Adam

"Here we return to the story of long refined and revised: The story of a poor, poor boy who has lost his way. The boy who so wishes to be "King", and yet he has left astray... the dear boy in search of love, yet blind to all forms of affection. It is he who wishes to be accepted yet denies all forms of acceptance by others. A pure, naive child that is broken, faulty, unresponsive and unfixed... A pure boy with eyes full of hope but ignores the reality to which is locked away? 

I'm starting to like this boy. Maybe, we should meet someday. Properly this time."

The orange rays of light sharply penetrate the old windows of the school library. Every footstep I made echoes, it was the first I've noticed Orchid making more noise than me.

She sat facing me at the long wooden table in the middle of the old library. I sat there occasionally glancing at Orchid, who was looking around and checking corners as though she was afraid a cockroach was going to crawl out and fly towards her. "You okay?" 

She looked at me for a second and subtly shook her head and returned to staring at dark corners. "If you're so paranoid at something, you can just tell me..."

Orchid snapped back towards my face, her eyes locked down to my homework for a moment. I couldn't tell what was going on in her head. "It's almost done, alright? We can steal a book or something if that's what you want."

To my surprise, Orchid gave a teensy smile at my joke. To which mind you, I barely caught. She turned her head around and I couldn't see her face. Eventually, there was a loud, cranking noise coming out under her chair and she was away for a while. "What. Are. You. Doing?"

Orchid had just left her seat and was walking down the aisles of books. It was as if she saw a ghost for a moment there and was about to go scare it away. I remained at my seat, still wondering when would be the best time to bring up the real reason why I wanted to see her here in private. Despite Liam's warnings to stay away from her, despite losing track of my purpose to become the top in school... for some reason I'm being pulled towards Orchid. It was as if, I secretly knew who she was.

Orchid eventually returned and sat back on her seat, her eyes poured the sight of constant worry and anxiety. I shook my head in confusion as to what on Earth is was doing. We exchanged looks and she simply shook her head, choosing not to maintain eye contact with me ever since we arrived here.

"Done," I said aloud, pushing the textbooks I was using back to Orchid's side. "And... thanks for the help, Orchid." She nodded, gave her arm a little massage afterwards.

"Hey, are you okay? I've never seen you this anxious before. What happened to the authoritarian, all might and wit, untouchable Deputy Monitor, huh?"

Orchid gave that smile again and turned her head away like she didn't want to see herself amused at my jokes or anything. She took out her notepad and written down something, she passed the note to be across the table. It read:

"I'm fine. Let's go now."

"We'll take a walk, is that okay? Water all under the bridge, right? The whole fight is now history, yeah?"

Orchid nodded and stood up, both of us exited the library straight away and we were back in the long hallway. It was totally empty, just the two of us. If either of us were to be alone, we would be running for our lives, because being in here... you feel like you are being watched.

"Sure is creepy, right?" I said, totally tensed up. Orchid and I were walking closer and closer as we walked down. "Should we just take the longer route to the gardens?" It was the first I've ever seen Orchid nodded that quickly.

Orchid and I seemed breathless after we left the godforsaken hallway. We would never be going there again. Orchid and I shared a short laugh after that, it was the feeling of exploring your school late at night and expecting ghosts to appear. It was thrilling.

Orchid gave my shoulder a nudge and shove, while a clear smile was formed on her face, nothing to hide this time. "Deputy Monitor afraid of ghosts? Deputy Monitor afraid of ghosts?" I constantly teased her as she continued to pinch me by the shoulders while running around in circles, trampling the grass in the process.

Once sweat was clearly running down our faces, we sat down and took a break by the bench, both of us sitting at opposite ends of the bench because we clearly stink of salt at this point.

"So, Orchid... having fun?" She nodded both excitedly and exhausted. "Good... Good... Because I need to talk to you about something..."

Orchid's attention was fully directed at me, her breathing stopped, her beautiful eyes were now in contact with mine, this time she wasn't shy enough to look away.

"Orchid, you're scaring me with those eyes." Orchid exhaled funnily and shook her head in a mocking way. "No seriously though, we have to talk. Or I, just gotta ask you something..."

"I saw what's in your diary." Orchid's eyes opened as wide as a food can. Her brows shot up to the moon itself. It wasn't long till her expression changed from shocked to utter despair. "No-no-no I didn't read all of it!" As I pointed that out, Orchid calmed down a little, but her breathing was still rugged.

