Chapter Six

I had finished killing the last gangster when I started to get a splitting headache.

From the moment I woke up, I had no memories about myself. All the memories that I did have came from Dr Elliot and the taxi driver Abebe but following the headache I started to have flashes of images that didn't belong to Elliot or Abebe.

They were hazy and unclear, like pictures that wouldn't get into focus. I stumbled out of the alleyway and ,driven by an unknown impulse, I started walking in a random direction.

I only walked for a few meters when I accidentally ran into some random guy,

"Watch where you are going Dumbass....hey are you alright?...is that blood?...oh my God, do you need an ambulance? Wait, let me call 911."

That was when I finally realized that I was still covered in the gangsters' blood. I saw the man I had run into pull out his cellphone and I reacted without thinking by hitting him on the head. Thankfully I wasn't as clumsy as before and I didn't kill him, well at least I didn't think he was alive. He did fall down like a bag of bricks but he was still breathing so he was probably okay. I quickly dragged him behind a dumpster to take his clothes. I used what remained of my previous clothes to wipe off the blood as much as I could and wore the good Samaritan's jacket and jeans, all the while experiencing a headache that made it hard to concentrate.

I stumbled back onto the sidewalk and continued to move up the street as if something was calling out to me and I had no choice but to answer. My inexplicable journey was accompanied by random flashes of unclear memories and a pounding headache.

Eventually I turned a corner and saw a pink neon sign that said "Nude girls!! 24/7!" .

I felt like I had been hit by a lightning bolt. Some of the fuzzy memories in my head started to become clearer. I knew this place! I remembered that sign! Not Dr Elliot or Abebe but me, Alex Mercer!

I looked around and I recognized some other things; a broken lamppost, a giant graffiti that said fuck you, a Korean laundromat shop with a sign that had a few letters missing. As I continued to move forward , I started to recognize more and more things and the headache started to vanish.

Eventually my feet led me to a rundown apartment complex. I somehow knew that the door didn't lock properly so I let myself in. I ignored the elevator and headed for the stairs because I knew that the elevator was busted the same way I knew the front door didn't lock.

I ran up the stairs two at a time until I reached the sixth floor. I walked down the hallway with flickering florescent lighting until I stood in front of a brown door with the numbers 614 painted on it with faded black paint.

For a solid five minutes, I just stood there. I knew that this place was important to me in some way. I knew that on the other side of this door would be some answers about my identity. For some reason, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. I felt like I wouldn't like what I would find on the other side of the door.

For a moment I hesitated but then I raised my hand and knocked.