Mercer awoke with a strange poking sensation on the tip of his lightly freckled nose. Slowly, he opened his aqua colored eyes to see a soft faced girl staring intently at him, poking him with a stick. She looked about his age.
Mercer blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing correctly, even thought there was nothing wrong, physically with the girls soft features, the look in her pale eye seemed alien, otherworldly.
Carefully, he sat up and noticed the world around him, strange things. The grass he lie in seemed wrong, still, there was nothing physically wrong with it, Mercer could sense that this wasn't the same grass he had come to know in the last 17 years. The strange trees surrounding the strange meadow. The strange flowers swaying gently in the strange breeze. All of it was wrong! It frustrated Mercer, he just had so many questions. Where was he? Was he still himself? Who was the girl?
Several seconds passed since Mercer sat up. There was a long silence where the girl starred in awe. Quickly, the gentle breeze turned into a near gale force wind. Abruptly, the girl said:

"Hi I'm Alice, whats yours?" Even her voice had the same off putting abnormality.

"I-I think that I'm Mercer...yes Mercer." He stammered.

The wind grew even faster now, to the point where both were almost blown over. Slowly, Mercer took off his glasses, careful not to let them be blown away, and moved them into the sunlight so his reflection was visible. He was definitely himself, but how he knew that he had no idea. He couldn't remember if he had a home, or a family for that matter. This was weird, scary even. He seemed completely coherent, yet couldn't remember his past at all, almost as if he had amnesia, but different still. As he stared into the reflection, he saw his messy, dirty blonde hair that would've fallen just over his eyebrows, if the wind wasn't blowing it to almost a 90 degree angle.

Ominous clouds drifted in, covering the sun, turning a windy summer day into a picture perfect storm.

"We can go to my house until this wind dies down! Follow me!" Alice suggested, trying to shout over the wind.

"Good Idea, I might have a lot of questions though!" Mercer shouted. He stood and dusted himself off.

That's when the fire came.