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MEMORIES

Chapter I

Kaleb

"Wake up, Thirteen."

Right from when I woke up, I knew something was wrong. It wasn't like I was in the middle of a house fire or anything like that but something in my mind told me that there was something wrong. Speaking of my mind, it felt like someone was scratching at my mind with one of those dental tools. You know? That thing that they use to scrape at your teeth?

I shivered...I hated that thing.

That shudder had my body fully awake. I rose like a vampire rising from his coffin and sat there without a word, or grunt, or groan. In fact, I already felt fully awake and energized to start the day. Odd...most teens like me would just sleep in an extra few minutes then rush the last few minutes to eat and get ready.

And by my clock's reading, it was only six thirty in the morning.

Without that internal draw to go back to sleep, I slowly got out of my bed. It was still dark, probably since my windows were draped shut and the sun was taking its own sweet time to rise. It was also a little chilly to me, or maybe it was just me and my paranoia. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think was paranoid at all, maybe a little weird, sure, for waking up so early, but not paranoid.

There was a bathroom inside my darkly lit room, so I decided to wash up a just a little before I started my day. Inside I found the usual things: a shower, toothbrush and paste, a large mirror, a toilet, and a few towels. After inspecting the drawers inside the sink, I found a pair of scissors and a comb for my hair and fur.

Taking a look at the mirror, I looked over myself. My fur coat was snow white with no gray or black spots anywhere to be seen, and my eyes were like the ocean--dark and light blue and seemed to wave in and out of the color to change. This was also when I realized I was shirtless with only a pair of black pajama bottoms on. Even my body was a little hard to tell with the white fur, but I noticed I had a toned yet lean body good enough to show with a tight shirt. Even though I didn't have a six-pack or anything, it didn't bother me in the least, my body itself was good enough for my standards--if I had any to even begin with.

Wait...did I just question if I had standards or not? I should know if I have standards or not, right? Wait...I just questioned if I should have standards now. I had standards...yeah, I did. I didn't want my body to be a pile of fat and all that laziness. That was my standard. Yes. That was one.

Weird, even looking at myself I felt like I was looking at someone else entirely. I placed a humanoid-hand on my muzzle, it felt real and it was my own self alright. I placed my paw on my shoulders, chest, and then stomach, only to find out that it was still just me and not some sort of imposter. It was my own fur, my own eyes, my own body, and my own touch.

But I still felt like this wasn't me.

I shook my head and sighed, turning the sink on cold. Quickly, I splashed water in my face, coating my fur in cold water that jolted me back into my senses. This was me. There was no lying about who I was. I was me. I was me. I was me. I thought to myself repeatedly, trying to convince myself that I was who I was.

Yet no matter how many times I thought it, it never felt true.

I sighed again and wiped off the water from my fur then walked out, heading back into my dimly lit room. I found a switch on my way back in, flipping it up to give me better vision. The walls were dark blue with maple wood floors while the rims on the ceiling and floor were white. My bed was pressed against one wall of the room while a tall white dresser was pushed against the left wall, a smaller one placed in front of my bed with a flat screen already bolted to the wall above it. Posters were placed across my room to give it more life; some of them were bands that I recognized automatically, like Green Day and Boys Like Girls and OneRepublic.

It looked just as foreign as I felt about myself, but I put that in the backburner of my mind. This was my room and I was me, but did my mind want to believe it? No. At this point, I was done fighting with my mind and what it felt, so I was going to believe, whether it liked it or not, that this was my life and I was me.

Like clockwork, I padded myself over to the smaller dresser with the flat screen just bolted over it then opened one of the drawers. Inside I found a couple of T-shirts and jeans, just what I needed to wear, so I grabbed a black shirt and dark jeans and changed myself just as the few rays of sunlight beamed through my window.

The sun seemed to add that little spark of brightness I needed for my room. So, without wasting another second, I drifted over to the window and pulled oven the drapes, instantly getting hit in the face with bright rays of heat. It was only a few moments later that my eyes adjusted to the newfound warmth and I was able to see, and I was glad I was given the opportunity.

It was beautiful. The house I must've been inside had to be two stories tall, for I could see many of the various houses around me and up and down the street. There were people, just like me, already up, jogging down the sidewalk with friend or family. Birds flew over the land like quick projectiles that could spin and twirl without any restraints to whatever it wanted to do. Few cars were driving down the street, probably 'cause it was still a bit too early for some other people to get up. The sun itself was bright and had just broke over the horizon, revealing dozens of colors like blue, red, and yellow in its magnificent rainbow of light that spread over the sky and the land.