"I just want to help, alright. Because I know how you feel. I really do." I looked down at the grass, tracing my foot around, making circles and figures of eights. "I know what it's like being alone while facing with this kind of heartbreak. I went through that myself just a few days ago."

Orchid couldn't bear looking at me in the eye anymore, she was back looking aimlessly at the floor. Her face softened, her brows slowly came down. "This... person you wrote in your diary, Adam. Was he your friend?"

Expecting a nod or a shake with her head, Orchid did neither of that. She was hunched forward, her arms rubbing against her shoulders, trying to warm them. She was almost cradling herself as she swayed back and forth while sitting on the bench. "Orchid, I'm sorry I did what I did. But at least allow me to help..." Orchid suddenly stood up and started walking away. She was picking up pace, which I hurried to catch up to her, "Please, I know it means a lot to you. But just tell me, okay? Don't bottle it up. It'll only get worse."

I managed to overtake her at the front grounds of the school before the main gate. I stopped in front of Orchid, her facial expression was enigmatic. "What you did for me back there at the principal's office, I'm not just going to ignore that. You saved me. You are one in a billion. And I'm not going to let this incident with you slide. Whoever this Adam is to you, I want to resolve it with you. Believe me, I would not sleep a peaceful night until you and I work this out together. C'mon. I'm being serious here."

Orchid's head fell down and was against my chest. Her entire body was stiff, her arms were wrapped around the textbooks against her, holding them tightly. She soon started to shiver, she was soon sniffing... "Hey, hey. C'mon. Don't cry. Don't cry now... Jesus."

Cold drips of water came down to my shirt as Orchid let out her voice for the first time, she was sobbing. The posture she was trying so hard to maintain slowly broke and she was left against my chest, crying. I was annoyed at first, but seeing her cry this much all of a sudden, left me in a state of disconnect. I couldn't comprehend why she was crying, why all of this was happening.

I looked down at the sobbing Orchid who was violently shaking and was pressing against my shirt till it was all wrinkled.

Once her crying has subsided, she returned to face me. Her face was ruined with tears. She chose to ignore them, helplessly sniffing while she wrote down a note. "Hey. After seeing you pour out your feelings, I think we could help each other..." Interrupting me, she presented the note directly in front of my face:

"Please don't do that again. And stay out of trouble."

Orchid looked very down when she held it up to me. Once I took the note with my own hands, Orchid then walked away, down to the bus stop where our previous fight took place. 

#

It was finally Friday. I woke up feeling strong and ready for punishment. After cleaning myself up and changed clothes, I bathed myself in the sun with Lucky. She was, of course, flat on the floor dozing off. In fact, everyone else in the house was dozing off; My grandmama hadn't opened her eyes yet, sometimes I could not tell if she was awake or still sleeping. 

Then there was the sudden urge to use the bathroom, I kissed my grandmama's forehead as always and dashed to the bathroom door; it was locked on the inside. "Grandma! Did you accidentally locked it?" 

It was no use, I have no idea where the key for the bathroom door was hiding, nor did I ever use it before. I guess the tree outside will do...

The walk back to school was the same, the shop name Angel's Bookstore was now in front of me. More interestingly, the bright glow from the pen that was on display, the black ink pen that I've wanted to get my hands on for so long.

With a jingle of the doorbell, a warm face welcomed me as I entered the bookstore. "Bonjourno, Mista. How may I help you?" He was a tall, lean man with small eyes and wore a pair of fancy-looking glasses. He was dressed in a suit and wore a black bowtie, which blurred the lines between a butler, a waiter and a Chinese antique storeowner for me. "Are you Mr Angel, the store owner?"

"Non no! If you want to speak with the manager, I cannot do so, he is very busy at the moment. I'll let you know when you can speak to him... The debt will be paid as soon as possible, we promise."

"Debt? Do I look like a debt collector to you?"

"Well, kids can be cruel..." the man turned his head to the side and smiled cheekily. "So anyway... me respected customer... you are not here to collect your debt?"

"No, why do people just assume things like that? I'm as you say, your customer."

"Ho-ho-ho! I was just pulling your leg, Mista Hothead. But I'm not the owner, I'm his cousin, call me Mr Guy."

Whenever I hear that laugh, I could feel as though Liam would be right behind me, about to slap me on the back with his massive hands.

