“We are in such big trouble,” I say, teeth chattering. There’s a dripping, stinking, rotten, giant monster in front of us, behind Hayes. Wait, I’m getting too far ahead of myself. First things first, I need to tell you how I got into this mess in the first place. It all started a week ago... I was walking down the gravel road after sunset. It probably was not the best idea. Monsters come out at dusk and leave at dawn. Never go out after sunset down the path to Windrix Hall, since you might never return. There was a crunch of leaves on my left. “Hello…?” I called into the tree line. It was only my dog, Gerol, running after me. I didn’t know there was a monster behind me. I started to run. Windrix Hall wasn’t very far from where I was right then. I thought I was safe, but contrary to my belief, I wasn’t. Gerol stopped crunching, and I should not have turned around. The monster was right behind me with four other prisoners. A girl with long, gold hair grabbed my arm. Her touch was cold on my warm skin. We disappeared. I found myself in a bright clearing, with a cool, gauzy cloth over my eyes and wrapped around my head. My short hair felt like it was sticking out all over my head when I tried to find the knot on the cloth. I could hear voices whispering all around me. Who is she? Where is she from? Is she one of us? What happened to her? Did the MONSTER capture her too? It worried me that I wasn’t able to see the source of the voices through the cloth, even though I could tell that it was thin, since I could see the silhouettes in front of me. Who was surrounding me? Was it all of the kids the monsters stole from the path every night when they were stupid enough to go home on the path through the forest at night? “Hello?” My voice sounded weak, even to my own ears. Someone took the cloth off of my eyes, and the first thing I saw was a little kid, maybe around nine years old with black hair and eyes. I talk fast when in a tight spot. “My name’s Arina and I’d like to say that yes, I was captured by the monster, but only because a girl grabbed my arm. Is she here? She’s got gold hair and cold skin.” “Arina,” the oldest kid mouthed, looking curious. He had to be seventeen or something like that. He was tall, white-blonde, and had a wiry build. “Where’re you from? Did you come from Wesrix like I did?” “I’m from Windrix Hall.” I muttered, looking around for that girl. “It’s near Wesrix, though. It’s in the countryside, you know, the orphanage and school.” Windrix Hall was probably the last place you would want to be an orphan at, since there are so few of the students that are orphans, like me. Nobody likes the orphans, but just about everyone that attends there likes me, even though I’m one of them. The clearing smelled like cedar trees, the strong smell almost overpowering. It was filled with birdsong and voices. I felt wrong sitting in the clearing, like I should be back home, at Windrix Hall. No monster was going to stop me from getting back to where I belong. Most of the kids with me looked impatient to get back home, not content with staying here in the forest. Some were probably itching to get home.
