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Waking up in a Dumpster is a horrible way to start the day.
Waking up in a Dumpster with what feels like broken ribs and no memory of who you are or how you got there? Even worse.
I'm not even sure what happened.
When I woke up, I was staring up at the sky, two building towering on either side of me. "What...?" I muttered, looking around at my surroundings. I tried to push myself into a sitting position, but a sharp sting of pain came from my chest. I fell back onto my back with an "Oof."
After a few seconds of just laying there, waiting for the pain to go away, I suddenly became very aware that I was currently laying in a dumpster. I don't know how I missed that beforehand, but the horrid smell of garbage flooded my senses and without thinking I shot up, regardless of what was probably a broken rib or two... or five.
I kicked my legs out of the dumpster and flung them over the edge. I half-rolled, half-climbed out of the garbage. When my feet met the ground, I immediately slipped on (what I hopped was) water. My feet gave out from under me and I fell to the alley floor, luckily, I landed on my shoulder instead of my face. A loud CRACK! came from my shoulder as I hit the ground. I gripped my shoulder and curled into a fetal position.
I'd only been awake for what was probably 4-or-5 minutes, and I'd already injured myself. Going on what's happened so far, it was safe to assume that I probably sprained my ankle when I slipped on that puddle.
Maneuvering myself so that I wasn't laying in mystery back alley grime, I sat up and grabbed the side of the dumpster, hoisting myself onto my feet with a groan. "Stand up, stand up, stand up-!" I muttered to myself.
I tried to collect my thoughts. Where was I? Why was I in a dumpster? I could find zero answers to these questions. I tried to retrace my steps to try and see what I had done to get into this situation, but there was nothing.
Then I realized with a sudden, all-consuming, clarity, that I could not remember anything.
Anything before waking up in that dumpster was completely blank. My age, my family, my name. All of it was gone, replaced only with a sign that said "Try again soon!"
Whenever I tried to remember anything, my thoughts derailed before I could get anything concrete. I was left with only a chill as I recalled a voice, loud like thunder, booming through my head.
YOUR FAULT, YOUR PUNISHMENT it said. Punishment for what? What did I do?
A thought came to me then. I dug through my pants pockets and let out a sigh of relief when I took out a wallet. It might not do anything to help with the whole mysterious voice thing, but if I had an ID that might help jog my memory. Hopefully, at least.
I opened the wallet to see a hundred dollars and, to my immense pleasure, a New York junior's driver's license. I was in absolutely no condition to drive, and if I was I probably wouldn't even remember how to do it, but the license must hold some clue to who I was. And it did! Plastered on the license was a photo of a dorky, curly haired teenage boy with acne next to the name "Lester Papadopoulos".
Lester Papadopoulos, huh...
On one hand, I was happy I knew something about myself. A name and his birthday (April 8th, according to the license) was a good start to recovering all my memories.
On the other hand, I wanted to laugh at the name. Lester Papadopoulos. Who names their kid Lester? What kind of name was Papadopoulos? I wanted to know what my parents were thinking when they named me that, but at the thought of my parents I was overcome with sadness. I had a family somewhere out there, and I couldn't remember them. I felt my heart ache, I wanted to get back to them as quickly as I could. They were probably worried about me.
Regardless of what I thought of my name or the troubling situation with my family, I was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I had some proof of my identity, something solid to latch onto, and by the Gods was I gonna make something of it. Granted, I didn't really know what to do now. But after waking up in an alley severely injured with no memories, there's no way to go but up!
I was so, so wrong.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" A raspy voice called. My head whipped to look at them so quickly I thought I was going to give myself whiplash. Two dodgy looking guys with snake tattoos loitered by the entrance, effectively blocking my one exit. "What do you think a loser like him is doing in a place like this?, eh Cade?"
The second thug, who I concluded was Cade, looked me up and down. His eyes caught on my wallet and a devilish smirk spread across his face. "Hey, don't be so mean to the kid, Mikey." Cade said, a condescending tone in his voice. "He doesn't seem that bad, in fact, I bet he wants to give us all of his money! Wouldn't that be a nice thing to do?"
Mikey cackled. "Sure would be!"
