Here I was, cold and alone. The state I was in was one of confusion and dizziness. The question of where I was had been ringing throughout my mind the entirety of the day. My eyes remained closed and my mind was still flourishing with depressing memories. Last I remembered, I was in the forest and was headed towards a light. After that, the most recent recollection was of being dragged away. My mind began to race in fear of what had taken me. What would I do if it was a killer? If it was some sick "fucker" who wanted to chop me up and feed me to his dogs, all the while using my finger bones as tooth picks. My mind now started panicking, but my body was too weak for any sort of response that required movement. Along with the rest of the day’s happenings, this left my thoughts swarmed with questions. What time was it? How long had I been out here? My body felt as if it had died, as if my soul was abandoned inside of the vessel. My eyes forbid to open and my knees had still been in pain from crawling on the dirt road for so long. 

Well, I suppose I was alive, seeing that I was feeling pain. I gave up attempting to figure out where I was once I accepted I would not find an answer until I came across somebody. The most important goal at the moment was to get up and move. I wanted the pain to fade so I did my best to set my mind on calming down and relaxing. Without energy or not, I was not going to die awake and in a hellish state of mind. This night has to be the absolute worst night I've experienced yet. I say yet because if I do live, I’m positive I will have another one just as horrid, if not worse. I dozed off slightly after I became lost in my thoughts, worries and questions.

As if in the blink of an eye, my sleep was over. The bones in my body were killing me, but despite that, I had enough energy to sit up from where I laid upon the ground. I was light-headed as well and my body fell backwards. I felt my back hit a wall of, what seemed to be, stone and my mind snapped immediately to the past. It was the wall. I remembered the large fortress-like wall, with the light attached, from before I had passed out, and now, here I was! Hope blossomed in my thoughts when I realized there could be a person near here, or beyond the wall, that could help me. Due to excitement, my eyes peaked open and, before me, the torch I had seen sat on the wall. So I was correct; this was what I had came acrossed earlier. The question now was, "what had taken me after I collapsed down into the dirt?" 

It felt as if I had been there forever so I began to move my legs to find a comfortable position in which I could wait and gain energy. The more I thought about the large wall, the more my heart glimmered with hope. There was no time for negative thoughts because, once I found a reason to hope, I was filled with the motivation needed to keep moving. At this point, I preferred this wretched place more than where I was before. Quite honestly, I'd rather die near a mysterious wall than suffer over any abusive heathen. Every minute, this idea sounded more and more appealing. You may call me crazy, but this did seem better than what I had. Going from nothing to just slightly more sounds like it'd be a great book name. Oh, how my mind loves to grow distracted! My thoughts voiced themselves and I laughed at the sound of my speaking. I tilted off of the backing I leaned against in a fit of coughing. Out loud, over and over, I spoke, "I'm going to die here." Yes... This had to be it. I had taken a deep dive into the madness of my head and was lost in it. My chest felt like it was about to cave in on me. I grew dizzy and without breath from the spazzed laughter and then, after a moment, my mind returned to its calmer state. As I laid there, I heard footsteps approach. Unable to turn my head, or move my body, due to the lack of energy, I just set my sights on the sky above. My mind was relaxed and focused on the footsteps that were heading my way, but then the sound ended and I heard the voice of a female. 

"Well look at you, Mr. Cutie, you're finally awake," the voice said to me. Standing above me, the person was nearly face to face with me. They looked upside down because of the angle in which my vision was but it was clear to me that I was, indeed, looking at a person. As for how she looked, bizarre was the word that held the most truth. She had a red suit on, with a black tie attached to her undershirt, and her hair was this snow white color followed by red tips at the end. Her eyes were the color of crimson blood tainted by yellow; a glowing fire. She spoke once more, "I caught a handsome one this time. Super handsome, in fact." She proceeded to pick me up with one hand only and looked me in the eyes. I could not believe the sight I was beholding. She had picked me up with the use of only one arm. Who was this woman? She pulled me closer, whispering, "I like you. You're quite the attractive one." She kissed my lips and I melted into the embrace as if I was dreaming. She was not normal, but I think I liked it so I decided to give myself to the moment. Wind rushed passed my form and I smashed into the stone wall behind me. A groan escaped my lips as she gripped my shirt and insulted me by calling me utterly weak.

