This chapter has been rewritten and the rating changed. I've decided to take it in a more mature direction. Dark themes, peer pressure, drug use and under-age drinking.

Lost Boy

He was found unconscious and bereft of memory.

The doctors called it amnesia. They shone small lights in his eyes and frowned at his charts. His stomach refused food for several days, but eventually he could keep down pudding and water. Other then a slightly lower then average temperature; he was fine.

His name was Jack. That much he knew. He held on to this sliver of certainty for many weeks after waking in the hospital bed.
He had no wallet, no id, and no shoes. But his name was Jack.

They wrote his name on the charts as Jack Overland- Overland since it was the name of the town lake he'd been found beside. Jack insisted it sounded better the 'doe'.
There was no car in the area, no footprints in the snow. Just Jack laying unconscious by the lake after the storm.

The lightening had struck a generator and half the town had been out of power for most of the night. One doctor remarked Jack was lucky he was found at all in that darkness- all the streetlights in the area had blown from the power surge.

A man had gone looking for his dog- run away in fright of the thunder. He'd found the dog by lake, snuffling something blue in the mud. Jack had been hauled away by emergency services and even though the towns entire police force had scoured the area for hours, the storm made it impossible. It did not help that the Overland lake had started to thaw for the first time in the town's long memory. The banks rose and flooded the low forest floor.

And any clues of Jacks mysterious appearance were washed away.
They said it was lucky Jack hadn't drowned.

Two days after waking; the police came to question him.
Two men, one older and with more whiskers- the other was younger and still had a shine on his boots.
They introduced themselves as officer Crown and officer Bennett.

They asked what he remembered: which was nothing, and if he could think of anyone they could contact for him: he couldn't.

They took his finger prints and ordered dental examinations. Crown wrote notes in a little notepad he carried with him. Male, 5'11, hair and eyes: brown. Aged between 14 and 17.

Jack cleared his throat. "Do- do you think you'll be able to find my family?"
It was deeper they expected from the boy with such a young face.

Crown was flipping through his notebook and nodded vacantly without looking up. "I'm sure we'll pull something up in the system. Kids don't just drop out of the sky- you came from somewhere. We'll find it.
Bennett, I'm gonna to go make some phone calls." Crown headed out the door, dialing a number on his phone.

Jack clenched the bed sheets in his hands.

The younger officer surprised him by sitting down on the end of his bed and took off his brown puffy coat.
"The nurses told me your their pulling together to sort you out some clothes."
He was clearly trying his best to pull of his beard. It was cut a little close and looked a little patchy if well groomed. The man probably though it made him look older.
Jack nodded and cracked his knuckles absently in his hands. "They didn't need to. I still got those." He pointed a thumb towards the corner of the room where a pair of raggy cotton pants and a worn in blue hoodie were folded neatly on the seat.
Jack had argued with the head of housekeeping for an hour about having thrown his clothes away when they'd brought him in. It was only once they'd been fished out the hazard bags and dry cleaned that he returned to his bed quietly.

But the nurses had still insisted he needed something other then rags.
He knew he'd charmed the female staff a little. They were sneaking him extra pudding cups.

The officer pulled a pack of blue playing cards out of his pocket and held them up. "You wanna play?"

Jack was surprised, but delighted, and the next forty minutes was easily the happiest so far. The man taught him Blackjack and they played a few rounds while the officer chatted ideally about the town where Jack had found himself.

It was a small community settled in the rocky terrain of Pennsylvania called Burgess.
It was a one, maybe two horse, kinda of town. Snowy most of the year, but comfortable. Mostly quiet except for the yearly tourist rush right before the end of fall. The towns main claim to fame was the coming winter festival, when the town was decorated with pale blue banners and glittering decorations. It was a fairly new celebration, only started ten or so years ago- but it was quickly becoming the center of the town schedule. The towns two motels were booked out well into a month in advance.

Jack's mysterious appearance- found unconscious in the snow early in the morning with no clear explanations; was currently the talk of the town.

It was probably the most exciting thing to happen all year gossip wise. So Jack shouldn't be surprised if he got a few odd looks in the street when he left the hospital.

"Where will I go?" Jack heard himself ask, fingers tightening on his hand of Go Fish.

The officer smiled brightly though, "Don't worry, we'll find you a foster family for the time being. It shouldn't be long. The docs said you might remember any day now. Don't lose hope."

Hope did glow in Jack's chest, and he took a deep solidifying breath before putting down a pair of sevens on his pile.
"Got any twos?" Officer Bennett asked.

"Go fish."

Crown came back shortly after saying there hadn't been any updates on missing persons matching Jacks description. He took a photo of Jack with his phone- something that made Jack blink in amazement, and filed it into his email. "We'll keep at it up at the station. You'll stay here until we work out something more long term."

The younger officer stood and Jack tried his best not to look as disappointed as he felt.

Bennett held out the pack of cards, repacked in their box. "Every man needs a packs of cards." he said and pushed them into Jack's hand. "You practice some tricks and we'll play again when I come back, okay?"

The grin on Jacks face might've split it in half. "You bet. But don't get your hopes up- I'll defiantly win next time."

The officer laughed and held his hand out, "I'm Jamie by the way."

A light, a single glowing dot flashed in Jack's mind. And then it was gone. But it left a residual glow in his chest.

Jack reached out and shook Jamie's hand and squeezed it as hard as he dared. "Thanks Jamie. Come back soon, okay?"

Jamie said he would, and then the two officers were gone.

Jack looked out the window, where the rain was pelting against the glass. His grip on the cards tightened, then he lay out a game of solitaire like Jamie had showed him and heaved out a sigh. He wanted to remember. He wanted to know who he was.
He wondered where his family was right now and if they were looking for him.

R&R.