Warped Reality: The First World 1.10
Kelly Schultz 3/17/02
{ HYPERLINK "mailto:Kelly@vampirethemasquerade.com" }Kelly@vampirethemasqu=
erade.com
{ HYPERLINK "mailto:skychan@mitsukai.com" }skychan@mitsukai.com
{ HYPERLINK "mailto:mr_Kelly_schultz@hotmail.com" }mr_Kelly_schultz@hotmai=
l.com
It was another nice day in residential St. Paul. The sky was
blue, the grass a brilliant green and the sweet scent of blooming
flowers was in the air. Conrad, however, missed nature=92s entire
glory, walking along oblivious to the outside world. His nose
was deeply buried in a book, his steps however, unerringly
found their way towards his destination downtown, without a
need for conscious thought. Despite his lack of attention
Conrad continued on undisturbed by others. At six foot three
not many people tended to bother the introverted young man.
Dressed as usual in one of his many pairs of tans pants, and a
dark green windbreaker, he presented an unassuming air to the
outside world.
Something=92s wrong though Conrad, shaken out of his
book by a sudden feeling of disquiet. As he looked up, brushing
a hand through his dirty-blonde hair the high school graduate
unconsciously replaced his latest book into the USA cup duffle,
ever-present at his side. Glancing around his worries sharpened,
feeling that something was definitely wrong. He was now
surrounded by newer concrete buildings instead of the
accustomed brick of downtown, that and the fact that all the
signs in sight were written in Kanji.
As he continued to walk along in a state of stunned
disbelief and mild shock his mind began to assimilate other facets
of his surroundings. The few signs not written in Kanji were
combinations of Katakana, Hiragana, and while roman
characters definitely not English. While before the people
around him had been mainly a mix of Hispanic, Black, and
Caucasian, now he saw waves of Asians broken up only by a
black man who was quickly swallowed up by the crowd.
Taking a moment to build up his courage he finally
approached a nearby Asian man dressed in a business suit.
=93Um, can you tell me where I am?=94 Conrad asked, =93I don=92t
know quite how I got here. Can you help me?=94
To his slight dismay and disappointment the man quickly
shook his head bowing slightly and replying =93I sorry, no good
engrish=94 before he went on his way.
Now wandering aimlessly and thoroughly confused,
Conrad began to walk towards what appeared to be a high
school campus. As he approached it, he began to overhear
some of the conversations that students were holding over lunch,
enough for him to realize they were speaking Japanese. Well, at
least all the money I spent on anime has paid off a little he
thought wryly to himself. I think I can understand one word in
ten, maybe they have an English department. With this new plan
in mind he started forward into the grounds.
=93Tasukete onegaishimasu=94 a polite voice asked breaking
Con out of his thoughts, bringing him back to the immediate
reality of the world around him. Looking up he saw a cute
Asian girl in a typical navy Japanese school uniform. She had
short black hair so dark that the sunlight seemed to cause blue
highlights whenever she moved.
=93What? I mean, Nani, I mean, Im sorry, I don=92t speak
Japanese.=94 Was his stuttered reply to the smoothly flowing
question that proved unfortunately beyond his meager linguistic
skills picked up from watching anime.
=93Can I be of any assistance to you sir? I am sorry that
my English is poor but I will help if I can.=94 The girl replied almost
flawlessly.
=93Well, somehow I=92ve gotten lost. Do you think you
could help me reach the American embassy?=94 He asked, trying
to hide his embarrassment and hoping that she didn=92t think he
sounded like a complete idiot.
She nodded in understanding. =93Let me go ask
permission to go with you, its not all that far from here. Ill be
right back, please wait for me.=94 Then turning she walked
quickly out of sight into the building before them.
Left alone with his thoughts Conrad sat down on a
nearby bench trying to figure out exactly what had happened to
him. He mentally compiled a list of what he did know for
certain. I am in Japan, I was in Minnesota this morning, and I
have no idea how I got from there to here. With a sigh he
leaned back, discarding first one theory and then another until
finally deciding that the only possible explanation was that he
somehow had amnesia. The subsequent onset of depression
and self pity were averted by the return of the energetic
Japanese student from earlier.
