//------------------------------//
// Awakening 
// Story: Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight 
// by h4ns 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 1: Awakening

Bryce sat on a beach towel under an umbrella, laid back, enjoying a cool drink. With no school for the whole week he finally had the time to allow his mind to ease from the constant drone of lectures and the endless note taking and readings. It was made better since he was the only one on the beach. No one to bother him. No one to annoy him. No one to pass judgment. All he had to do was sit back, relax, and feel the ocean spray on his face. 

Ocean spray that smelt a lot like ass!!!

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Bryce awoke to find his German Shepherd licking him and began to swat at his face, "Corn get off, get off I'm up. Just stop blowing your breath in my face."

Riling back, Corn ceased licking his boy as he sat back on his hunches.

Slowly rising up Bryce scratched Corn behind the ears while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his free hand. "You know you don't have to try and kill me each time you want outside." Corn, being a dog, just barked in response. "OK I get it let's get you outside. 

As Bryce finished rubbing his eyes he looked down and saw that he was wearing a pair of cargo shorts, with his key ring in a belt loop, his favorite bear t-shirt, and his tennis shoes. That's weird, why am I in my day clothes? Looking around, he saw that he was not in his room as he had previously thought. Instead of being in bed, he saw he was lying on a patch of soggy grass under a tree. Around him, in place of four walls of drywall, were numerous trees like the one he was under. The only thing that wasn't out of place was his dog Corn.

Reaching for a branch Bryce suddenly felt a heated pain pass through his left arm. Recoiling his arm back he noticed that his entire left arm was covered what looked like a spider's web of burns running from the entirety of his hand, run down to his elbow, and thin out as they reached his shoulder. At his shoulder, Bryce took note of how his t-shirt was burned at the edges.

Well something ain't right about this, what the H happened?, he thought as he slowly turned his arm around to view the burn.

Corn too looked at Bryce's burn and whined with concern. "I know boy, but it feels worse than it looks."

Reaching out again with his right arm Bryce finally pulled himself to his feet and rested his back on the tree he had woken up on. Turning to Corn he said, "Well Corn, have any idea where we are?" 

Corn just stared back without giving a response. "Yeah, me neither."

Still resting his back on the tree, Bryce began to better observe his surroundings. From what he could tell the forest seemed to continue with no apparent end in sight. What struck him as odd was how each tree seemed to almost be dwarfed compared to trees the trees at his house, wherever that was now. The tallest tree he could see couldn't be more that 15 feet in height. 

Looking down Bryce saw a small, green, furry object at Corn's paws. A tennis ball...I remember this... Reaching down for the ball Corn's ears instantly perked up, anticipating for his boy to throw it. We were in the park, playing catch, and then...it started to cloud up...and then..., Bryce thought as he juggled the tennis ball with his good hand.

By now Corn had begun to become impatient and began to bark. 

"OK, OK fine...go get it," Bryce said as he tossed the ball into the distance. Corn immediately took chase.

With his dog occupied for the moment Bryce began to sift through what he knew, "I'm in a forest, could be on the exact opposite side of the world, if this is even the same planet, my left arm is burned, and all he thinks about is playing catch. It must be good to have no worries. Freakin H."

After a few seconds Corn came back and dropped the ball at his boy's feet, which Bryce picked up and placed in one of his side pockets. "That's enough for now boy."

Running his fingers through his curly hair and letting out a sigh Btrian said, "So...which way do you think we should go?" Corn just stared, his tail wagging. "Well, your no help." Reaching his hand into his pocket Bryce pulled out his smart phone. Turning it on he was further disappointed to find that not only was there no signal, but that the battery was almost completely drained of power. "Well that just makes things worse. No cellphone signal, no GPS, my arm hurts like a bitch, it's humid as hell," he said aloud as he grudgingly placed his smart phone back into his pocket and sighed again. Looking at his watch he saw it was a little after 4 pm.

Pushing himself off of the tree Bryce and slowly allowed his legs to bare his weight. Taking a few cautionary steps forward Bryce felt a dull pain in his legs, though not enough to keep him from walking. Corn was following close at his heels. Bryce soon stopped and looked around again, "Fine I'll say it, were lost. Corn you pick a direction."

As if understanding, Corn began to walk off into a random direction. "That way. OK. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. As if I have a better option." 

