3 Welcome To Town (3)

Looking upon his now open notebook Ryker sat tapping his pen on his desk absentmindedly as he continued his now daily ritual.

"A town in which the absurd is normal, and the normal is absurd" was already written with various firsthand accounts penned by Ryker already, along with timestamps of his time here.

"I have already been here for a few days, ever since that bolt of lightning hit the body of the previous 'me'. Or are we the same and I am just new memories added on…or perhaps I was the past life and I was suddenly awakened…oh my head hurts thinking about this" thought Ryker as he forced that line of thinking to rest.

"Trap card…another one bites the dust…" was written down next, in a column with various other vaguely familiar sounding lines such as 'people die if they are killed'.

"I am compelled to take certain actions or say certain lines at times, not like I am being controlled by an outside force but instead like an itch that I have to scratch at all costs. I have noticed this in others as well, but for them it is more natural…"

He then flipped the page to one that was labeled "Family", with a tree that was full of blanks except for a few names.

"A mysterious cousin mentioned offhandedly, a father whose picture is always faded and name never mentioned, and now a sister who is not my sister…" thought he as he crossed out Avlynn's name and created a new spot for her disconnected from the main tree.

"This world that I have come to or perhaps one that I have simply awakened to its abnormality…I do not know how else to term it other than some kind of fantasy full of an amateur writer's hopes and dreams. I would know since I was apart of the very same group in my past life…previous iteration? The distinction is such a pain, lets just say that I as the current Ryker in this world has suddenly awakened to the fact that everything around me makes no logical sense and is completely absurd thanks to awakening new memories that came from maybe another me or maybe not. What is important is the situation that I am now in and how to survive"

He then flipped to the last page that was already written in and began adding today's experiences to the already existing short list.

"Making a single offhand comment about some random guys hair ended up with me almost dying, I think survival is not a stretch in this case. Perhaps the 'young master' was connected to some kind of well off family from the other side of town or maybe even connected to one of those insane shopping malls" thought Ryker as he shuddered at the thought of the malls, "oh god the malls…"

"Meanwhile it seems that everyone but me has some kind of hidden talent, ability, or unexplained power such as Avlynns ability to produce weaponry out of thin air that follows no known laws of physics. Well I do have one ability from this iteration of me and one from my past, I can run really fast and can maintain a perfect façade like an A list actor. Reaaaalll useful here, lets hope I never have to run faster than bullets, I guess. I lack some pumped up kic- no…not even my thoughts WHAT THE HELL!"

Taking a deep breath, restoring the false calmness he usually had, and filling in his notebook more he interlocked his fingers together and gazed intensely at the wall in front of him.

"Now for the most pressing issue of all, even more so than suddenly being reincarnated or being chased down by murderous goods: My 'sister'. Murderous one second and affectionate the next, sometimes doing absurd things out of nowhere, and appears to have more than just sisterly intentions towards me. I am 20 years old, I have principles okay. I must survive another year…just one more year and then I can do whatever I wa- wait no, then I can have a mature discussion with her…yeah" thought Ryker as he deflated in his chair, all his seriousness fading immediately.

"Maybe I should just get a girlfriend by then, I think I am quite sexually frustrated now that I think about it. Why else would I be thinking of such things, I have been with her since we were kids technically its not like she is just some random beautiful girl that showed up one on my doorstep day. How hard would it be to find one in this town and one that will not be gunned down by my sister at that in some kind of murderous rampage fueled by an unhealthy obsession with me. Wasn't there a word that described that?"

Ceasing his thoughts about his situation, Ryker sighed and put the notebook away back in its hiding spot as he formulated a plan for the future.

"Carefully explore the world around me, record detailed information on it all and see if I have some method of not getting randomly stabbed by a kid on the street who is actually some kind of cyborg assassin from the future sent to kill me to stop me from inadvertently starting the robot revolution. I need security to allow me peace of mind first and foremost, then I can worry about more mundane things like finding a career and buying my own house"

Ryker then made sure to lock his windows, door, and even dragged his desk over to block his door entirely and then made a fake 'Ryker' under the blankets with some spare pillows and then slept in his closet.

"No, annoying voice of doubt in the back of my mind, this is not overly cautious this is necessary. I read a lot of books back in the day…er in my previous world(?), I know what happens in the morning if I am not careful" thought Ryker rather triumphantly at his genius.

He then set his alarm and went to sleep, setting aside all his worries and doubts for the him of tomorrow.