I backed away slowly. My legs were shaking and my ankle felt like it was seconds away from adding to my embarrassment and ceremoniously giving out. "St-stay back." I stammered, slipping my wallet back into my pocket and bringing my fist up in a defensive stance. I knew that I looked not at all threatening, but maybe I could summon up some muscle memory and fight back. Who knows, maybe I did martial arts and the second one of these guys charged me, I would judo flip him into the concrete and they would both go running?
...It was a stupid thought in hindsight, but when you have amnesia, you really are "flying blind" into life.
"Or what?" Mikey taunted. "You gonna wow us with your ninja skills?"
I blushed and clenched my fists tighter. "I'm warning you." I said. My voice may have cracked a little, but really, who's asking?
Cade laughed. "I have an idea!" he said, flipping his knife in one hand. "How about we have a little fun, eh? When was the last time we beat someone senseless?"
Mikey didn't need to think on this idea for a while before agreeing. He cracked his knuckles ominously. "After you?" he glanced at Cade.
"Nah," Cade said. "After you."
In a flash, Mikey jumped towards me. I panicked and swung my fists at him. Instead of colliding straight with Mikey's face or neck like I was hopping, I completely missed the target and stumbled forward. Mikey decided to help me out by kicking me in the back and straight onto the ground.
I fell face first. My nose hurt and I was pretty sure that was blood I was tasting in my mouth. I groaned something incomprehensible and rolled over. Cade and Mikey stood above me as my vision blurred.
"This is too easy." Mikey laughed.
"I almost feel a bit bad for him." Cade said. "Not enough to stop throwing him around."
"S-stop." I stammered.
"Hmmm, how about no?" Cade said, tossing his knife to the side. "I think I'll just stomp ya."
Cade then swiftly brought his foot up over my face and slammed down.
I don't know how many times they stomped on my face, I think my mind blotted out those memories. I remember holding my hands up, like I was trying to catch Cade's foot before it connected with my face or begging for them to stop. At some point, they must've gotten tired of kicking me around and decided to hit me over the head with a trash bag. I didn't see why all of this was necessary, especially for only one hundred bucks. Violence for the sake of Violence, I guess.
To my delight, they eventually stepped away, but not before nabbing my wallet from me first. Cade snorted as he rummaged through my wallet. "Lester Papadopoulos?" he asked incredulously. "What kind of name is that?"
I brought my hand up to my nose and was shaken up when I withdrew it, only to see that it was speckled with bits of red. Some part of me was convinced that that shouldn't have been possible. I felt nauseous.
"Aww is wittle Lester scared at the sight of some blood?" Asked Cade, as he crouched down next to me. "Well, there's gonna be a lot more blood in the future if you don't explain why you don't have a credit card, phone or anything... oh I don't know, useful? I'd hate to think we spent our precious time ruffing you up if we were only gonna get a hundred bucks out of it."
I simply stared at the blood coating my fingertips. Something deep in my soul was so utterly... offended? It was like the fact I even had it was grounds to start panicking and break down, which, considering my current situation, I seemed likely to do at some point.
I tried to sit up, but my hand ended up hitting a stray banana peel and I feel back onto the ground (I should probably start keeping count). My head slammed back so violently I was a bit dazed for a moment. Cade and Mikey started laughing in my face, like I was the most hilarious circus act they had seen in forever.
"Oh, this guy's a riot! I love him!" Mikey cackled.
Cade frowned, messing around with my wallet. "Funny as he is, Boss promised he'd be loaded." he complained.
This caught my attention. "...Boss?" I asked.
Cade flicked my nose. "That's right Lester!" he said like he was a teacher congratulating a small child. "We were promised an "easy score". Boss told us to head to this alley, y'know? Said we had permission to rough ya up a bit, take whatever you had and whatever we wanted. But this?" he thumbed through the wad of cash. "This ain't really that much of a payday, don't ya think?"
I was so confused. Someone knew I would be in this alley? How? And why had they told these two to come and mug me? What could I, a beat up 16-year-old boy, have that they would want? It just didn't make sense, not that much else made sense either, but you get the point.
