THE NEW WORLD

Alex woke to the sound of distant chatter and the tapping of feet against a sidewalk. For a second, he could only hear that constant tap of shoes before his senses sharpened and he could begin to smell something so putrid that he just about threw up right then and there. His vision took the longest to focus but when it did, he knew something wasn't right. The alley he was in was not the one he was in now, that much was clear, even from his position on the ground. There were no large blue bins nor silver doors that led to this alley. Had someone moved him? Did he get kidnapped?

Standing carefully, noting the soreness in his muscles, he began to look around. Besides the nasty odor and squeaking of rats, he really couldn't tell where he was. The clouds in the sky looked ready to burst any second and Alex did not want to be caught in the rain again. Actually, his clothes weren't wet at all. Alex patted himself, wondering it perhaps his senses were still out of whack. Wasn't he just in the rain a second ago? How were his clothes not wet? Maybe he should call his brother.

He quickly checked for all his possessions, finding his phone and--luckily--his packet of double stuffed oreos. He turned on his phone, the bright screen upsetting his sensitive eyes but he could clearly make out the tiny x on the bars logo at the top of his screen. So calling for help was out of the question. This day was just getting worse and worse, wasn't it? He stood helplessly for a moment before deciding that he might as well figure out where he was. Alex pressed himself to the wall and carefully peeked around the corner, making sure to stick close to the shadows.

"What the frick-frack snick-snack am I high on!?" Everywhere he looked, Alex saw men and women dressed like they had just stepped out of Downton Abbey. And most importantly, they were all ANIMATED! Was this some sort of prank? Did his brother set him up? But his brother wasn't the type to set all this up for a good laugh. Caz would have just thrown cold water at him while he was still in bed.

'Wait. If everyone else is animated, then that must mean...'

Looking down at his hands, he noticed that all the creases in his skin were gone. He gingerly touched his face and was surprised when his fingers slid against its smooth surface. No imperfections. How could he have missed this sort of detail? Did that mean that all the acne he struggled with throughout his life just suddenly vanished? He wondered if that meant he didn't have any body hair.

'No! Come on Alex, this isn't the time to mess around. I need to find out where I am. Jesus, everyone looks so classy it's starting to make me feel like trash. That isn't new though...'

After that thought, Alex retreated back into the safety of the shadows. God, he sounded like some sort of cartoon vigilante who likes to hang out with chiroptera for fun. Well, now he really was a cartoon. Anyway, he had to come up with a plan to not stand out amongst everyone. By the looks of it, the men here seemed to wear either very proper or plain clothing. Why there was no in between was beyond him. He surely would stand out in his faded black skinny jeans, blue sweater and beat up Vans. So it was either snatch one of these men off the street, knock them out, then strip them to blend in or just wait until night time when less people were around. Commit several crimes or just wait it out.

Really there was only one answer.

The rhythmic tapping of feet nearing the alley alerted him and Alex carefully listened until the footfalls were close enough to the mouth of the dark alley before sticking his arms out and pulling hard at the coat of the passerby. The man stumbled and fell to the ground with a grunt, head hitting the pavement with a harsh sound. The man simply groaned once before quieting down. Alex crouched near the strangers head, sticking his fingers to the man's neck, hoping he hadn't just killed someone. The pulse thumped against his fingertips and Alex smiled before standing and looking over the man's clothes.

"His shoes look nice, guess he'll do."

He would say one thing, this man wore too much clothing. Did people really need that many layers? What were they worried about? Freezing to death? He opted just to wear the white button up, trousers and suspenders since everything else was useless. The man wore a waistcoat, overcoat and then a damn cape thing over it. What if you had to run from a murder? You'd be too heavy with all that clothing.

However, the man must have had some money since none of his clothing looked like they had seen a speck of dirt or wear and tear at all. The fabric was ironed and not a single wrinkle could be found. His fancy looking pocket watch could probably catch a pretty penny too. But while Alex was--technically a thief--he wasn't going to deprive the poor man of his valuables like that. God was clearly angry enough at him to cast him in...whatever the hell this was. His phone was his best option at this point, if he got to a place with bars. Maybe if he wandered about, he'd get enough to make a call.

Although he had to admit, he really didn't want to go out in public. While his plan to blend in was quite ingenious--it really was--he forgot to factor in how the clothes would look on him. The pants and shirt had been too long, multiple folds had to be made in order for him to walk properly and to see his hands. One of the suspenders kept falling down his shoulder and the shoes were absolutely enormous. He felt like a child drowning in their parents' clothing. And while he didn't care what others thought--he didn't want to stand out in such an unfamiliar area. It was probably best if he stayed put until sunset.