"Mista Customer, are you looking for something unique? Because in this store of ours, we sell the finest of books from Europe. We have our philosophy section there, as you can see, 10 whole aisles! Some are not for sale, of course."

That's like... more than half of the entire store...

"Mr Guy, I'm not here for philosophy books, to be honest, I'm not interested in philosophy at all..."

"Erm? You have never heard of Georg Hegel? Sigh... it's a shame kids these days never got to explore the wonders of the greatest of all minds... that is our own. So, Mista. What are you looking for?"

"Is that pen on display for sale?" I pointed towards it.

"Of course! It has been sitting there for quite some time. Just for you, my great respectable customer, I'll give you a discount."

"Really? That's awesome of you!"

"Minus 5% of the original price," Mr Guy winked.

"Oh."

Without a moment of waste, the case containing the black ink pen was elegantly placed into a paper bag and taped. "Here you go, Mista. You have a good eye for quality."

"Awesome. Thanks."

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking..." Mr Guy leant forward from behind the counter. "I don't normally ask this, but since we are like friends... why the pen? I don't suppose a student like yourself to be needing a pen this expensive..."

"Hey, it's none of your business, okay?

"Sorree, sorree! Mista Customer. I was just curious. Rude of me to ask."

"It looks cool, I just want it, that's it."

"Alright, alright, Mista. I understand... it's just that, I rarely get to speak with youngsters nowadays. The only customers I get are old, rich people. Who wouldn't really appreciate good customer service..."

"Cool. Whatever man. Take care."

"Bye! Do come again."

What a weird guy. I'm not sure if it's just me, but great customer service does the opposite of what it's intended to do, bring customers back...

#

"Here you go, sir. Homework," I said in a dull, uninterested voice, slamming the bulk of the book containing the many essays Mr Sebastian requested down on his desk. Knowing Mr Sebastian, he would be disappointed to see my lack of manners. From his seat, he looked at me with his elderly eyes and squinted. "I must say, I find it hard to believe," he said after clearing his throat.

Mr Sebastian quickly flipped through the pages and gave my work a quick read. "My boy," his face shot up, "Congratulations." The old man now with a little youth in his eyes extended his hand, giving me a sharp and professional handshake. "You and the girl make a good team, I suppose we make sure you both stick together more. Self-improvement is best done together than alone."

"Whatever. I just felt like finishing it, don't expect me to be like her overnight..." I shrugged. "I expect you to be better than this, my boy."

With Mr Sebastian pointing a pen at me and waving it around like a baton, I felt irritated.  "Look, sir. I did your homework. So can you cut me some slack?"

Seeing me slamming my foot against the floor, Mr Sebastian sighed. "Come, sit down..." he dragged a chair over to his side, I sat down with my face hanged down towards the concrete floor.

"I've been teaching for 40 years now. I must say that I am proud of you. You are a difficult, disobedient, roguish troublemaker... yet you still do what's right. That takes guts."

"Are you just going to give me another one of your long lectures? Because that ain't helping, sir."

With my arms crossed together tightly, I moved my head away from Mr Sebastian's direction.

"Is there something troubling you, boy? You can talk to me, I'm old and have many experiences to share."

I looked a quick look back in my teacher's direction. He looked serious yet sympathetic. "You wouldn't understand, sir. It's complicated. Teens stuff."

"Is it a girl? I wouldn't be surprised if it is. Did you... talk to her?"

"Who?"

"The deputy monitor of course. To be honest with you, boy..." Mr Sebastian removed his glasses, giving them a clean with his tie, "I'm a little surprised that she would be your type..."

I remained quiet. 

"With your rebellious attitude and your problematic ways of dealing with people, I'm just curious... why her?" Mr Sebastian cracked a smile through his wrinkled cheeks.

"No. It's just that, I don't seem to understand her. She was... mad at me yesterday. I think I did something wrong to her and I feel terribly bad for it."

Mr Sebastian gave a very small chuckle and smiled with his eyes squinted. "Girls are girls, boy. Even for my age, I still struggle to make sense of them." He now reached over and grabbed two paper cups, "Water?" I politely passed the offer.

"For a moment I was shocked, my boy... I thought youngsters like you are into... what do you call them... gamer girls? Cosplayers? And... E-girls?"

"W-What the Hell are those?"

"Oh, I thought you would know... my granddaughter on the other hand... is a huge fan of these... handsome, tall, Asian men from these... animations of sorts. Japanese animation. They even sell body pillows of them..." he gave a short chuckle. "Youngsters nowadays are so different. So, forget my rambling, you are talking about Ms Orchid, correct?"