"Who-" I stammered as I pulled myself to my feet, thrown away coffee grounds cascading off my shoulders. "Who is your boss?" I asked. My vision was dizzy and disoriented, I could barely stand upright. "What do they want with me? Why me specifically?"
Cade and Mikey looked at each other, as if asking "Can you believe this guy?"
Cade brandished his knife and Mikey wrapped what looked like a bike chain around his fist. "You just can't get a hint, can you?"
I was prepared for another extremely one-sided fight, where I would do something stupid and embarrassing and get laughed at. I wanted to scream for help, run as fast as I could, but I was in no condition to do any of that. Just as I thought I was done for, a voice shouted from above.
"HEY!" We all turned up to look at one of the fire escapes. A girl, who must've been only 12 or 13, stood on the second floor landing. "Leave him alone." she ordered, voice as stern as a 12-year-old could be.
The newcomer didn't exactly inspire much fear. She was short and pudgy, with short black hair and cat-eye glasses decorated with rhinestones. Her outfit didn't help either, with the green tank dress, yellow leggings, and red sneakers making her look more like a traffic light then a threat. Overall, she looked like a kindergartener who recently got in a fight with a group of stray racoons. Despite her raggedy appearance, the strange young girl held herself like a true warrior. Her scowl was enough to almost send me running for the hills.
Mikey and Cade did not seem as scared as I was.
"Beat it kid, can't you see we're a bit busy?" Mikey asked, gesturing towards me.
The girl did not look amused. "This is my alley!" she proclaimed, stomping her feet on the ground like an angry child. "Anything this loser has is mine!"
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" I mumbled. I thought it was unfair judge of character, especially in my current state.
Cade face looked about as red as his hair. "We don't have time for this, get out already!' He waved his knife in the air threateningly. Cade chucked a rotten apple at the girl.
The apple fell to the ground at the young girl's feet. She looked down at it, then glanced at us. "You wanna start a food fight?" she asked casually. The girl wiped her nose and shrugged. "Okay, then."
With the accuracy of a bullet, the apple flew back and slammed straight into Cade's nose. The impact was so great that Cade fell backwards. Mikey made a move towards the fire escape, but he slipped on a banana peel I swore hadn't been there a second ago. Mikey howled in pain as he slipped. I wanted to laugh at their predicament, karma truly does has it's ways of getting back at you, but my self-preservation instincts kicked in and caused me to back away. I was in no condition to run, and if I tried I would probably also find myself the target of rotten fruit.
The girl leaped off the fire escape and into the dumpster with a surprising amount of grace. She cracked her knuckles and grabbed a bag of trash, advancing menacingly on Cade and Mikey. Cade did his best to shuffle away while Mikey lay on the ground, groaning in pain. Not much unlike how I was earlier.
"Hey, listen-" Cade pleaded. "Just hear me out a second-"
"I don't like you." the girl decided. "You should go."
Cade looked relieved. "Uh-huh, yeah, we'll leave. Just let me-" Cade reached for my money, which had been scattered amongst the trash.
The girl noticed this, and in one clean arc, threw the trash bag at Cade and Mikey. The bag somehow exploded with banana peels, knocking Cade flat on his back and clingy to Mikey like a group of starfish. "Leave, now." the girl reiterated as more trash bags exploded, sending a cascade of miscellaneous pieces of garbage onto the two thugs. Mikey and Cade scrambled away, tails between their legs and screaming in fear.
The cascade of trash stopped, and I looked at the young girl. I wondered if I was hallucinating, maybe I hit my head a bit too hard and this was all an extremely vivid dream? But no, the girl standing in front of me was definitely real, and so was the trash she had just blew up. I found myself feeling unsafe, fearing what this 12-year-old with the power to control garbage could ever do to harm me.
"Th-Thank you." I stammered. She crossed her arms and looked me over with a scrutinizing gaze, her dark eyes narrowed in judgement. The rings she wore on her middle fingers glinted in the sunlight, reflecting bits of it onto the ground like mirrors.
"Don't thank me, you're still in my alley." she said accusingly. I felt trapped as she began to circle around me. "Speaking of, what exactly are you doing here?"