This sight made me want to cry, and I actually tried, yet no tears would even attempt to water in my eyes. Weird too. Something about the sun made my body tingle, which wasn't a bad tingle at all, just something that I hadn't felt before, perhaps in a long time maybe.

Just as I was trying to take in the majestic--if I can even call it that--sight, three light knocks upon my door broke me from my trance. So I wasn't just the only one in this house? Didn't I know if I lived alone or with someone? I should know...

...Right?

Shaking my head, starting to feel my headache slowly return, I summoned my first words. "Uh...come in." Even if were only three words, they were still a good enough sentence to me.

The doorknob turned with the door soon creaking open slowly, revealing a clean white-scaled dragon standing in the doorway. He looked just about my height, tall but not in a tower-ish tall, and had a set of long hair on his head brushed to one side of his face, covering his eye. He wore a set of brown cargo shorts and a loose, white T-shirt that showed off his light yet lean body. He had two newly polished horns that sprouted from the back of his head, blood red eyes, and two folded wings. He looked cool and calm, completely relaxed but yet slightly tired.

The scaly creature saw me then smiled, walking inside the room with a yawn and stretch of his arm. "And good morning sunshine!" He looked my age, but no way older or younger. "Have a good sleep?"

"Y-yeah...sure," I replied, feeling my ears fold against my head in embarrassment. I truly had no clue who this guy was, honestly. I wasn't joking. I never saw him in my life, never ever, but he felt a little familiar to me. Was this his house? Maybe I this was his room I was calling my own.

Once he got to me, he squinted his eyes then leaned down to look at me. "Dude? You okay? You look a little pale...and I don't mean by your fur." The dragon joked as I looked at him blankly. He stopped chuckling to look at me again. "Something wrong, dude? It's me, you know, Drake."

Instantly, my mind flooded with images, voices, and people. Drake--he was my childhood friend, my only close friend growing up. He was nice, kind, a common jokester, and was honest. He was humble with his achievements and showed them off with grace, never letting his achievements go to his head and mess with his ego. He was eighteen, like me as I remembered, and we were both high school seniors, just about to graduate our last year of high school. We spent much time together and we lived in a house his grandparents entrusted to him before they died, leaving the house and its property to him when he turned sixteen, two years ago. We had decided to live together, away from our parents and show them that he and I were capable to live on our own. And we managed, keeping a budget, knowing how to save money, and when to buy food and clothes.

My mind flooded with memories of him, a majority of them good with a few downs in there as well, but we were friends so of course we were going to have our downs. He had a girlfriend named...Quinn, who was a cheetah, and was also a close friend of mine. We shared secrets with each other, even ones that were too dark to ever let out, and were just as close as brothers, even though we were far from it.

"Yo, Kaleb," he asked, suddenly kneeling beside me. "Something wrong?"

I hadn't even realized I had fallen to my knees. The wave of memories just swept me off my feet, literally, and had me on my knees trying to take it all in. I should already know him, love him, and reply to him but there was something wrong, something that I couldn't just put easily.

Trying to sound as normal as possible, I nodded. "Yeah...sorry, Drake." Another thing I failed to notice was that I was clutching my head like I was in pain, which I actually was.

"Headache?"

"You could say that."

"I got some Advil in my room," he offered me a hand, standing up. "Need some?"

I took his hand generously and got back to my feet, pulling my shirt back down over my waist. I then shook my head in response, still keeping one hand on my head.

"You're sure?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

I nodded. "Mmm-hmm, maybe a little breakfast is all I need."

Drake laughed and patted my shoulder. "Now that's the Kaleb I know! Come on, sunshine, I have donuts and milk with our names on them!" He licked his lips in anticipation.

I couldn't help but smile a little, showing off my white teeth and fangs. "Sure thing, just, uh, let me get my things." I gestured to the backpack and binder that were lying next to my bed. How I knew those were there, I had no clue, but at least I was beginning to understand things better.

He nodded his head then told me to meet him down there. I nodded back and waited until he was gone and the door was shut before I gathered up my things. Just like knowing where my backpack and binder was, I also knew I needed to have my Pre-Calculus book and Spanish II book as well. I retrieved them from my nightstand, which I found next to my bed, then put them in my backpack and zipped it up. I slung the backpack over my back and grabbed my binder, heading for the door shortly after I turned off my lights.

Drake was already down in the kitchen, which I seemed to find naturally or by coincidence, already munching on a chocolate donut. Well, he and I had good bodies, so I didn't see any harm in having one or two with some milk. He had already fixed me a plate with two chocolate donuts already laid out, with a glass of warm milk on the side.