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After about an hour or two of walking in the direction Corn had chosen, boy and dog eventually came upon a stream. "Thank...God...water," Bryce cried out between breaths. Cupping his hands he knelt down and drank nearly a half gallon of water in almost 30 seconds flat. 

"Tell me the...*cough*...th...*cough*cough*...the truth, did you know this was here Corn are were you just guessing?" Bryce asked as he tried to catch his breath. Corn just continued lapping at the stream. 

Cupping his hands again Bryce poured water over his left arm to try and sooth his burn. Gritting his teeth he knew it had to be done to avoid infection. 

Corn looked up with concern for his boy. Letting out a whine Bryce turned to his dog, "Don't worry boy, I'll live." Taking off his shirt, and carefully taking off his wristwatch, Bryce placed it into the stream to dampen it. Then he wrapped it around his arm so that his fingers were still exposed, exhaling with a pained sigh. 

After about 5 minutes the pain began to ease somewhat. Glancing at his watch he saw it was close to half-past six in the evening and then stuffed it in his pocket with his smart phone. Looking around he saw that that was getting dark, almost too dark to see. "Well Corn you better drink up. We gotta move quick and try to find any form civilization. We're moving in 5 minutes, got it? And I'm picking the direction we go this time." 

Corn just looked up from drinking with a look of confusion. 

"So...where do you think we are anyway?" Bryce asked. "This isn't like any forest I've seen anywhere. What if this is just a coma? No that's not possible, comas aren't . A dream? No it's too feels real." Sighing again he stopped and contemplated his situation. "What if...what if we're dead?" After pausing for another moment he stated, "Can't be that either, my arm hurts...unless this is Hell? But that doesn't explain the stream." 

All Corn could do was stare. 

"You see this is why I like talking to animals, they listen to everything you say, don't interrupt, and most of all can't give any judgement. I love you, Corn." Now if only people could be more like that.

Getting back on his feet Bryce took in the area around him to try and decide which direction to continue their search. Looking up towards the sun Bryce was able to get a sense of direction. 

OK the sun was to our backs when we found this stream. So we've been going East. Turning East he looked to his right. The forest continued to darken as it went on. Turning to the left there was little difference. Reaching into one of his pockets he pulled out his wallet. Rummaging through his wallet he pulled out his lucky penny. Positioning the coin on his thumb nail he flicked it into the air. As it came back down he caught it in his left palm and flattened it on the top of his opposite hand. 

OK heads we go right, tails we go left. He closed his eyes and uncovered the penny. Opening his eyes it was revealed to be tails. "Tails. We go left." As he put the coin back into his wallet he told Corn, "Drink up boy, we're moving." Bending down, Bryce also took a final few sips of water, knowing it could be the last drink they could get in God knows when.

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"Well I'm gonna say it...since you can't...we're fucked." In the two hour since they had left the stream neither boy nor dog had found any civilization to speak of. As far as he could tell they had been going in circles. 

Siting down under a tree in a clearing he put his head on his knees and crossed his arms. "Why did I have to take charge. No food, no shelter, I doubt we could even find that stream again if we even wanted to....Which we do." He then let out a defeated sigh.

Corn strolled over to his boy and lied down at Bryce's feet. "Leave me alone Corn I don't want to be bothered right now."  Corn continued to lie at his feet.

"Corn just...go away." This caused Con to stand up on his front legs and stare at his boy.

Uncrossing his arms he looked back at his dog. "What...what, do you want, I don't have anything for you." Corn let out a bark. "What...you want your ball." Corn just barked again. "Forget it that won't solve anything."

Corn continued to bark. It was beginning to hurt Bryce's ears. Bryce stood and pulled out the ragged tennis ball. "Fine, you know what, there go get it." He then threw it with all his might making Corn take chase. "And just stay out there you ass."

Sitting back down under the tree Bryce huffed. After a minute or two he had calmed down a little and regretted what he had just done. Shit what did I just do. Corn was the only thing I had to talk to. 

After another minute Corn still hadn't returned. Where is he, he should have gotten back by now. At that moment thought he heard rustling in the forest directly in front of him. 

"Corn, is..is that you boy?" The rustling continued.

"Corn?"

More rustling.

"C..Corn?"

More rustling.

"Cornelius if that's you then stop and come out," Bryce shouted into the darkness as he slowly stood.

Still more rustling.

Suddenly the rustling stopped. 

After a minute there was no other sound. Must have just been the wind. Feeling confident Bryce stepped forward. As soon as he dropped his foot a stick snapped under his shoe. 

