"Hey. Hey guys! I think she's coming to," was the sound that pierced my brain. The surface I laid on now was much harder, more solid. It took me a moment to remember what was going on. The only memory in my brain however, was the way in which I arrived here. There was nothing else. My fluttering eyelids opened in shock, and I was bombarded by color and light, something I had never experienced before. For the first second everything was blended together, and I couldn't tell the difference between one thing and the next. As it cleared however, I began to notice distinct shapes, and shapes within those shapes. The closest ones to me were two heads, their eyes both looking down at me. One had long red hair and the other had shorter, spiky brown. Their structures were somehow different, although it was difficult for me to tell how.
"Are you alright?" the red head asked me. It was the same higher voice I had heard either. I put two and two together and realized she was female, just like I was supposed to be. I wasn't sure how to answer her question, so I looked over at the next one, who was on my other side.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt you," it assumed me, and it was the medium voice. Male, I decided, as he was so structurally different from me and the other. Most notably was his chest, which was flat. I felt something on mine though, and I saw raises through the material that was placed over me. The name of them however, wasn't in my mind.
I tried to move my arm, and found this time that my elbow bent as I asked. I felt something on my face move and my eyes got a bit wider. I placed both my arms behind me and used them to push my back off of the floor. The material that was over top of me slid down, but now I was eyelevel with the two instead of looking up at them. The boy's face turned an interesting color and he suddenly looked away from me. I tilted my head, confused.
"Um, we found you without any clothes on," the female said, turning a lighter shade of the same color. She didn't look away from me however. I turned my gaze to her and stared at her, not computing. Clothing wasn't in my vocabulary either.
"Maybe she's deaf," the male said, still facing the other direction.
"No, she turned to me when I spoke. Maybe she doesn't speak our language." The girl looked troubled, which made me feel troubled as well. Speaking a bit louder and her mouth movements more developed she said, "Do you understand?" I didn't know how to tell her I did. Last time breathing seemed to work, so I took a deep breath and exhaled as I done before. It didn't seem as effective though, as she just frowned. I decided the only way I could get through to them was by using the method of speaking they used.
I thought for a moment the correct word to use, and thought of the sounds. Y-yuh. E-eh. S- ss. I opened my mouth and formed the word best I could. "Yes." I closed my mouth and frowned. It hadn't come out the way it had for them. My lips had formed the correct movements but no sound had left them. That was frustrating.
"Oh!" the female cried, her lips turning upward in what I seemed to know was called a smile. "Are you mute?" Mute meant soundless. I stopped to decide if that was the case for a moment. It seemed to be that way. Sounds didn't come from my mouth the way they should. But was I soundless? I removed my hands from the surface underneath me, then checked for a moment to see if I would stay. My other muscles held me up without the need for support, which meant I was at least working properly in that aspect. I threw my hands together and produced a loud, sharp sound. Afterwards I learned the word was clap. I had indeed made a sound.
"No," I mouthed. Her lips went upwards again and she made a new noise, one that wasn't any audible word but her voice worked nonetheless. It was a sound that made me sort of warm in my chest in a way I couldn't explain. I searched my mind for definitions and came up with the word laughter. She was laughing, although at what I couldn't tell. Laughter was usually preceded by humor of some sort, a joke. I didn't know any jokes though because I wasn't sure how to use humor effectively, so I was left in a state of confusion.
"I don't think she gets it. Can you speak?" she asked, looking back at me. Oooh, she meant a soundless voice. That was a more understandable question.
"No," I mouthed again. At least, right now I couldn't. I had gained the ability to open my eyes over time, so perhaps I would acquire that skill later on as well.
"Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Can you put your arms up for me?" she asked. I raised my arms so they were higher than previously, horizontal with my shoulders. My arms seemed to be working perfectly, which made me relieved. "No, all the way, like this." She held her above her head with her fingertips pointing to the ceiling, so I mimicked her. "Perfect. Now just stay like that for a minute." She took the material from my lap and opened it up at the bottom, then suddenly leaned forward and put it over my head. I couldn't see anything but the black of the shirt and the light vaguely shining through it. I began to get nervous, indicated by my slightly increased heart rate, but she said to stay there for one minute. I knew a minute was 60 seconds, but I didn't know how long a second was, so I decided to wait until she told me. I felt her lightly put her hand around one of my arms just above the elbow and direct it into one the holes. I let it go slack and it fell back to my side, the material now separating my underarm from touching my skin. That was repeated to my second arm, and then finally she tugged on the material and my head went through last, bringing my sight back into the tree house. The material hung on me, covering up my chest. As I took a closer look at the other two, they both had similar things covering their skin, however they both had something to cover their bottom halves as well. In fact, the male had only that covering him. I looked down at my legs which were bare, then up at the girl.