"Yeah... And, do you know anything about her?"

"You are asking me? I thought you two are classmates?"

"We're not close at all..." 

"Hm. You people should socialise more. That's the problem I've been seeing with young people. About Orchid... she's a good student, very polite with good manners. She would greet me every morning down the hall; we both arrive very early, sometimes earlier than me!"

Mr Sebastian reached over to his desk and picked up a bright, red apple. "See this? It's from her. A very good example of a student, don't you think? She reminds me of my granddaughter too," he smiled warmly. "I think I should let them meet one day..."

"I never really noticed her in school, only till recently."

"That's because she arrived at the start of this year. She's from some other school, I don't know which one. I remember seeing her for the first time: very shy, very timid. You can tell she has accustomed to our school very quickly."

Mr Sebastian after looking out his window while reminiscing the past turned to look at me. "So what did you do to make her upset? She seems like a very straightforward young woman to me."

"I read her diary."

Mr Sebastian gave me head a quick hit with his pen. "You should not cross boundaries like that. There are boundaries. Boundaries that people cannot cross," he pointed his pen at me again. "Everyone has their secrets, some very personal. You might have broken her heart if you did. Well, did you?"

"I didn't see much of it, just some guy named Adam."

"It's not just about what you saw, the very act itself is very damaging to a person's mental health. Imagine if someone were to stalk you or read your personal history."

"Whatever, man. I'm sorry."

"You should be apologising to her, not me."

I fell quiet for a short moment to recollect my thoughts initial thoughts before Mr Sebastian bombarded me with guilt. "I just... read about a friend of hers... apparently she lost him. He had amnesia or some sort of sickness. I kinda feel bad for her and want to help her, since I know how that feels like..."

"I respect the act of nobility. But you know, sometimes we do things subconsciously, for ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, seeing you as a young man with personal problems. It's hard to share it with someone, am I correct? So, this is just my opinion, you might want to talk with Ms Orchid, not because you want to help her, but because you needed someone to talk to."

"No, sir. I genuinely want to help her. Okay? It's nothing like I want to force her to be my friend or..."

"I understand. I think you two make quite a pair, actually. One doesn't speak and the other has a big mouth."

"Shut up. You make the worst of jokes."

"I thought you were the one who loves jokes."

I exhaled with a flaming breath, my foot tapping constantly against the floor.

"Don't worry too much, my boy. I'm sure she is grateful to have a friend who understands her. Be sure to talk it out with her and be honest. I was honest with you and managed to establish a mutual understanding, correct? Just do the same, and everything will work out," Mr Sebastian reached out a hand and gave me another handshake.

"By the way, sir. Do gifts work?"

"Gifts? What gifts?"

"I got a gift for her to make her feel better."

"Ah, that's wonderful. What's in it?"

I passed the paper bag to Mr Sebastian and he gave its contents a look. "A pen? Why a pen? Does she like... black, ink pens? Sounds like something I would have wanted."

"Well, if she hates it. I could give it to you."

Mr Sebastian gave a rough chuckle. "Next time, try a rose. Or some chocolate. It worked for me and my wife."

#

Class soon resumed, it was Maths class with Mrs Kennedy (famously known as Mr Mason Kennedy's mom, poor thing) 

"Class! Apparently, our friend Michael here still doesn't understand the basic rules of trigonometry. May someone please volunteer to help him?" Ms Kennedy scouted across the classroom. 

"Screw, Maths. I think it's useless..."

"I know, Mr Moore. But this is important for your future, for your own success!"

"Blah, blah, blah," Michael groaned as if she was his own mother herself. "Mason! Come help your friend here."

The class roared with laughter. "Why me..." Mason whispered to himself.

Ms Kennedy's class was always fun. That's why Maths is one of the only subjects I could excel at. While the circus show between the teacher and the two was going on, I still can't stop thinking about what happened yesterday. She was so emotional and soon after pretended that nothing had happened. Are girls really this weird? I doubt Orchid is.

"Hey," a familiar voice called out from behind me. It was a very rough and tired voice, his hand held a folded note and was tapping it against my shoulder. "Jonathan? What is it?"

"Don't call me that," said Johnny. "From Orchid." As he passed the note to me, he quickly left. "Wait, you okay man? You look terrible."

