I wake up confused and disoriented. Normally, I'd give you a detailed account of what just happened, but I literally can't. I remember absolutely nothing.

Slowly, I stand up from where I had apparently been curled into a tight ball on the floor, and look at my surroundings.

The room I'm in looks slightly futuristic. The walls are painted a light grey, and all of the furniture is dark grey, except for one table, which is stark white.

A girl with braided black hair is sitting on a couch, her feet on top of a low table, "I see you're awake." She comments, not taking her eyes off of a large screen T.V.

"Where am I?" I croak, discovering that my mouth is extremely dry.

"There's water in the fridge. Then we can talk." She glances over her shoulder at me, showing me the unusual color of her eyes; purple. I also notice that her hair color is an extremely dark purple, rather than my first observation of it being black.

Mutely, I walk over to the fridge and open it. Seeing a water bottle inside, I take it out and close the fridge.

Water bottle in hand, I walk over to the couch the girl is sitting on.

She waves to a spot next to her, "Sit down."

I obey her, sitting on the opposite side of the couch, "Now, where am I?" I ask, after taking a small sip of water.

"I'll answer that soon enough." She clicks a button on the arm of the couch, and the T.V. turns off, "I'm Lydia. Now, what is your name?" she takes her feet off the table, moving them into a criss-cross position on the couch.

I swallow, "Max."

"Okay, Max. In answer to your question, we're in New York." Lydia says easily.

"How did I get here?" I have a load of more questions, but I keep them at bay for now.

"This is where it gets complicated." Lydia sighs, uncrossing her legs, "You're from the future. I need you to try and remember what is going to happen."

What? My first reaction is confusion. How could I be from the future?

"How?" Is all I manage to say.

"We were worried this was going to happen." Lydia looks me straight in the eye, "The time-travel included a risk. That it would wipe your memory. But your future self decided that it was worth it."

She stands up, "We made preparations, in the case that this would happen."

I stand up as well, "What type of preparations?" I ask, trying to keep up with what she is saying.

"Come here." Lydia says, walking quickly over to the stark white table that I had noticed earlier, "I need to know why you came back. My own mind is blank, besides the things that I just told you. A series of things you do should prompt your memories."

When I get to the table, she hands me a plain marker, "This is a special marker. I need you to take it, and write the first word that comes into your head after you look at this table."

I hesitantly take it, and pop the lid off, looking at the spongy black tip.

I move my gaze to the table.

Clean.

The word immediately pops into my brain, and I quickly start writing it on the table. The marker squeaks slightly as I write, and immediately once I finish writing the word, I feel different.

I feel something inside of my brain, but I don't know what it is. But I know that it is important, and that it's something I forgot.

"Do you remember anything?" Lydia urges me, and I glance over at her.

"I remember that I forgot."

She nods, blinking once, "That's good. Now, you see that T.V. over there?" She points at it to emphasize, "Does it seem familiar at all?"

I stare at it for a few seconds, and then slowly nod. Very faintly I remember it.

"You designed it. It's supposed to show you what you want to see. But it only works on the one who designed it. You. For me, or anyone else, it's normal." Lydia looks at me, trying to see if I'm understanding, "Go turn it on."

I walk over to the couch and click the same button Lydia had, and the T.V. crackles to life.

Images flash quickly on the screen. Death. Pain. Torture. Government.

Abruptly, the T.V. begins smoking and suddenly dies.

My brain feels as if I'm trying to grab a slimy ball, trying to grasp what I forgot. Something I forgot is important.

"This is almost the last thing," Lydia speaks again. When I glance over at her, I see she is holding a rag doll, "It was your mother's." The once white apron it has on is stained brown and yellow. It's black hair is hanging limply down, framing it's face.

A key was stuck into a lock and turned, releasing information into my brain.

"I am here to change events. To save us." I say, finally understanding.

"Makes sense." She says evenly, "Do remember from what?"

I shake my head, "No. My head is empty."

"It's alright. I did not expect you to remember that, I just figured I might as well try," Lydia's purple eyes glance to a different part of the room.

My gaze follows hers, and I see a plain white bed.

"Go lay on it and try to clear your head." she says quietly, "It will refresh your brain."

I do as she says, relaxing. For a moment, nothing happens. Then the same violent rush of images and sensations overrun me.

Death. Pain. Torture. Government.

This time the sensations come with a sense of finality.

'Nothing will change this,' a voiceless whisper resounds through my head.

I gasp, jerking into a sitting position. My breathing is heavy as I whisper, "Death." I squeeze my eyes shut, "Death is inevitable."

Hey guys! Thank you for checking this book out!

Anyway, this will be a collection of all of the short stories, prompts that I will or have written! Cause I had some just sitting around on my hard drive, and I was like, hey, why not see what you all think? XD

This particular one was kind of for a contest. :)

~evara~