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The muddy-brown leaves crunched underneath Ezekiel’s feet as he made his way through the trees. The place seemed so familiar, somewhere out of a forgotten memory, but he couldn't quite place it. The harder he tried to grasp onto the thought, the harder it was to remember.
For some reason, Ezekiel felt panicked. He didn't know why but his breath came in sharp pants, distorting the chilly winter’s air with steam. He felt an uncomfortable fluttering in his stomach and a burning in his cheeks.
Ezekiel gently gnawed on his bottom lip as he wandered further into the wooded area. His steps were both deliberate and clumsy at the same time. He didn't know what direction he needed to go, he just knew that he had to make his way out. He had to get out.
He quickened his pace as his eyes darted wildly around, searching for an exit. He became more desperate as the time passed by. He let out small noises of frustration and fear. Why couldn't he get out? It was almost as if he was going around in circles. He kept ending up in the same place, he was sure of it.
Ezekiel came to a halt and gazed into the distance. He needed to think up a strategy. He'd escaped impossible places before, why was this any different? He took a few moments to try and catch his breath and leant against the nearest tree. The bark was rough and coarse underneath his hands. He paused for a while, contemplating the miracle of nature. He ran his hands over the tree trunk, really taking in its texture but he suddenly withdrew his hand with a hiss of pain. That had hurt! He inspected his hand before cradling it against his chest. The skin wasn't reddened or broken. It was strange. He definitely felt pain but there was nothing there to show it. Maybe he'd been bitten?
Ezekiel gingerly removed his hand from his chest and searched for any type of puncture wound to no avail. He'd been bitten before and it didn't feel like this. It was funny, it seemed like his hand was burning. It felt like a burn but there was no mark. No reddened skin, no blisters, nothing. There was that feeling again, a distant memory trying to resurface. Why couldn't he just remember?
Something felt too familiar. Déjà vu crept into Ezekiel’s mind. He'd definitely felt the burning sensation before. He'd also ended up at the same place no matter what he did before too. The part of Ezekiel's focus that wasn't on his pain was trying to piece everything together but he was grasping at straws. He didn't have long to think on it as the pain got so intense that it was the only thing he could focus on.
His whole body was shaking from the agony and a few tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes. What was wrong with him? How had things got out of control so quickly? Ezekiel sank to his knees and curled into a ball, protecting his hand against his body. He took a few steadying breaths in attempt to will away his pain.
He screwed his eyes shut and the next thing he knew, he was in a brightly lit room. Confused, Ezekiel sat up slowly from his supine position and glanced around at his surroundings. Eve and Stone were both looking at him, concern etched onto their faces. He'd clearly interrupted some sort of research as they had plenty of books spread out in front of them.
Ezekiel rubbed at his eyes and neck. He'd been asleep. That explained so much. It was so strange, however, as it felt so real. Ezekiel peered down at his hand. He still felt phantom pains left over from his dream but everything had gone back to normal.
“Are you okay?” Eve hesitantly asked. It was if she was unsure about how to react around the young thief. Stone was equally concerned but he hid it better the the Guardian. To anyone else, it still seemed as though his was still engrossed in his research but Ezekiel could tell he was worried as he looked up at him at random intervals.
“I'm fine,” Ezekiel said in a cheery tone. He felt strange but he was fine so he wasn't exactly lying.
“Are you sure?” Eve said. Her face softened as she gazed at him. It had only been a couple of hours since they'd been through the video game that Ezekiel didn't remember. He still wasn't used to the looks that the others had been giving him.
“I'm sure,” Ezekiel replied more forcefully. He just wanted things to get back to normal so he'd been treated normally again.
“Okay,” Eve said. She raised her hands in surrender and lowered her eyes back to her research. Ezekiel didn't think that she had let the issue drop but if she could act normal then so could he.
Over the next few days, Ezekiel had strange dreams. Some were the same and some were different but all of them felt real. Some were horrifying. Those were the days he woke up screaming out for his fellow librarians and guardian, afraid to go back to sleep. He'd taken to sleep only when others weren't around him for fear of worrying them further or breaking the fragile façade that he was so desperately clinging too. He really didn't want everyone to treat him differently.
Some of the dreams were fulfilling and triumphant. Those were the days he woke up quoting Robert Frost and putting his newly acquired skills to the test, in private of course. He didn't want anyone to know how he knew the stuff he did. He could live in denial as long as everyone else played their part too.
Maybe he was getting his memories back from the video game? Who could tell? Nobody really knew for certain what had actually happened. It was all but a distant dream.