"I'm fine."

Johnny looked pissed. His eyes were a mix of purple and grey and walked as though someone kicked him in the back. It's hard seeing the coolheaded Johnny looking like he had lost a huge bet. I hope it's not because of the 'drugs' Mason mentioned to me that day.

I inspected the note and took a glance at Orchid, she was focusing in class. "This is from her?" I thought. Normally, she would anticipate my reaction when reading it. But Orchid? She's either totally unreadable or this is something serious... I steeled myself and unfolded the piece of paper:

"See me during recess, we have to talk."

After a long-waited half an hour, the bell for recess rang. "Okay, class. Remember your homework, due tomorrow, okay?" reminded Mrs Kennedy to the class. Everyone was up and running with their friends outside. Most of them discussed what to eat, the TV shows they just finished yesterday night... My anxious self was the odd one out, I stood still while awaiting Orchid who turned to me from her seat and gave a nod.

"Orchid, is this about yesterday?" I asked while trying my best to follow her through the crowd. I squeezed through the many students that gathered outside of their class, moving past people who looked at the both of us suspiciously. "Look, it's those two," one of them said.

"Hey." A hand suddenly grabbed my arm from my back. "You lookin' for trouble again?" It was the same senior from that day at the canteen, he was with his gang of untucked T-shirts, loose ties and leather belts. "No, it's nothing," I said without a second thought and pulled my hand back to me while making sure I don't drop the paper bag containing the black ink pen. "You don't want to talk?" I heard him speak as I walked away.

I sweated a little whenever I was reminded of what I'm about to do because I swear... finding the right time to present this to her would be harder than getting along with Michael.

While trying to catch up to her, apparently losing her for a short while. Orchid sudden took my hand and pulled me to a sharp turn towards the empty stairs. We went up the first, then the second, all the way till the top floor.

Up there was quiet, empty and filled with classes that were unused. 

The soft wind and the blue sky was the only thing that stood out being here. We could see the entire town from up here. Even with the bright view of the many trees and residential buildings, there was a tinge of creepiness with all the dusty, abandoned classrooms with all the cobwebs and spiders dangling from the ceiling. There was even a long hallway, dark and eerily clean stretched in front of us.

I looked at Orchid who panted heavily after walking up the stairs in such an urgent matter. I find it funny how the untouchable deputy monitor is now in a state of exhaustion. "You can have me carry you up the stairs next time."

Orchid brushed off her skirt, she looked a little intense, she gave a look which I hoped not to see again. "Fine, I'm sorry," I said to her. Orchid simply gave a little shrug and shook her head. She then reached into her breast pocket and took out a note, opened it and gave it to me. It appears that she had written this during Maths class. It read:

"I want you to be serious, please. Tell me, have you met anyone strange recently?"

"Strange?" I said aloud after reading it. "I think the strangest person I've met is you, Orchid." I gave a chuckle. But Orchid wasn't into it. She kept looking at me, with those same concerned eyes. "Fine, I'll be serious. Sure, I've met a few loony guys. Why? Is this the only reason you brought me up here?"

In contrast to my carefree self around Orchid, who was quiet, serious... disturbed... It was as if she had a shell that was impossible to break, no matter how many attempts I tried to make her laugh. Now I feel defeated, ashamed. 

I truly thought that I would finally understand her. I know deep down Orchid is someone completely different, but the more I try to bring that side out of her, I lose confidence. Orchid and I may not have that much in common after all...

Orchid gave a sharp nod. There was no other reason, she had brought me up here just to spill out random questions. "Why? This is so unnecessary..." I gave out a long sigh. "You know, I thought we were gonna have a friendly conversation or time to get to know each other... I even planned to hang out at the library that day because I wanted to talk. I just don't get you, Orchid!"

Orchid's arms dropped for a bit. Her body shook for a short moment. For once, she looked human. "Yeah, see this? This is for you. Since you were always using that god-awful pencil that's barely even an inch long."

Orchid, with the paper bag in her hands, inspected it and was a little surprised at my gift for her. "It's a pen, so you don't have to use that rubbish pencil anymore. See, even your handwriting on this paper is terrible because of it."

Just for a short moment, Orchid gave a little smile as she was looking into the paper bag. One which I was relieved to see. I quickly noticed this feeling: hope. Of all the terrible moments I've been forced to go through. From the breakup with Rosie to being humiliated in front of the whole school many times before... I felt a sense of satisfaction to see Orchid, someone who in my opinion is difficult to talk with, tough to understand, troublesome to be around... feel happy for once. Someone who is troublesome and difficult to talk with... that sounds a little like me, don't you think?

