You Are My Sunshine
He wouldn't call it waking up because it didn't feel as though he'd been asleep in the first place. It felt like he'd had a dream, yes, but it was as though he'd had a dream while being awake... if that was even possible. He wasn't sure if it was. He only pondered this for a moment though, before he got distracted, ignoring his first thoughts. Instead, the being previously known as Harry Potter opened his eyes.
Green. Green everywhere. It instantly became his favorite color. It was just so bright, and vibrant... and green. A tiny, childish giggle escaped the elfling, and he sat up from where he had been laying down on the floor, glancing around more. He was in a forest. Trees grew tall around him, and he was sitting on soft moss. Standing up, he glanced down at himself. He couldn't see much, but he could see enough to know that he was clothed in light, cheap material. He wasn't wearing any shoes, and all the scars he'd gotten from before were still there.
Narrowing his eyes, the elfling looked at the writing on the back of his hand. He couldn't read it anymore, but he remembered what it said. 'I must not tell lies.' Getting that had hurt. He remembered that, and everything else. But it was blurry, only there if he really focused on it. He couldn't remember his name either, but quickly decided it wasn't important, his hand dropping back down to his side.
He was in such a lovely forest, he should be exploring, not thinking about before. Before was something to worry about later, much later. The elfling giggled again, softer this time, and started to walk forwards. He was dizzy and dazed, but his footsteps were still light, and his balance was perfect. It felt like the very ground shifted to keep him upright.
Seeing a big tree, the elfling squealed softly, quickly moving over to it. Exploring was fun, but climbing was even more fun. Grasping it, he easily pulled himself up, scaling the tree right to the top, where he perched carefully on a large branch, looking as far as the eye could see. Which was to say, a lot. His eyesight was so good! It hadn't been good before. Everywhere was just more green though, which was nice, but it also made something weird twist in the elfling's chest. He quickly decided he didn't like the feeling though, and blaming it on the tree, returned to the ground still, the feeling remained.
But still, the feeling remained. "Where is everyone?" the question escaped the elfling in a whisper, and he shivered. That was the feeling, summed up in that sentence. But it wasn't like that, it was more than one emotion. He was lonely and scared. Scared he was the only one in this big, green forest. Scared that he was all alone... For a moment he wavered, tears threatening to spill, but with a tiny sniff, he pushed them away. Crying wouldn't help him. He should return to his first activity, that is, exploring. Then he would find someone, and everything would be okay because that person wouldn't leave him alone. They would help him. Though, really, he wasn't sure with what. Where did he live? He didn't have a home...
The tears threatened to come back, and he whined softly, forcing his feet to move once more. Thinking about sad stuff made him sad. Looking for something to distract him, the elfling saw a stick. Eyes lighting up, he darted forwards, grabbing it. It wasn't a stick any longer- it was a sword, great and powerful. Raising it, he charged forwards, dodging in between trees and waving his sword at his enemies. Fighting and exploring at the same time!
The elfling played for a long while, with the tireless energy only a child could have when the stick broke against a tree. This wasn't a problem, of course, as there were many more sticks- er, swords -laying around in the area. But this did bring his attention to the fact that he still hadn't found anyone, and it was getting dark out... and therefore cold. Cheap clothes and no shoes weren't doing well against the nighttime air. Not to mention he was hungry and thirsty.
So the elfing gave up on the game of sticks, wrapping his arms tightly around himself and sitting at the base of a tree. This time, he wasn't able to stop himself, and he started to cry. Soft tears shook his body with their force. Softly, he started to sing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... you make me happy when skies are grey... you never know, dear, how much I love you... please don't take... my sunshine away..." He continued singing softly. The song was from before, but he didn't know any songs from here yet. It was a nice song anyways, and the elfing wished quietly to himself that he could be someone's sunshine, just like in the song.
Then's when he heard voices. He didn't know the language, but it made him perk up anyways his singing stopping. Voices! Voices, who would bring him home, and give him food, and warmth, and something to drink... A brilliant smile washed over his face, and he scrambled up to his feet quickly, moving in the direction of the voices. As he moved they got louder, they seemed to be walking towards him as well. He heard their words, but still didn't understand them. "The singing came from this direction," the voice said, the words rough and confusing. "Come on, hurry up!"
Finally, the elfling stumbled through a tiny patch of bushes, bumping hard into a man and tumbling backward, falling to the ground. "Ow," he exclaimed, more surprised than hurt. The men were tall, and dirty, covered in brown mud. This hair was messy and brown, and his eyes were green and cold. There were lots of men, but the elfling wasn't sure how to count yet. If he could, he would know that there were five. The one he bumped into said something to him in a cold, rough voice, making the elfling flinch back a bit.
These's people didn't seem nice, they seemed like his uncles from before. Mean, big, and greedy. The elfling frowned at those thoughts. No, he couldn't judge them so quickly. "I don't understand what you're saying," he said instead, quietly. The men's eyes widened and they turned to each other, talking quickly. Suddenly, the elfling was grabbed and jerked forwards, and hand grabbing at his ear. The man's voices grew louder.
"Please don't grab me!" The elfling said quickly, squirming. The man didn't listen though, they just kept talking to each other. After a moment, the elfling stopped struggling, as it would clearly do him no good. He felt like crying, but he had already cried so much that day, and he wasn't a baby. Instead, he forced himself to hold still, despite the tight grip still on his ear and his hair. The men talked to each other for a few moments, and slowly their eyes lit up with greed, and they seemed to come to a decision.
The one holding onto the elfling pulled out a rope, letting the elfling go. Now afraid of these men, he tried to run quickly, but one of the others grabbed him and held him still, the first one tying the rope tightly and painfully around his wrists. Now there was no 'quick judging' this hurt, he should never have approached these men! Tears started flowing, and the elfling sobbed softly. One of the men said softly to him in his sharp tone, before raising his hand and hitting him.
Jerking at the pain that exploded across his face, the elfling made a noise of shock and surprise. But the strike didn't stop his tears, it just increased them. To solve this problem, a rope was shoved in his mouth as well. It hurt, rubbing his skin raw where it touched, and making his dry mouth even drier. Finally, the men shoved him down, leaving him be as they started to unpack their bags and pile up some sticks in the middle. The elfling squirmed, trying to escape the rope, or at least move, but it was hard, even more so since he couldn't stop crying.
He wished he'd just stayed where he had been, and kep singing. Maybe someone nice would have found him... or maybe there were no nice people, and these mean men were the only ones in the entire area! Or there were lots, but they were all mean. Maybe they just hated little kids, or singing, or something like that. The elfling didn't know, but he hoped it wasn't like that, even though he was quickly started to believe it.
As the men started a fire, and ate, blankets wrapped around them, the elfling was left out to the cold, shivering and crying, his stomch sending waves of hunger through his body.
Maybe it would have been better to stay in the before, no matter how lonely and sad and painful it had been there.