It was like being reborn; this awakening was unlike anything she could have imagined. From the moment she had closed her eyes to the moment she had reopened them, she had staggered through a world of gray, a world of lost spirits and hopelessness. But now she was reborn! Even though she knew that it wasn’t her world and that she didn’t belong, Alyss was in love. I didn’t matter that there were giant purple spiders; anything was beautiful after that dull state of Limbo. Forever drifting, never feeling, she had wished to die. Her accident had left her in a coma, a eternal fog that had now been lifted.

And so she stood alone, on a brilliant green hill, in a world brand new to her. This world was so unlike the last two she had left. The multicolored trees twisted and bent, never quite growing upright, and the brilliant green grass met a sky so purple that it rivaled any shade of the color that she’d seen on Earth. The grass never grew higher than her ankle, and the land was devoid of any sort of shrub. Only grass and trees grew in this part of what she had begun to call Disconcertia.

As far as she could tell, she was alone in this place, but that was better than where she had been. For at least two days, she had walked in one direction, never finding evidence of other living things. With that in mind, I must ask you to bear with me. She wandered alone for nearly a week, she thought. That was another thing about this world; there was no sun or moon. The sky itself gave off light.

Alyss was ready to give up looking for people when she stumbled into an area where the trees began to thicken. It was in this forest that she finally found someone else.

Behind her, she heard a male voice muttering, “Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.” She spun around in time to see a little tail vanish behind a tree. The voice seemed to fill the air all around her as she watched the coat move from tree to tree. Her heart flushed with fear, but she took off after the mysterious stranger.

The trees soon became a blur as she dodged one after another, her mind solely focused on the voice coming from ahead of her. Her body told her she had to stop, but she couldn’t. Her body was bonded to the runner; her brain had lost all control. She would either catch this person or die trying, Alyss realized.

At that very thought, she came to a panicky stop. As she spun around in a circle, she realized that she was in the heart of the forest. Fear completely took over as the hairs on the back of her neck stood. She was being watched. Eyes were boring into her! But from where? Again and again, she spun to find the stranger, but in the end, she had to stop or vomit. Dry heaving, she bent over and willed the trees to stop spinning.

When she stood up, she almost fell backwards in shock. A boy her age, dressed in turn-of-the-18th century clothes stood ten feet away, at the most, leering at her with piranha-like teeth. He took a step and beckoned her forward. It was with great reluctance, though, that she approached him.

Grabbing her arm, he whispered, “I do not know where you came from, but you must leave here. You are not safe here.” He released her as though he had been burnt and turned away. A sense of awe replaced her dread as she watched him shrink. His ears began to lengthen and shift to the top of his head, while jet black fur sprouted over his entire body. His bare feet grew out and flattened, and he turned to look back at her with his cold gray eyes. Where a boy of fifteen had just stood was a black wearing his clothes.

“Can’t be late. Can’t be late,” he muttered as he turned tail and ran. She wanted to heed his advice, but there was no way for her to go back. But what had he meant “it wasn’t safe”? he was the first person she had met the entire time she had been there; there wasn’t anyone to fear…
TO BE CONTINUED!