=93My teacher decided that because I was far enough
ahead in my classes that It would be alright for me to take the
time to show you how to get to the embassy.=94 Her smile had an
energizing affect as she stood waiting for him to join her. As she
lead him to the buss stop she asked curiosity peaking in her blue
eyes, =93What brought you to Japan? Are you working here or on
a vacation?=94
=93Well,=94 He replied, =93I was planning to come after
college but I guess I decided to come a bit earlier.=94 He paused
for a moment wanting to answer truthfully and unsure how to
proceed. =93I suppose I don=92t really have any idea about what I
want to do or see while I=92m here.=94
=93Well if that is the case I think it would be fun to get
together and learn about our two cultures, would you like to
meet sometime later this week?=94 She cheerfully replied missing
the subtleties in his tone of voice. =93Here is my telephone
number, give me a call when you get back to your hotel and we
can plan something.=94 She said handing him a small card.
=93Thanks a lot, my name is Conrad Borsting but you can
just call me Con.=94 He replied, reaching out to take the offered
piece of paper.
=93Oh, Im very sorry, my name is Mizuno Ami=94 She said,
bowing slightly as Con simply stood there blinking slightly glazed
eyes. =93To get to the U.S. embassy just take this bus and get off
after you see the large American flag, you can not miss it.
Goodbye it was nice to meet you and I look forward to talking
with you later.=94 With that she was off, running back to school so
that she would miss the absolute minimum amount of class time
possible.
No way, there is just no way this is happening to me
Conrad thought as he numbly stepped onto the bus. This just
cant be real, okay now, get a hold of yourself, this is all just a big
coincidence and nothing to worry about=85 His mind whirled as
the scenery passed swiftly by, missing the few stares he drew
from his fellow passengers. Eventually as he reached the
Embassy building he had calmed down enough to think lucidly
again, enough to murmur a thank you to the driver as he paid his
fare and stepped off. After searching his pockets and bag he
found not only a small amount of yen, but his passport and
directions in English with a room number to a hotel.
Walking into the embassy and not really knowing what
else to do he asked to speak with the ambassador. However
this was not to be, after he was shuffled through what seemed to
be countless offices and tried to explain at least a dozen times
finally it was determined that he should speak with the embassy
staff doctor. As he was led down the hall several times he was
told not to worry, and that everything would be fine, to which of
course he had the natural response of becoming more nervous
and worrying more. It took the doctor only about twenty
minutes to get the full lucid story after calming him down again.
=93From what you have been able to tell me I find it
probable that you are suffering from a form of temporary
amnesia. However because the amount of time that you cannot
recall is such a short period I am quite confident you will recall it
soon. This loss of memory was probably due to stress, the
shock of being immersed suddenly in a completely different
society and culture without a safety net or anything familiar to
rely upon. I believe that the best thing you can do right now,
both to regain your memories and to recover from your
experience would be for you to stay here, in the Embassy where
you can have the familiar contact of other English speakers as
well as learning Japanese. In this way you will both become
more able to cope with the world around you here in Japan, and
be sheltered here whenever things threaten to become too
overwhelming. For now I am recommending as a doctor that
you go and get a good nights sleep. We will arrange for your
belongings to be transferred here for the time being. I don=92t
want you to worry about anything, we will make all the
arrangements.=94 Standing up he ushered a both relieved and
freshly worried Conrad to the door, =93Mr. Talbot here can show
you to your new room, make yourself comfortable and
above all relax.=94
Stopping just inside the room Conrad turned back to
him, =93Thank you very much Doctor, I am thankful for all of your
help. I really appreciate what your doing for me.=94 The trip to
what would be his new home was short and uneventful,
collapsing on his bed he quickly slipped unconscious, mentally
worn out from the days events.
This is a part of a story I first wrote many years ago and almost
lost all of the electronic copys I had stored. Thankfully I had a
printed copy, but Im not certain if it remains the most recent
version I wrote. If you do happen to have an old archive hidden
away with the rest could you email it to me so I can compair them
as I rewrite this story.
I am going to post it roughly in the same sections as the first time I
did so, but the nameing conventions will be slightly differnt because
of where I have decided to put the larger chapter stops once I finish
rewriteing each piece.
oh, and btw I would LOVE a reaver plushie.
Kelly Schultz
Skywise, Skychan
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