Day 1 "Welcome Back to Life Mr. Castro"

The sun was cold.  That is right, the sun was cold.  Why in all that made sense would the sun be cold?  Oliver Castro knew not why the sun was cold; he only knew that this day in July it was.  To make things even weirder; the leaves were the rich color of yellow and brown and falling from the trees.  The wind whistled gaily as if nothing in the world was out of place.
Oliver had just been walking to the bus stop on his way to work.  It was such a simple and innocent act that he barely paid any attention to it at all, but here he was; the sun cold, the leaves falling, and in the middle of the forest.  That was it.  One minute he was surrounded by concrete and that which was safe and man made.  The world he had known his entire life on the streets of Palm Springs. The one that had made the most sense to him.  Comfortable and comforting concrete was now replaced by this dark brooding cold-sunned forest.
Should he walk forward?  Or maybe turn around and go back the way he came in hopes that he would find his shoes caresing warm asphalt again.  How had crossing the street lead him here instead of the number 53 going downtown?
He slowly turned around only to find that the forest had in fact swallowed him whole.  He was surrounded by this hideous, bright, tree infested, leaf covered, flower scented, wild life filled, and horribly open forest.
He started to cry.  Why in the world would this twenty year old young man find tears coming to his eyes in such a place?  The thought of his family was nowhere to be seen or heard.  The horns of the cars around him were no longer hanging in the air.  The bright light hanging above him...
Man made light?  Was this forest a dream? A joke? Was he on camera?  Oliver wiped the tears from his eyes.  There was no way he was going to cry if he was on camera.  He was twenty years old for the love of man.  He wasn't about to lose it on national television. 
He walked in the direction he was facing, because he really thought that it was as good as any. 
Oliver walked for what seemed like ages.  The sun started to go down and the forest seem to glow.  The trucks of the trees acting as natural florescence.  The sweet sounds of birds making their final calls to the day light before they turned in for the night.  The chatter of squirrels as they counted and recounted the number of acorns they had hidden within their homes so that maybe later they would have enough for a nice midnight snack. Disgusted Oliver to his very core. 
He called out for anyone.  Anyone at all.  The birds answered.  He called out again.  Again for anyone at all.  The trees and their leaves answered.  The quiet peace at which the forest laid to rest for the night answered.  The sweet smell of some sort of honeysuckle answered.  The soft feel of newly formed north-pointing moss answered.
He was terribly alone.
He chose not to eat, for there were too great a number of things that he had to choose from.
He sat down making sure not to touch any of the disgusting trees.  How he wished for four walls or even a lamp post.  Something that made sense to him...
There was a bright light directly above him and pain made its way up his body as if he was being fed into a wood chipper.  There were tubes in his throat that burned horribly and the taste of blood was all his senses would allow.  There were people so many people.  Their plastics and metals all around him.
"He had opened his eyes!" Oliver heard someone call.
"We did it! Son welcome back.  We thought we had lost you.  Son, you got hit by a car and we haven't been able to get you up sense."
Oliver didn't really understand...
"Welcome back to life, Mr. Castro."

-Cameron Kilby
cameron.kilby@yahoo.com
myspace.com/miloomilo