent within them. With hesitation, he said, "Vieira-kun, your parents were caught in the brunt of the crash; they didn't survive."

Besides my recent memory, I hadn't an idea as to how much they meant to me. It was likely a lot, but at that moment, it was like telling me a stranger from another country had died. Unknown people died all the time, it was unfortunate for them to die without their child knowing who they were.

All I said was "Okay."

"Can you remember anything or anyone from before?"

My chin slowly lowered as I shifted my gaze to my twitching hand. I mustered the little strength I had to command my brain to lift it, but only managed an inch off the bed. I tried again, my stiff fingers pained with the slightest wobble as if I had frostbite, but I managed to somewhat curl all but one in the direction of the trolley.

An orderly caught onto what I was pointing at and picked up one of the objects on the tray—a cup. Another orderly picked up the second object, which was something like a yellow ball. A third crouched to the bottom tray of the trolley.

The empty universe was reforming over my staggering eyes. Maybe my body wasn't yet accustomed to waking up and wanted to rest again. My arm dropped and the orderlies recoiled before I could be presented with the objects up close. The nurses and doctor rushed in to check my health.

Before blacking out, I muttered, "Tea... Apple..." but had lost consciousness too quickly.

I knew what a drink was. I knew what a fruit was. I knew my name and how to speak the language. But in terms of people, time, locations, and even emotions, there was nothing to recall. My entire life before these four weeks in a coma had vanished, save for that singular memory.

I questioned if that life and its memories would ever come back, but it was eventually overlooked by the time I left the hospital a month later. The world I stepped into was covered in a white blanket with whiter flakes descending from the gray clouds. I became accustomed to the softness of these tones, so much so that seeing colors was harsh on my eyes and they automatically adjusted my sight.

I lived with these shades for the next five and a half years.