Then the rustling started again, this time much louder than before. 

At hearing this Bryce immediately froze up, unable to move, breath, or even think.

As the rustling got closer Bryce began to sweat out of fear.

Then a large being jumped into the clearing. 

Without thinking Bryce picked up the first thing he reached out for anything to use as a weapon and caught a large stick. Gripping it as hard as he could Bryce swung at the thing in front of him. When the stick connected, the creature let out a yelp. Immediately Bryce released his grip on the stick, "Shit, holy shit." At that moment Brain had relieved his mistake. "Corn I'm sorry, I...I thought you were...I don't know. Why didn't you bark or...something. Oh God don't let me have killed the only thing I have as a friend." 

Bending down he saw a gash running along Corn's left shoulder. 

"Damn it Corn I'm sorry, I didn't know." 

Corn let out a pained whine and tried to stand. Bryce pushed him back down. "Just stay down boy." 

Bryce then unwrapped his shirt from his burned arm and wrapped it around Corn. "OK now we just...I don't know, damn it Corn what do we do now?" 

Corn started to nudge his ball. 

"Corn, not now your hurt."

Corn nudged his ball again. 

"Corn I said..."

Bryce stopped when he saw what Corn was trying to get Bryce to notice. Instead of Corn's old, green tennis ball there was instead a large, red object. An apple? He then picked it up and sank his teeth into it savoring the sweet taste, though a little more sweet then he was used to.

Well this certainly isn't something you'd find in a forest. That means there must be something out that way. "Can you walk boy. I know it's going to hurt but I don't have the strength to carry you." 

Corn soon got onto his feet and walked back the way he came. Bryce noticed a limp as his dog walked. "Hey, go slow boy, don't overexert yourself," Bryce said as he began to follow close after his wounded dog.

In a few minutes Corn had retraced his steps to the edge of the forest. When they exited the forest Bryce was surprised to find an apple orchard. He almost cried at the sight. 

Bryce then ran to the closest tree and began to reach out for the apples closest to the ground. When he finally grasped one he began to gorge himself on it like he did on the one Corn had found. This is the best tasting thing I've ever had thus far in my life. 

As he finished on the current apple he started to reach for another but was stopped when Corn whined bringing Bryce back to reality. "Oh, right you're injured. Well let's get moving, I doubt this is a natural orchard."

Just as Bryce began to move Corn let out another whine which caused Bryce to turn back. He saw his dog curled up under the tree he'd picked apples from. "What's the matter boy, you tired?" Corn just continued to lie down. Bryce again looked at his watch and, from the dim light of the half moon, saw it was almost 9 in the evening. "Well we have been going nonstop for almost five hours in that damned humidity," Bryce let out a sigh. "We might as well try and sleep if we can, start fresh in the morning."

Walking back to the tree Bryce laid his back against the bark and began to remove his shoes and socks. Looking around he saw that the apple orchard, just like the forest they had just exited, seemed to continue on forever. Even if we did continue on this place could go on for miles, and I can't leave Corn after what happened. 

Pushing himself off the tree Bryce walked towards a smaller, younger tree a short distance away. Ducking under a low branch he unzipped his pants and relieved himself. When he was finished he zipped his shorts and turned to walk back to Corn. However, this time he wasn't watching where he was going and smacked his head on the branch he'd just dodged not a full minute before.

"Damn it...that hurt like a bitch," Bryce yelled out as loud as he could. In his rage he kicked the tree hurting his foot. Grabbing his foot he tipped over onto his back. While he was down he kicked the tree again with his heel causing an apple to drop down and hit Bryce directly on his already hurting forehead. 

After that Bryce finally admitted defeat and just lied there. "Well there's no way this could get any worse," Bryce said out loud to no one in particular. 

At that exact moment a soufflé of dark clouds began to drift overhead from the direction of the forest. Bryce was angered beyond words that yet existed.

Picking himself up quickly he ran back to tree Corn was under just as a clap of thunder sounded overhead followed by a shower of pelting rain. The tree they were under provided just enough cover to keep all but Bryce's feet dry. Turning to Corn he saw that his dog was staring at him, "Don't. Say. ANYTHING! Just...go to sleep. We'll figure out what to do in the morning. Goodnight. Love you." He exhaled, "and I'm sorry about what happened. Just...don't die on me, not now."

As Bryce slowly drifted off to sleep he again thought there was no way things could be any worse tomorrow then they had been today.