"How dare you come to this place when you can’t even hold your own fucking body up. You’re absolutely pathetic," she said to me, anger flavoring her tone, then she swung her arm out to the side of her body and tossed me to the ground like a ragdoll. Just a moment ago I was being kissed sweetly, and now she was being positively psychotic. Her foot kicked me in the side hard enough to make my frail body roll completely, then she leaned over me and took my shoulder to make me face her. She sat down upon my legs and looked over me with this strange look of curiosity. This purring sound escaped her form and she drew to closer my face as she clawed into my chest. I had no idea what to do, so I had laid there and watched her with curiosity sparking in my own eyes. Softly she spoke, "you are my toy," then she crushed her right fist into my face so hard that I had seen a bright flash of light.  She stood up and began to walk away, speaking loudly, "You're but a broken toy that can’t even move his own body. You're this doll composed of no emotion, and I just despise dolls." She had crossed her arms on her chest then leaned back against the wall. I was unsure of how to react, but if there was ever a better time to do so, it would be at this moment. I could not let her escape my grasp.

"Help me," I pleaded, reaching my hand towards her. She raised her arms with a smile and yelled, "It speaks." She walked over to me then leaned my weakened figure against the wall and stared at me with a blank look, her arms drawn behind her back. I looked back at her and with heavy breath, asked, "who are you?" After straightening back out, she took two steps backwards, put her arms in the air and spinned elegantly, stating, "I am Kingato, the gate keeper." In my head, I asked myself, "the gates to what?" She went on to explain shortly after, telling me, "this is my wall and I am the care taker, and chosen one of its beauty, by order by the king." I looked at her, my gaze full of wonder as my thoughts now questioned the idea of a king. So there were more people behind the gate. I spoke out to her and said, "I wish to go to the other side of the wall. I want to go passed your gates." She returned my gaze, looking into my eyes, then smiled and shook her head. She sat beside me, turned to face me, then stared at me, saying, “you have no idea what’s on the other side of this wall of mine, do you?" I responded with a grin, trying to be a smartass, and mumbled, "People." She laughed softly then hit me gently while standing. Her voice, now colored with excitement, rang down to me as she began moving away, "Once you're able to move once more, head in the direction I now take and find my home. I'll be but a knock away." She began fading in the distance, humming a melody to herself as she walked. I was left to sit against the stone wall by myself, where I would relax and gain my strength back once more. After the pain faded away slightly, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep state of sleep. 

It had been hours later when I awoke and I had felt more alive than I had been before. I looked up to the sky, but the sun had not come and the darkness above was still embraced by storm clouds. I pushed off of the dirt covered ground with both hands and moved my legs out from under me. My back ached painfully due to the night before, and I sighed. Out loud to myself, I said, "so this is where I must continue on." I managed to get myself up and I headed the same direction Kingato did before. I used the wall as a support as I walked and my eyes watched the forest from the night before. I couldn't help but to continue believing that this could possibly just be a dream. The wind blew through the trees and I inhaled the sweet scent of fresh air. I wasn't used to air that held such a fresh scent. It was wonderful. I had been happy to know that I was alive, and had not died after last night's events, which were still lingering in my mind. 

A question popped into my thoughts as I walked along the wall. Had I been kidnapped? I didn't remember ever hearing about a huge wall or a crazy, white haired woman being its owner. It was also quite odd that I had relived all of those horrid memories with absolutely no control over them or the pain that accompanied them. First, it was intense pain and memories that I wished to abandon, and then it was a strange and powerful woman giving me a beating, and not in the good way. The place around me was starting to feel more and more like magic. Before I knew it, I was approaching a small building that was sat in front of these gates that seemed the height of seven or eight stories. Well, at least I knew the woman from before, Kingato, was not lying when she had informed me to head this way. I stopped moving and began to admire the gate for its massive size and craftsmanship. It was as if it was a missing wonder of the world! I could not help but wish to gaze over its lasting beauty and fill its presence with appreciation. I took a step back, attempting to gain a better view, and tripped on some unknown object, only to land in the arms of the suited woman.

