Chapter Forty_Five: Stubborn Memories

The sound of the door opening was enough to drag him out of his deep slumber, he felt as though he was heavily drugged and he didn't know whether to puke first or to stay on the soft bed that kept his body in an alluring trance.

He could feel that he wasn't home, because whenever he came close to this state, he never went back home until the next day. If he was in Aria's bed, she would have woken him up by now without much effort. The girl had a way to wake everyone every one up in the morning, better than an alarm clock.

Wait a minute… Aria

He snapped his eyes opened and turned to the side only for him to end up falling onto the ground painfully. Groaning, he slowly pushed himself up, trying to clear the haze in his eyes that way he could see where he was. Where she was. Yet when he looked around the room, he was confused, he had never been in such a room.

The way it was decorated and fabrics that were around, he could tell that they were different and richer. No, how had he gotten here… something wasn't right and he knew it. He headed to the window and caught sight of the forest.

Forest?

The last he had remembered was running in the forest after Aria when she had disappeared, he remembered that they had suddenly appeared in the hospital room and instead of receiving horrible news, a miracle had happened. He remembered how happy Aria had been but how everything had been too confusing to him.

He knew the doctor was supposed to deliver horrible news, he was sure of it, he knew he had been in the forest but there was something that he was missing. A memory that was just missing to piece everything together. That could finally make sense but when he tried, it was like he kept hitting a damn wall.

What on earth was going on?

Hearing the click of the door, he quickly looked up to see a man enter the room with a cloak covering his face. Confusion began to course faster in his veins as he stared at the stranger with curious eyes but still maintaining distance. There was something about this stranger that connected him to his locked memories.

Stranger… cloak… then he felt it, his memories seeming like a flash as he recalled everything. His fists pounding onto the invincible wall that kept him away from Aria when she seemed to want to end her life. He hadn't been wrong, he had seen everything accurately and everything had changed within the snap of a finger.

He knew that it was because of the stranger that stood before him, but that wasn't possible. This couldn't be possible. He took a cautious step forward, looking for clues on the man that showed struggle or even gave him a whiff of blood. That way he could try and convince himself that he was kidnapped, but nothing warranted the stranger of it.

"Who are you?" he asked, finally deciding to test the waters and question everything, "Where is Aria?"

"She's safe and try to lower your guard and keep your thoughts more guarded, here thoughts can be easily heard as though outspoken words", the stranger advised as he removed his cloak, revealing his face to him.

"Why are we here?" he questioned,

"Your friend made a deal, her life for her mothers, the only reason why you here is that for some odd reason you wouldn't let go of your memories. I knew you would be a problem later on so why not bring you with me.

And not even after ten minutes of waking up, you have recalled everything without much trouble, which is quite rare and disturbing. So, James, who are you, and what gift do you have that's hidden?" the stranger questioned.

"I don't know what you mean?" James said, confused at the man's statement, "What gift are you on about?"

"If you don't know, then that is alright, don't worry, we will soon figure it out." The stranger said

"Where is Aria?" James asked, worried about the only friend he could rely on, the only person who he had truly cared about.

"It would be best to get rid of those feelings as soon they will have you killed", the stranger said, "This is a different world and as I said before, here everything works completely different from earth. So your thoughts, emotions, aura, we all feel it here and it will be at your advantage to control them."

A different world? Where on earth was he? Was he even alive?