Forgotten Past - Part 1 - Prologue

Kagekao looked out at the sky. It was a beautiful blue, fluffy white clouds drifted by the hot sun lazily. Birds sang their happy songs joyfully as they swooped through the air. It was midday; too soon to go out and ‘play.’

Kage was sitting on the roof of a house, just thinking to himself. His hood was down and his black and white striped scarf was flowing in the wind. He felt odd, like something was there, but then again it wasn’t. The feeling made him feel depressed and sad. He felt like he was forgetting something important, and he desperately wanted to remember it.

Someone else climbed onto the roof and approached him. Kage turned his head to see who it was. He turned and looked back at the sky when he saw who it was. The person had on a beige fur lined gray hoodie along with a fox mask. The face on the mask was happy, even though that’s not how he felt.

“何か間違った、カイ？” (Is there something wrong, Kai?) Kage inquired.

Kai waved his hand ‘No,’ then he stopped for a moment, and signaled with his sign language to talk to Kage.

‘Actually, I’m a bit worried about you, Kage.’ He said using his complicated mode of communication. Kage was looking at Kai to know what he was saying, but remained silent.

‘What’s wrong? All you’ve been doing recently was sitting by yourself; it’s not like you.’ Kai sat down next to Kage.

Kage sighed.

“わかんない; nothing big really happened recently to make me feel this way. I just feel like . . . I’m missing something, or forgetting something. Something is there, but I can’t quite grasp what it is.” (I don’t know.)

Kai didn’t respond, and they both sat in silence. After a few minutes, Kage stood up and began to walk away. Kai got up to follow, but Kage stopped him.

“I think I’d rather be alone, Kai.”

Kai stopped and sat back down, watching as Kage jumped from the roof to another and then out of sight.

* * *

Kagekao left the residential area and into the city area. He climbed onto the roof of one of the buildings, relying on the few shadows of the day to conceal himself. On the roof, he looked down at the people walking around. There were the streets with the cars on them, and then there was a small playground in a park.

In the playground there were humans. They were happy, chatting with each other and the children were playing on the playground. Watching the happy families he realized what’s been bothering him; his own family.

Kage couldn’t remember his own family. His mother, his father, these words brought nothing to his memory; no voices, no faces, no memories at all. Brother? Sister? These words brought no memory as well. Who knew, he might not even have parents, or siblings.

The farthest he could remember into his childhood was an old room at the top of an abandoned building. He couldn’t remember any others at all; at least, no friends or family. He couldn’t remember if they had gotten separated somehow, or if they abandoned him.

Kage took off his black and white mask and looked at it. And this mask; he couldn’t remember how he had gotten it either. He had had it for as long as he could remember, it felt like a part of him. Something in his mind told him to always wear it, so he did.

Kage put his mask back on. Next to that; why couldn’t he remember? Something must have happened to wipe his memory away, but of course, he couldn’t remember that either.

He concentrated, trying to dig up a memory, any memory, of his family; no success. Kage sighed again and looked up at the clouds; what had happened to him?