"Hellooooo," she said, directly in my face as soon as I was in her arms, to which I responded with, “Oh crap!" She then tossed me ahead of her and I landed on my feet in front of the gate before us. She waited as I balanced myself, then began with, "so you decided to come, have you?" She paused in her sentence, then continued, "good, now if you'll come inside, we have a lot to cover before you may go." I looked at her and asked if I had the choice or not. She blatantly replied with, "You can either do as I say or wander back into the Valley to die. That’s a path up to your liking.” She walked inside the building and, after a glance back at the gate, I then proceeded to walk into the house after her. The door was closed behind me and I was told to have a seat so that she could answer any questions that I had. The inside of her home was very small and looked as if there had not been a visitor in quite some time. There was one bed, and a table with four seats, three of which looked like they had not been used in years. She had a collection of books, which had spines that were broken as if they had been opened and used repeatedly. The rest of her belongings looked to be items used only for survival purposes. I had been so interested in inspecting what she had, that I had not seen she was busy setting up for me. I heard a loud bang then I turned to see that she had slammed a chair in the middle of the floor, and told me, "sit." I walked up to the chair then dusted off the seat and sat down as she commanded. She pulled up her own chair and turned it so she could sit in it backwards while looking at me in silence. Not sure of what to say, I let the quiet room take over. 

"Do you even know where it is that you are?" She demanded, her voice breaking the silence. I shook my head no and she placed her forehead against the back part of the seat. Sighing, she glared at me and said with no hesitation, "you are going to be killed, you poor bastard of a soul.” I returned her gaze and responded with, "I can take care of myself, now that I’m back up on my feet." She just rolled her eyes and told me that I am "much too weak with my emotions to enter her gates." I asked her, "how so?" and she answered back with a question of her own. "How long were you walking on that forest path?" I told her it was "all night long" and that it felt like "hours upon hours." She said to me that "each mile I walked, I would have to relive a bad memory" and that "the experience would only grow worse over time." She was telling me the forest was trying to teach me something? I asked her "what I would learn from that," to which she replied, "the more pain you endure, the stronger you will be when it comes to emotion. When you can overcome your emotions, you will then reach my gate. You failed in the fact that you ran out of bad memories to unbury, so the Valley let you reach its end." I pursued my lips. "What do I do because of my failure?" was the next question I asked. She then told me this, "the Valley could not teach you so you will either be damned to suffer and die alone here, or pass through my gates and be killed by the hollow Suits on the other side.” Then I had asked the women “Is there any other way” and she replayed to me “well I have not had someone to keep me company in so long. I could try something if you would not mind.” I looked at her and said “What is it you would do?” She then said “If you ran out of memory I will give you some.” I was unsure what this meant so I said in a questionable tone of voice “Give me memory?” The woman’s had sparked like a mad scientist and she jumped out of her seat then began to walk around the room explaining how it would go. “Yes! I could just simply gather the memory of our past guest from the Valley and insert it into your mind.” In my head of course I said it. Yup…This chick is fucking insane. How in the world could you gather something in someone else’s mind and place it into another living being. It just was not right one bit. So I had to call her out on this and just agree. “Ok let’s do it.” I said and she gave a smile then proceeded to walk outside into the Valley.

I had followed the women outside as she stated walking to the forest. She stopped and looked at me “I need some space.” So I stepped back and watched her get on her knees and spread her arms out wide as she looked up at the sky. The forest trees started to all bend towards her and then a flash of light sparked along with a pressure so great it tossed me into the wall of her home. At that moment of the light flashing she looked like someone else but it’s hard to remember after hitting my head off of the wall.  Before I knew it she was up and in front of me holding her hand out. I grabbed her by the wrist and then she pulled me up. We began to walk into her home where soon my new life would fall into place.

Chapter 3 Comeing soon