"There, that's a little better. That shirt is a little big, but that's actually a good thing because we don't have any pants for you right now." I continued to stare at her so she added, "Don't worry, you're covered." So the material was called a shirt. I looked back down at it. It was black and had a pattern of a buckle of some sort drawn across it from my left shoulder to my right side, and zippers that didn't seem to have any purpose on the sleeves. I reached over and tugged at the zipper and, as I guessed, it didn't move.
"Do you have a name?" the male asked me, now facing me again. I continued to tug at the zipper, because it was a question I didn't know the answer to. Maybe I did, but I didn't know it. "No?" she pressed, shaking her head. I shook my head back at her, which seemed to satisfy her. She tapped her finger on her chin and looked to the boy.
"Do you know where you're from?" he tried, and again I shook my head. He exhaled loudly- a sigh, I realized, was the word- and looked behind him. "What do you think's wrong with her Riku?" I followed his gaze and saw another male leaning against the wood near the cut out that I assumed was the entrance. He was larger built than the first boy, and his hair a startling white. It was also longer, more like a female's.
He pushed off from the wall and walked over to the smaller boy, standing next to him. He didn't sit on his knees like the other two had, but continued to stare down at me. I looked up at him and met his gaze, staring right back.
"I think you should have learned not to interfere with these things by now," he replied, crossing his arms and looking agitated. He didn't break his gaze and so neither did I. One of the corners of his mouth came up, but it wasn't really a smile the same way the girl had. I wondered idly why I had words for some things and not for others, as if my vocabulary was incomplete. Finally he broke his gaze and looked down at the smaller boy, whose lip was jutted out in a pout. He sighed and finally said, "She probably has amnesia. It means she's lost her memories."
"Sounds familiar," the girl spoke up. "Sometimes they get them back, it just takes time." She looked back at me and said, "Can you remember anything?"
I frowned, trying to think. Without meaning to I looked back up at the other boy and stared. It wasn't nostalgic exactly, but there was something about him that pulled at the corners of my mind. I couldn't really tell the difference between their three faces minus their hair, so there was nothing to pin point that made him stick out in my memory. I reached out my hand towards his face, although obviously I couldn't reach him. The boy on the floor looked a little shocked, but he himself didn't change his expression much. His eyebrows came together a little bit, but if it was out of contempt or confusion I couldn't say.
"Take her hand Riku," the girl said gently, but his hand was not what I wanted. He looked at her, clearly not wanting to either, so I dropped my arm and sighed. I shook my head at the girl, deciding what I was feeling was just my desire to have a memory and nothing substantial. He obviously didn't know who I was anymore than I did.
"Okay, how about if we give you a name then?" she offered. Without even meaning to I moved my head up and down, the opposite of the side to side movement of a negative answer. I wasn't quite sure how I knew that the opposite could be a positive answer, but I knew the name of it was a nod. It was more and more perplexing as to how I acquired all of this information, and why I could remember these things and nothing else. As far as I could tell there was nothing else to remember.
"Okay! Hm… Miyuki?" I shook my head; it sounded funny.
"Ran?" the smaller boy tried; again I shook my head. He looked to the boy who was standing, Riku, as I had come to understand, but he said nothing. The girl crossed her arms and looked irritated at his unwillingness to participate.
"Yumi?" she asked. I paused, turning it over in my head. A name was what you were called after all, you had to like it. Finally I nodded. She smiled and patted the top of my head. "Yumi it is," she said happily. I liked her warmth and the gentleness of her touch. I felt that warm feeling in my chest from earlier again, and this time I felt my mouth tentatively pull up in a smile her way. When she noticed hers only got larger. "Your smile is beautiful Yumi!" she cried. I didn't know if it was true or not, so unable to agree or disagree, I just looked away. But I had a warmness inside now, inside my mind. I had a name.