I faltered. "I-I don't know." I admitted. "I just woke up in the dumpster and-"
She held her hand up, gesturing me to stop. "Why were you in a dumpster?"
"I don't know!" I said. "I don't remember anything before waking up and-" I choked back a sob. "I don't know where I am, I don't know who I am, I don't know where my family is, I don't know what to do, I don't know anything!" I ran my hands through my hair. Tears pricked at the edges of my eyes as the weight of my situation finally set in.
The girl looked the slightest bit concerned. Well, it was less concern and more "what is wrong with this kid?". She half-way looked like she wanted to leave before I could breakdown on the alley floor. Really, how would you react when this random kid who just got mugged began to have a breakdown right in front of you? You'd be a bit weirded out. "Y'know what? I think I'll just take your money-"
"No!" I yelled. "I-I might need your help, please."
The girl pursed her lips in thought. "Say I help you, what then? What can you offer me?"
I thought for a moment. What could I give her? I didn't really have anything on me at the moment....
"I'll pay you." I blurted out, this seemed to get her attention. "If you help me find something that might jog my memories, I'll give you all of my money." Probably not the best deal to make, but hey, it was a split second decision and I was desperate.
"But I'm already taking all your money." she pointed out casually, waving around the dollar bills in my face. I didn't even realize she had all of it. I had to suppress another sob.
"I'll get you anything -within reason, of course- if you help me." I bargained. "Just, help me, please?"
"Hmm..." The girl looked deep in thought. I stood anxiously as I awaited her answer. This ratty 12-year-old girl might be my only chance at getting help, and if she was, then I wasn't exactly liking my chances.
After a minute or two, she spoke again. "Alright, but once this is over, I suspect full payment, ya hear?"
I sighed in relief. "Yes, absolutely, of course, thank you so, so much."
She readjusted her cat-eye glasses. "Eh, you can sing my praises later. My name's Meg McCaffery, and don't you forget it!" she said.
"Meg?" I asked. "Is that short for something?"
Meg huffed. "Yeah." she said. "It's short for Margaret. But if you ever call my that, I'll have your head." she threatened. Going by her previous actions with the two thugs, I wasn't entirely sure if she was joking or not. I decided it would be best if I didn't try to find out. "Besides, it's not as bad as Lester Papadopoulos."
My face heated up. "My name isn't that bad." I said, but Meg ignored me.
"To answer your question on where we are, we're in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan." Meg informed me, reading my mind. "What do you even plan on doing anyway? Just wandering around New York hoping to run into something?"
"Uh, yeah, actually, I was hoping that maybe if I saw any familiar landmarks I might be able to navigate home? It's a dumb plan, but-"
"Dumb plan's right, you'll never get anywhere stumbling around, especially alone and in your condition." Meg interjected. "Because I'm such a nice and caring person, I'll just have to guide you around New York. I expect double payment for this, by the way!"
I wanted to say something like "I never asked you to show me around!" but then I realized that was basically exactly what I had asked her. I also didn't want to make her mad and cause her to bite me or something. So instead, I just muttered a half-hearted "Fine."
Meg smiled for the first time in our entire interaction. "Good! Now that we've agreed on that-" she skipped ahead, a spring in her step and her attitude scarily joyful, like a child on their birthday. "Let's go restore your memories or whatever, I want that payment of yours as soon as possible!!" her enthusiasm only disturbed me partially. "Also here's your wallet back." Meg added casually, throwing my aforementioned wallet back at me. Like many things, I didn't even realize she had it.
I took in a deep breath before following Meg out of the alleyway and into the open New York streets. A strange feeling of unease washed over me. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move. I turned around and saw nothing there. I shrugged it off, figuring it must've been some civilian or something. The strange feeling of unease did not go away, however.
"What are you looking at?" I hear Meg ask incredulously. "Chop chop, hurry up!! It's your memories on the line here, not mine! I've got things to do and places to be!"
I seriously doubted she had "things to do and places to be", but I did not want to risk upsetting Meg and losing my guide. I sighed, and ran after her, ignoring the bursts of pain I got every time I moved.
Yep, I could already tell this was going to be the start of something horrible.
And wouldn't you know it, I was right.