Talk about nice.

He pulled me out a chair then finished a bite of his donut before talking. "Hope you slept well, dude, 'cause we have a Pre-Cal test today that I didn't study at all for."

I gulped, losing interest in my donut for a good minute. Was it bad that I was supposed to be a high school senior yet know absolutely nothing about Calculus or Pre-Calculus? Duh, of course it was bad! Was I having amnesia or something? Why couldn't I remember the things that I needed to remember?

Trying to seem as normal as possible, I shrugged. "I slept fine, but I'm shooting for B at best." Which was a total lie. The correct letter was a big-freaking-fat 'F' written in bold letters on my paper.

He gave my shoulder a pat. "I have faith in ya. You'll do well. Can't say the same for myself, though." Even though he was being negative about himself, he still carried a light smile on his face to show me that he was still in high spirits.

"You'll...do good too," I said, finally deciding to eat my food before it got cold. The donut was still nice and warm, probably heated up in the microwave by him no doubt.

Could I ask for a better friend?

"Hey, Drake," I asked. "Are you usually this nice to me in the morning?"

He finished his second donut then wiped his face before chuckling. "Duh! Of course, man! Besides, you got your head hit a little too hard the other day, remember?"

No, was what I wanted to say. The thing was: I didn't remember anything from earlier this morning, last night, last week, or in the last ten years pretty much! Things were only slowly coming back to me in pieces, pieces that were getting hard to put together with. There were only a few things that I knew, now. One, I had a friend named Drake who was a dragon--and yes, I got the irony from that. Two, we lived together in a pretty good sized house. Three, we were high school teens. And finally, we were supposed to be the best of best of friends. That was all I knew, and it was all I had to go off of until more of my memory returned.

"Uh...I think..." I said, clutching the side of my head.

"Can't remember?" he asked.

I shook my head, in which he sighed and finished his third, and hopefully final, donut. He leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest with his eyes closed.

"It was during Travis's party, in case you forgot," he explained. "We were driving back home when we crossed the intersection down the street and were hit by a truck. It wasn't head on, thankfully, but it did get us in the rear and spun our car in circles before it flipped over twice. You were driving and were knocked out from the impact while I was still conscious. The ambulance came and drove us both to the hospital, even though I didn't need any hospitalization, you still got hit on the head pretty hard and they said you might have slight short term memory loss for a while. They separated us for a while but you came back with a bandage around your head while they told me to make sure you slept for the next few days. Now, here we are. I'm fine but are you okay?" he asked.

Once he mentioned that I got hit pretty hard, my hand traveled up and down the back of my head. You'd think that there would be a huge knot but there wasn't. My head hurt, sure, but it felt perfectly fine actually. No problems as far as I could tell, other than the short term memory loss. Maybe that explained everything that was going on. Yeah, that made sense. Things would come back to me in due time, so all I had to do was wait for this to wear off so I could go back to my normal life.

Well, if I even felt normal anymore.

Since this morning, "normal" wasn't exactly the first thing that popped into my head. Something still didn't feel right to me. Maybe it was just early morning paranoia or the fact that my third donut was making me a little jittery. Okay, I knew that that wasn't the reason but it was all I had to go on. I had no memory of that crash or that party or of Drake or about my past. Everything seemed to blank unless someone pointed it out to me.

If this was what short term memory was like, then I hated it.

"Dude?" Drake asked with a tilt of his head, using one of his hands to shake me. "Earth to Kaleb."

"H-huh?" I asked, acting very stupid "Oh, yeah."

"Think you can make it through school? I can call you in sick again if you like," he said, concern easily audible in his voice. He sounded sincere in his tone, yet I still wanted to go to school.

"Nah," I replied, waving my hand aside. "I don't want to be cooped up on my bed for another second. Plus, I think I need to get out of the house, I think I'm going crazy." I joked.

Drake laughed, watching as I scoffed down my last donut. "Don't worry, you're far from crazy. Okay, but if you feel weird at any point during the day, just go to the office and call for me. I'm sure I can pull a few strings and drive you home."

"Why thanks mom!" I laughed.

He shoved my arm playfully, sticking his tongue out. "I ain't a mom, but my mom did raise me well." He stood up, stretching his arms before he helped me up. "I'll take you to the counselor's office before classes start so you can get things squared away before the madness of Calcu-Science hits you." The dragon chuckled.

"Calcu-Science?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

He sighed. "Oh, my young padawan, you have so much to re-learn."