Back In Your Head

My eyes began to flutter open the moment I started to wake up from what I guessed that I had fainted earlier due to the lack of oxygen from not eating breakfast this morning or now even lunch. I squinted because of the brightly shining rays of the sun that seeped through the cracks of the leaves of the trees up above.

I brought my hands up to my eyes and rubbed them, not caring at all if I was smudging my make-up. My head was resting against something soft and bony, but I wasn't complaining. When I regained my sight I made out a face. Those green eyes with a hint of blue and maybe light brown were staring down at me. I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. Why and how long has he been staring at me? It was creeping me out a bit and gave me that eery feeling.

"Hey, sleepyhead." He said smiling lightly.

As soon as those words came out of his mouth and breaking the silence, I immediately remembered what had happened earlier that had caused me to pass out. I gasped loudly and fell out of his grasp and onto the forest ground once again.

"Whoa there. Be careful. You don't want to pass out again." He said chuckling a bit.

I struggled trying to get up quickly from the ground. Once I stood up I was sure there were numerous leaves stuck to my clothes and maybe even my hair, but I didn't care right now. It just didn't matter. He was standing in front of me. The one I've been seeing since I came back home. Finally and not running away or anything this time.

"What? Who?" I was at a loss of words. I couldn't make out a complete sentence. It took me a couple of minutes to say what I wanted to ask. "Wait, before I passed out you said that...I...made you?"

He just smiled at me again.

"Please stop just smiling at me, it's getting kind of creepy and confusing the hell out of me even more." I came out bluntly.

"I'm sorry. I can't take you seriously right now." He said coming closer and reaching up with his hand to my hair and pulling out a leaf that got stuck to it and brushed the rest out. I sighed quietly and pushed his hand off gently then brushing the rest of the leaves rather quickly and violently off of my body. I was really impatient and just wanted answers from him.

"Really, start explaining."

He just nodded at me and shoved his hands in his pockets. I took a good look at him. He was real tall. Skinny. He had a lot of hair that swept across his forehead. Faint freckles visible that the only way you would be able to recognize them were that if you were to come face to face with him like I have just recently. He was actually quite decent looking. Thoughts ran through my mind on trying to remember if I've ever seen this guy before.

"Okay, what do you remember from the last time you were here?"

"I was here watching the sunset with-"

"Not that recently." He cut me off.

"I-I don't know. I was eight. I just played around here and went to elementary school."

"Can you swim?"

"What does that have to do with you explaining to me who you are?" I questioned.

"Just answer me."

"No, not really."

"Have you tried to?"

"Yeah, once. I almost drowned, but somebody saved me." Why was I even answering his questions.

"Did you have any friends?"

"Garrett, maybe."

"Anyone else?"

I thought for a moment. There was that one kid who saved me. I don't remember his name at all. My eyes diverted over to his wrist and I saw the colorful thread wrapped around.

"You're not." I said unbelievably while he nodded. It was like I had my life flashed before me from my childhood and I saw everything. I saw myself running in the woods to the lake, the water cooling me off as I fell in, my arms flapping around trying to reach up to the surface as my legs tried to "climb" their way out of the water, and the dreaded feeling of losing oxygen with water choking me. Every little detail and of course the reason to why I jumped into the lake in the first place.

That was that. I remembered everything from then on. "You're that kid who saved me...John?"

"In the flesh. Well not really." He said shrugging a bit and with a small smile. Oh how much I wanted to slap that smile off his face.

"Yeah, not really." I said putting emphasis on the really part because he wasn't real.