"Here, I'll open it up so you can try it out."

Orchid, with her shoulders still stiff as a board, looked a little calmer now.

"Here," I passed the pen back to Orchid, she was apparently happy at it. She inspected, twirled it around, spun it a little. "I... hope we are on good terms now."

If only... if only Orchid could talk, this conversation would be much better. I felt a little tired trying to read her, trying to speak the right words. 

Seeing Orchid, who has to write down whatever she needs to say... To think being a mute have to be this tough... to think being unable to speak would make any conversation so difficult to follow. 

I do feel bad for her because I was the one who always complained about not having any real friends. To her, I could very well be the only person Orchid could talk to in Weststar.

"Again, Orchid. Why did you bring me up here to ask that weird question? Why are you asking me this? Who's strange?" 

Orchid's warm smile quickly disappeared when she looked away from the pen and back up to me. 

Orchid, now looking a lot more serious than before, wrote another message again with her new pen. This was already a strange question coming from Orchid, but I doubt it was anything real serious...

After she stopped writing, she passed the note she wrote on to me. To be honest, I would never believe that Orchid would ask an even stranger question than the last:

"Has anyone asked for your name yet?"

"What? Orchid, you must be joking. What does this even mean?" Orchid's eyes gave a feeling of discomfort, she was dead serious at asking me this question. The only thing that was in my head was, "What on Earth is she even asking?"

A dark cloud was soon approaching, the skies were soon turning dark. The sound of birds chirping stopped, and what followed was a flock of birds fleeing from the school trees. A freezing breeze suddenly flew by both of us. Soon, there was a rumble of distant thunder.

"No... Orchid. I honestly can't take this seriously anymore. You know what? I give up. I do! I don't get you, at all. I really tried. Maybe you are really just insane like I thought you were before."

Orchid eyes darkened, she took her pen and wrote one last question. One that shook me to the core:

"Then, what is your name?"

"My name? Finally, a simple question." I chuckled out loud, Orchid's brows raised. "I wasn't expecting you to ask me such a normal question. Like... you're supposed to ask me this when we first meet each other. Well, forget that!"

Clearly, Orchid wasn't amused. In fact, she was leaning closer to me. Almost as if she was desperately waiting for my answer.

"Fine. Allow me to entertain you, miss. Let's see, my name... it's easy... my name is..." 

Huh, I had this weird feeling in my brain. It was like my brain just stopped working. The name was just on the tip of my tongue before it faded away, over and over again.

"Haha. I guess I got a little nervous whenever I talk to you... with your scary look even for such a cute girl like yourself. Let's see..." I gulped. Something was definitely wrong, I fidgeted my fingers as I try to answer the most simple question ever asked to man. "Orchid, you asked for my name. Yes? (She quickly nodded) Of course, yeah, it's easy... it's..."

The wind was now colder than ever, a dark cloud loomed across the sky. The ground started to tremble from a mighty thunderstruck from the mountains far away.

I suddenly felt a sudden panic and was now breathing funny. The air around me felt thin, my head was heavier than before and I now struggled to see things clearly. I violently scratched my head, twisting and pulling my hair. "My name..." I spoke in a rough voice.

"Orchid, why do I suddenly feel so scared?" I said while squatting on the floor. Orchid too squatted down beside me. "Orchid, why can't I remember my name? Why didn't I hear my name from anyone at all?"

"You don't remember?"

She wrote her message down on her palm. "NO! I don't! Who the Hell am I? What is going on here?" I violently scratched my head.

Orchid placed her hand on my chest trying to calm me down, but all I could feel is the strong thuds of my heart beating repeatedly. It felt like it was about to explode. "Orchid... please. Please, I'm begging you. What is going on here? Why don't I have a name?"

Orchid wrote on her hand again, after reading what she had to say. I felt like I was in another person's body. I suddenly felt like I lost sense of reality. I felt like I didn't belong here on Earth. I was suddenly disconnected from the world. Looking back, it was obvious. My name was never mentioned once at all! 

Thousands upon thousands of questioned flooded my head as I read the next three words she had written on her hand. My panic stopped, my breathing stopped, everything just stopped. I was only left to stare into those three words.

"You are Adam."