"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnk." I sit up, shaking dirt out of my hair. Oh, right. The past comes flooding back to me. Sending Wheatley to the moon, passing out, GLaDOS tossing me into the elevator... what else?
A small chirping noise comes from the metal door, jolting me out of my daydream.
I stand up and look around. Just grass in every direction. I hear a clinking noise and look down, and my eyes rest on a metal bottle. At least GLaDOS was generous enough to leave me water. I open it and inspect the lid, checking for any poisons or hidden turrets. Instead, I find a note, etched into the metal. It isn't poisoned. If I wanted to poison you, I would have done that a long time ago.
I laugh quietly despite the circumstances and take a gulp of the water, swishing it around in my mouth.
I walk slowly over to the metal room that I got tossed out of and run my fingers along the cool, smooth metal.
"Goodbye, GLaDOS."
The words leave my mouth before I even think about saying them. I pick up the bottle and the cube with the portal gun and start hiking foward, the yellow grass crunching under my feet.
The sun is starting to go down, and I still can't see much. There's an old, wooden house, but it looks like it's occupied, and anyway I don't think they'd welcome in a stranger carrying a metal cube and a tube using a strange looking gun.
I knock anyway.
The door swings open and a small child opens it.
"Who are you?" she asks. I tilt my head to the side as I realize I can't speak. I don't know if it's brain damage or simply not talking for so long, but I can't remember how.
"Mommy, there's a stranger at the door! She isn't talking to me. That's ruuuuuuuuuuuude."
"Sophie, what did I tell you about strangers? Wait for me to come first."
"Fine." Sophie stares up at me, curious, and a woman, probably her mother, walks over to us.
"Can I help you?" she asks. I stare at her, trying to remember how to talk.
"H... he...hello?" It comes out a question, but the woman doesn't seem to care.
"Why're you talking like that?" asks the girl, tilting her head to the side like a confused puppy.
"I can't..." I start to try to explain, but it doesn't work. My brain and my mouth aren't working right. I guess it is brain damage. "Looking... for..." I squint, trying to remember the right word. "Town?"
The woman nods.
"Keep going north. You'll get there eventually." I nod, turn around, and sprint away. That was... awkward, and that's putting it mildly.
I look up and see the moon. Night already? I sigh and go north like the woman said. At least my directional senses still work.
Eventually I reach what I guess is a town, with houses on either side of a road. I don't recognize anything, but I don't know why I'm surprised. It's funny, I thought that maybe I would remember something, like living here, or what my parents looked like. Wishful thinking, I guess.
I curl up on a park bench for the night, sitting the cube and gun on the ground. Hopefully no one will notice me, as I don't want to have to attempt at another conversation.
"HEY, WAKE UP!" I groggily open my eyes to see... a stranger. Of course. Just my luck. Brown hair falls over his face, and his pale blue eyes are darting around warily. "Why would someone who works at AS be on a bench in the middle of nowhere?" It takes me a minute to realize that he means Aperture Science. He must have seen the companion cube.
"I work there, and I'm going to work now. You know, GLaDOS is NOT going to be pleased if you're late." I guess he isn't a test subject, then. He would live in the building. "Well, bye, I guess. Have fun being killed. I tried."
He's weird.
On a whim, I get up and follow him, dragging the cube with the gun. It may not be sentient, but I'm not leaving it behind. I bet it looks weird. A strange, malnourished girl dragging a white box using a gun. No one sees me though, I guess it's early enough in the morning that no one is outside.
"Change your mind? Good. We'll be there in a moment." I follow him back to the metal house. I thought no one could get in through that, I think, but I don't say anything.
He presses his hand to the metal, and it opens with a clang. Oh. He doesn't say anything, so I guess this is normal for him. We stand in silence inside the elevator, until a dinging noise sounds and the doors swing open.
"YOU." I jump and spin around to see GLaDOS, staring straight at us.
"Wh... what?" asks the man.
"And I thought that eyeball guy was a moron," she mumbles. "Not you! Go build your bridge!" The man scurries away, leaving just me and GLaDOS in the room. I back away towards the elevator, expecting a fireball or something, but nothing comes. Instead, GLaDOS just looks at me. "Why are you back, Chell?" she asks.
"I... uh..." I say, then shake my head.
"Come to kill me for a third time?" I shake my head again. "Look. I don't understand what you're doing, but if you could speak right now, that would be helpful." She looks up at the ceiling, and a small object drops from a panel. Does she just have panels in the ceiling everywhere with everything she could ever need? I think. "Take the Aperture Science Weighted Keyboard. It'll do the talking for you."
I pick up the keyboard. My hands hover over it, and for a moment I wonder how I know how to spell. Then I write, Hi, GLaDOS.
"Hi, GLaDOS," says the computer.
"Hello, Chell," GLaDOS says quietly.
"I don't know why I'm here," I type.
"Rude. You're here because you missed me, obviously." GLaDOS laughs, which is something I never thought I'd hear. I laugh too.
"Did you really delete Caroline?" I type. I hope I'm not pushing my luck, but I really want to know.
"No," she says. I feel like I should be surprised, but a part of me knows that she wouldn't really do that.
"What did you do, then?"
"Nothing, haha. I just felt like lying."
"Oh." I sit down on the floor and shoot a portal at the wall, suddenly dazed.
"You want me to bring back the moron, don't you?" she asks bitterly. I actually hadn't thought about that, but I guess it's possible.
"Sure," I type. Obviously she can't, but I swear if she could GLaDOS would have rolled her eyes.
"That's like if I... well, I guess I didn't kill you when you murdered me twice. Never mind."
"What?"
"That would be like when I saved you after you tried to murder me. It would be stupid, and ridiculous, and unrealistic, but it happened anyway."
"Then... will you bring him back?"
"If you let me kill him."
"NO!"
"Fine. Can I at least threaten to kill him?"
"I guess." I think that's the best deal she's going to give me.
"Alright, fine. Push that button over there."
"It's that easy?"
"Well, yeah, since he's supposed to be here. That'll just put him back where he was programmed to go." I walk over to the button, considering. I look up a GLaDOS, then back at the button. Then I press it with a loud click, and I hear a whirring noise. There's a clanging noise as Wheatley hits the ground and stares up at me.
"Hey, Wheatley. I think GLaDOS is going to threaten you now."
"Well don't SAY that!" says GLaDOS.
"Why am I back here?" asks Wheatley.
"It's... hard to explain."
MORE COMING IN CHAPTER 2!