Hi all! So, after having only published one chapter on here before, I decided I wanted to try again, and commit this time. I must warn you, this story will probably be sad, and may also be awkward to read at first. As you will soon find out, the main character has no idea who she is, and you as the reader will only know as much as she knows. I know it can kind of get repetitive for me to say "She" and "The girl" so much, but hopefully you can get used to it. Also, I know that not much happens in this chapter, and it might be slow for a bit before it picks up. Let me know if you like my writing style, or the story premise, or if you think that I shouldn't bother continuing. Otherwise, enjoy!
"Mmmm…" The girl hummed as she slowly woke up and blinked open her eyes. She observed that it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and there were clouds in the sky.
Which was weird. Why could she see clouds? Was she outside? She was very confused. She tried to get oriented, and looked down to find that she was on a bench. How did she come to be on a bench? Where was she? She tried to piece these things together, thinking through everything she knew about her current situation. Her heart started to beat a little bit faster as she realized that she didn't know much. To her own shock, she realized that she didn't even know who she was.
What had happened to her to make her lose her memories and end up alone on a bench? The girl was very aware that something was wrong, but sitting on a bench doing nothing wouldn't get her anywhere. She stood up, and looked around. It appeared as though she was on a boardwalk, by the beach. "There's the ocean!" she thought, and she was proud for remembering what the ocean was, at the very least. She decided to start walking to try to get her bearings. Maybe people here knew her, and could help her out? There was a decent amount of people walking around the boardwalk that she could see, but they all seem involved in their own activities.
She decided her best bet would be trying to find a storeowner, because they might know if she was a local. She was very proud of this decision, as it meant she still retained some knowledge, even if she had no idea who she was. She walked for a few minutes, until she came upon a clothing shop. Before she entered, the girl looked down to make sure she was actually wearing clothing (she was), because for all she knew it had disappeared along with her memories. The shop smelled nice to her, like flowers (she remembered what flowers were!), and it was empty save for the young woman behind the counter.
Glad that there were no other people in the shop while she was in such a vulnerable state, the girl approached the young woman, who she guessed was the salesperson. Timidly, she spoke. "Um, hi. I was wondering if you knew who I was?"
The salesgirl tilted her head and blinked at her. "Should I know who you are?" she asked.
Dejected, the girl sighed. "No, but I was hoping you might. I can't seem to remember anything about myself, and I just woke up on a bench by the boardwalk. I was hoping I lived here and someone might know me?"
The salesgirl, whose nametag read "Nina", gave her a concerned look. "Have you been doing drugs?" She was suspicious, the girl realized.
"I don't… well, I don't know. But I don't think so. I don't think I was the type of person to do drugs. But then again, I have no idea what type of person I am. Are you sure you've never seen me before?" The girl questioned hopefully. She realized it was a bit absurd, but she had nothing to go off of.
Nina huffed, clearly annoyed. "Look, this is a very popular tourist destination, and a lot of people come through, so I don't make it a point to memorize every face I come across. Have you checked your pockets for any identifying information? Do you have a wallet?"
The girl lit up. She hadn't even thought to check if she had a wallet! She was glad to have picked someone as smart as Nina to talk to. Looking down, the girl realized she was wearing jeans. She reached her hands in both of her pockets. Her left pocket returned a tissue, and her right pocket had a folded up scrap of paper in it. She turned to Nina, excited, and said, "No, I don't have a wallet, but I have a piece of paper! Maybe it has something important on it!" She was hopeful as she unfolded it, but frowned as she read its contents. All it said was "I'm sorry", handwritten in black ink. Was it her handwriting? "Do you recognize this handwriting?" she asked Nina.
Nina was exasperated. Something was clearly wrong with this girl, especially because she kept asking Nina things that were impossible for her to answer. She sighed, trying to be patient with this girl who clearly had little grip on reality. "No, I'm sorry, I don't. I really can't help you. I wish I could, but I don't know you. If you would like to buy clothes, I could help you then. But otherwise, I can't help you."
The girl seemed to deflate a bit. She looked up at Nina with eyes that conveyed the emptiness she was feeling. "Well, thanks then. I guess… I guess I'll just keep walking." She turned to the door, but stopped. She realized she had never asked where she was. "Nina, wait! I never even asked, but where are we right now?"
Slightly fed up with the strange girl asking her odd questions, Nina just pointed to the brightly colored sign that faced her shop from the boardwalk. The girl followed where Nina was pointing, until she wound up in front of a large sign that read, "Santa Carla Boardwalk".
The girl repeated the words in her mind. "Santa Carla… Santa Carla… Do I know that? Am I from Santa Carla?" she wondered. She decided that even if she wasn't from here, she was here now. She added that fact to the very small list of things she knew for sure, which only made her feel upset. How could she know so little about what was going on? She needed to know more, and to do that, she decided to go back to the bench where she had first found herself.