Downpour must have fallen earlier that evening. I felt my eyelids wince as the rain trickled the last of its silent tears upon my face. I laid, quite still and relaxed on the soft, damp earth, savoring every note that the nighttime lullaby whispered.. cool breeze, crickets and all. I knew I had to get up.

Onto my feet I staggered, balance impaired and feeling incredibly… light headed…

Random questions streamed into my consciousness that night. How did I get there in the first place? Where was I? More importantly, who was I? All I saw was my own pitiful reflection — that of a lost, nameless stranger, standing alone at the foot of a cliff. Other than myself, no one was in sight.

If I wasn’t an angel sent down from heaven, surely I must have been an ordinary man who simply fell off that steep terrain. But why can’t I remember anything? This scar on my left arm would spell my only hope. Perhaps my family — if I had one — had been looking for a missing man with this mark.

Incidents that occurred soon after I clambered back to civilization were not very helpful in pointing out where I should set forth.

First, I happened to observe at a distance this skinny teenage boy being raised by the collar by a strapping young man. If I did not make a move then to hamper a potential crime, I bet no one else would! So bravely, I marched toward the pair of young men. They seemed to have recognized my presence, for the muscle bound guy hastily dropped his prey like a hot potato then bolted, with the would-be victim close at his heels… That was odd, I thought. I was only going to say a word or two, but the assailant seemed to have taken it too hard.. and even more peculiar than that, the skinny guy did so too.

Moments later, I encountered along the path a group of  five teenagers, two of which were girls, one was gay and the other two were boys. With a flicker of hope, I knew it was my chance to ask for some directions, as I could not remember where the police station was. The youths were exchanging hearty laughs and cheerful conversations that no one seemed to have seen me approaching, except for a sallow, sick-looking girl who was apparently feeling faint. This time I knew I had used the correct term, for she literally collapsed to the ground seconds after I beheld her pallid visage. Normally, all her companions’ attention was automatically diverted to her revival.. thus I stood there, disregarded like any other stranger . I was beginning to think that nature was against my right to existence.

Still, I wandered in my aimless journey, and after a couple of hours walk down the long winding road, I finally reached a vacated bus terminal where I met this kind old lady. Her gnarled hand clutched her cane so tightly as she shifted weight from one foot to another. The stack of newspapers slipped from under her other arm without her notice, so I picked them up and offered my arm to help her limp toward a nearby bench. She gently tapped my arm and said  in an unmistakably motherly tone “You seem like a very nice man, but what are you doing here at this time of the night? Why are you alone?” At this I felt like a helpless, lost child.. moved by concern and self pity. I was sure that tears would well up my eyes any moment, but then they didn’t. I opened my mouth to speak, but not a sound came out.