He turned to the man currently lying on the floor.

"Guess I didn't need your clothes then…"

Once the sun had set, Alex folded up his clothes, grabbed his other belongings and left the alley. The man had been shifting a couple minutes beforehand so he must have been fine. Hopefully. He did kind of hit the ground a bit hard. Maybe he would think he got drunk or something then passed out in a random alley and had somehow lost his shirt, pants, shoes and suspenders. A guy could only dream.

The night wasn't too cold, but the slight breeze was enough to send a chill up his spine. The clouds from before did not produce any rain so he wasn't trudging through the icy water. Alex begrudgingly thanked the man upstairs for that. This would have been a lot harder if he had to move about soaked to the bone. Not that he knew where he was moving to exactly. There were no familiar landmarks, his phone didn't work and his social anxiety was getting in the way of actually asking someone for help. The good thing about his hesitancy to talk to people was that he got to observe his surroundings more. While the clothing was really the most peculiar thing (minus being animated), looking like something out of the 1880-90s, the people also spoke in English accents. The buildings were made of brick, the air quality sucked, horses were pulling a bus and few carriages rolled by. Few people wandered the street and if they did, they walked with purpose.

Suddenly, his stomach began to churn uncomfortably. It was all fun and games until night time rolled around and someone decided to kill him for the heck of it. He didn't have a place to stay and the deeply engraved fear of being out on the street at night made his mind picture all sorts of scenarios that only ended in his death. Damn his stupid brain for being so negative.

In the end, Alex had no choice but to walk. He really didn't know where the hell he was walking too but, at the very least, he was going somewhere. Whether that would lead him into more trouble, Alex didn't know nor did he care to think about it at the moment. He pulled out his phone and turned it on, only to sigh as the bar logo at the top still had a small x on it. He quickly unlocked his phone and, though he knew it was useless, attempted to call his brother. The phone didn't ring and instead went straight to Caz's annoying voicemail.

"I am currently unavailable. Please leave your message after the beep. Unless you're Alex asking me to buy the latest anime merch. The answer is still no!"

What a dick.

"Hey Caz, it's me. Uh...I don't...man I don't even know where to start. Something happened and I think I'm going crazy so...yeah. Call me when you get this." He ended the call and sighed heavily. Suddenly, he felt so tired. The day had been trying. From the rain, to the weird sinking cement, waking up somewhere strange, finding out you're a cartoon and knocking a man out, Alex just wanted to close his eyes and forget. When he tried, his eyes became warm and tears pricked his eyelids and threatened to fall. Crap, why was he getting so emotional now? Everything was fine, he was going to be fine. He would be fine. Maybe if he repeated it, this would all go away. Maybe he would wake up from this dream and be back in his room.

"It's okay...It's fine, e-everything i-is-" A sob escaped him in the middle of his mantra and suddenly, those tears decided to fall. How embarrassing. He wasn't a five year old anymore and crying over this wasn't going to help his situation. But his tear ducts decided they wanted to release all of the stress his mind had been in. He was grateful that no one was on his side of the street, his sobs were harsh and raspy. Alex was also sure that his face was now blotchy red from the tears. No one needed that image.

He wasn't sure when he had stopped crying. However, when he did, a house greeted him. It was rather large, surrounded by trees and a large black gate. The concrete had turned into dirt at some point and the houses were much farther apart than from where he had started. Alex was tired, hungry, his head hurt and all he wanted to do was sleep. He dragged himself towards the side of the house, where the shrubbery grew closer together yet the trees were a bit further back, and threw himself onto the grass. He used his old clothes as a pillow and gently laid his head against it before looking up at the sky. Few stars could be seen littering the sky--pollution possibly--but the moon shone in their place. It had a gentle glow that, after a while, began to lull him to sleep. As his eyes became heavier and heavier, he wondered about a line he had heard once and wondered if it was true.

"Aprende de la luna, que aunque se encuentre sola, nunca deja de brillar." - Unknown

A/N: If someone knows who the quote belongs to, please tell me so I can give them credit. I just put the quote there because I saw it while browsing and thought it was pretty. Sorry about that.

Translation: Learn from the moon, even if it is alone, it never stops shining.