Waking Up
Introduction
I woke up to the sound of blasting air and freezing winds. Ice bit at my face like piranhas swarming around a dead salmon. I couldn't feel my fingers and toes, but looking at them I could tell they weren't frostbitten. Yet. Around me were towering pine trees, waving through the wind as if taunting me.
"What is my name?" I said this in a cracking voice, one that hadn't been used in a long time.
This was the question posed to me, and for some reason, I could not answer it. Martin? Jordan? Mark? James? George? Bob?
Nope, not a single one of these.
A flash of memory came back.
Surrounded by a deep, dark nothingness, I look around. Nothing. Not even the glimmer of morning. Slowly, the ground around me transformed into a wooden cabin. Outside it was freezing cold, as a blizzard had seemingly just swept in. Suddenly, my heart stopped. Two glowing eyes were at the edge of the field outside. They got closer, until the white light almost blinded me. The door opened, and a gust of freezing cold wind enveloped me.
I snapped out of it. To make sure I was still awake, I slapped my face a few times, and pinched myself for good measure.
I'd be staying awake for awhile now.
I tried to remember survival rules.
Oh, right! If I'd learned anything from advertisements...
"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!"
Nothing.
No one likes you, false advertising! I thought. Alright, now there was something about finding shelter, then water, then food. But the very, VERY first rule is be aware of my surroundings. Try to find any immediate dangers.
I didn't know where this voice was coming from, but I decided to blame it on my brain. I looked around, seeing myself in a clearing surrounded by tall, thick pine trees, still waving in the wind.
Stupid pine trees.
In anger, I walked up to one and punched it.
To my total and utter surprise, it popped out and landed in my hand.
What the...?
I tried it with the next "block" up, and then realized something. Around me, there were blocks. Almost-invisible lines of grey were surrounding cubes of terrain, and if I punched them, they popped out.
Cool.
Then an idea clicked in my head.
My fingers moved faster than the speed of light as I worked, assembling a backpack out of some wooden materials, a little plastic in my pocket, and a piece of cardboard I found lying in the snow. I sat in awe at my creation.
Something is definitely wrong here.
I slowly took the backpack and slipped it onto my back, somehow fitting the wooden chunks in there and leaving plenty of room to spare. I collected a little bit more wood, and decided to move on in search for food. To my total and utter surprise, it was already getting dark out.
I set off on a journey.
After a while, traveling in between, over, and sometimes under trees, I'd hear noises. The clicking of bones, a moan from somewhere off in the distance, hissing noises... I began to walk faster, praying that nothing found me.
Soon I was at a dead sprint. As the night got darker, the sounds got louder. The moaning seemed to be following me. I was terrified.
Finally, I cleared the trees... into a desert.
The moaning stopped. The clicking stopped. Even the hissing lessened.
I stood in absolute shock. A desert? Here? Right next to a freaking snow-covered forest?
Where was I?
I glanced behind me. Nothing. Just the snow-covered trees billowing in the wind that had just previously been freezing my face off.
Speaking of wind, now it was hot, stinging my face and eyes with tiny pieces of sand and pebbles. Surrounding me, scattered across the desert, were hundreds upon hundreds of cactuses. Seriously. One was even spiking in between two trees.
Weird.
I have to admit I was frightened. Wherever I was, it wasn't Earth, or anywhere near it. I was surrounded by what appeared to be a...
A video game.
That's it!
My mother called out to me.
"_!"
"Yeah, Mom?"
"Get off that Minelaughed game or whatever. Supper's ready!"
"Mom, I'm staff on a server! If I leave now they'll ki-"
"_!"
"Alright, fine."
I look at the screen. I'm surrounded by cactuses and snow-covered trees. Opening my inventory screen, I quickly crafted a crafting table and paused the game.
I was in a video game! Somehow I was sucked in. I had no idea how this had happened. But, nonetheless, my Mom must be frantic by now.
Another weird thing... I couldn't remember my name. No matter what I did, it always muted itself out, like a TV with the volume down a few notches.
God, that was aggravating.
My eyelids began to droop. Made sense. I'd been awake for almost 24 hours now, if it had been day and night. I lay down on the sand, and began to dream.