(My first fanfic- please enjoy!)

Chapter 1: Confusion

I wasn't sure if it was the beginning or the end. Some logical corner of my brain told me that I was thinking, almost coherent, so it couldn't be the end, could it? But it sure as hell didn't feel like the end. Wasn't the end supposed to hurt? I searched the blackness for any part of me that pain. I came up blank.

This made me curious; where were my limbs? Where was anything? Where was I? Arrgh! I was so confused. I needed to calm down, to think logically. Question one: how did I get here? Easy enough; I'd fallen. But how could I fall, with no body? This was so unfair! I wasn't made to think like this. Maybe I should put more effort into the "calm" part. I was probably too riled up to think straight. Huh, riled up. That rang a bell. Riled up, riled… Riley!

In a split second, the whole world spun into focus. Of course it wasn't the end. Of course. I was unconscious. Ah, Riley. I still couldn't find my eyes or lips to tell him my epiphany. That wasn't too good. I called out in my head for this name, this person. Maybe he could help. Then again, if he was like me, could he do anything?

Sighing (or at least the mental equivalent of a sigh), I realized that I didn't believe the answer was no. If I was being honest (which was really a moot point considering the circumstances I was in), I wanted more than anything to have another head, a voice, something, in my half-crazy mind. How pathetic. Then again, if I was really stuck in here, was it too much to ask for a little company?

I sighed again. Maybe I was wrong. What if I was in a coma? Wow, that would really stink. But weren't you supposed to hear voices when you were in a coma? I didn't hear anything. There was probably something wrong with my brain. Another sigh.

That sharp focus I had felt accompanying Riley's name was fading. More than that, it was dying. I chanted the name in my head, desperate to find the same strange, epiphany-like nostalgia that had made me see sense before. Nothing happened.

A sudden fierce wave of emotion came with this fact. First, I was angry. Who was this person, this Riley, who had given me so much hope and insight, just to pull it all out from under me? Then, frustration; was I so weak that I couldn't even claim my own body without the help of some untrustworthy name, which didn't even work? Next, worry; what if I couldn't pull out of this blindness? What would that do to those I had known and loved in another, less confusing world? What would that do to Riley? Another bout of anger and frustration came with his name, but also a surrendered wave of despair, for I knew I couldn't stay mad at him for long. That was confusing. Why couldn't I hate him?

After that was over, I waited for a second to make completely sure that all of the emotions had run their course. I hadn't been expecting that. Emotions were so much stronger when you didn't have the other five senses to balance them out.

The worry did capture my attention, though. The need to find a way out of this blackness suddenly was my number one priority. Riley had very nearly done it, but not quite. What I needed now was another name, a stronger one. One that would never leave me, dead or alive, unconscious or not. There had to have been someone like that before all this. I thought as hard as I could, searching for the name that was my ticket out of this mess.

Then, with a ringing clarity, my thoughts came together. My limbs fell into place around my torso, my eyes, lips, ears, and nose finding their way onto my face. There was no epiphany this time, just the sense that this clarity had always been there, waiting or the name that was the key to unlock the door it hid behind. Now, that door swung wide open, and the senses that came with it were dizzying. They filled up every corner of my mind.

The air around me (my body, not just the confines of my mind anymore) had a slightly metallic taste to it, like rain, though I didn't feel any drops. I was lying on what felt like a patch of damp earth. Judging by the dull ache I my back, I had been laying there for a while. The air smelled like pine and maple. As if to ascertain my luck was real, my eyes snapped open to show me the rocky roof of a small cave.

"Charlotte," I breathed.