Something rustled behind my eyelids. It rustled again, the sound to loud for my head. I groaned. My eyes felt like they have been glued shut. Maybe they were two pieces of lead, that were welded together. Slowly, opening my eyes, feeling like they were being used for the first time, I was greeted to bright white light. It dimmed. Slowly. Everything was happening too slow, painstakingly slow. Days, months, years flew by before my eyes finally adjusted to the light around me.
   
Tree. Leaves. That's what I saw. I sat up not understanding my location. I wasn't sure of anything at this point. The gray haze that was in my head was gone in seconds. Recalling my last moments with Mrs. Hunting, I finally understood what she meant by the trip. Apparently I was on it right now. Sitting up and I wondered why the hell I was in the middle of the woods by myself. Around me, were trees, evergreen trees. I shifted feeling uncomfortable. A bag was underneath me, and it had the symbol of two swords crossing making an x shape.
   
A couple of water bottles, a compass, a weird phone thing, and a small box and some rope was all that was in the strange bag. The small box was entirely made up of cherry wood and had a shiny finish. An simple design covered the top. It looked the symbol called the Eye of Horus. A lock was preventing the box from opening. Putting it down, I rubbed my thumb on the design. Why would they give me a box that I was unable to open?
   
I picked up the compass that was glittering in the sun, put it in between my fingers and rubbed the gold. There! It was a different design as the one on the mysterious box. This one looked like something similar to the path of life. I was pressing on the design on the compass, thinking of how to get the box open, when, the box opened mysteriously. It now opened up, and had its lock next to it. Switching the compass's place with the box, I checked inside. There was only more designs. Darn. Nothing was in there.
   
I heard a loud screech coming from a bird and stood up sharply. The box dropped to the ground. Out fluttered a small piece of paper. It was about the size of a half dollar bill, but the words on it were clear.
   
It read…

#92    Girl (Chrono-)

It looked like this slip of paper was part of a long list but ripped out, the top and bottom jagged. Was the girl number ninety-two on the list? Why was she in that spot? What was the list? The only thing I actually knew was that prefix chrono meant something to do with time. Taking a deep breath and pushing back the questions, they wouldn’t just give me this paper if it wasn’t to help me on this trip. Or would they?
   
Think Will, think what should I do? Ok. I grabbed the phone only to realize that it was a tracking device. There was a gray arrow pointing to a small gray dot, this was most likely my position. There was a small gray dot pulsing far ahead. Was that the destination? Is that where I was supposed to go? Curious, I clicked on the center of the pulsing which caused the small screen to flicker and go black. Words appeared on my phone which read: Location is Uncharted (proceed with caution). The screen snapped back to the original tracking screen. Plucking my bag off the ground ready to start my journey, I was off following the tracking device.
======▪======
Time was running out of the day, the sun slipping past the treetops. Discarding my things on the ground, I walked through the woods. Small bugs flew around in packs, not caring to move as my body collided with them. Maneuvering between trees, ducking out of the way for low branches, I gathered an abundance of pine needles that would do for a makeshift bed. A handful of stray leaves would make a great pillow. Finding my way back to my bag was difficult, but not truly impossible. Thankfully, I didn’t wander off too far.

When nightfall arrived, I was climbing up a tree. I’m not for living on the wild side, so after my needle mattress poked the crap out of my legs and a howl from a wolf was too close for comfort, I decided to move camp to a tree. Finding a nice cozy spot, and because it was a branch it couldn’t be that comfortable, I tied the rope around the width of the whole tree. Before I could do the same to myself, I caught a glance of my bag at the base of the tree.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Groaning, my feet stepped off of the branch and hit the ground not to far below.
   
Slinging the bag on my back, I climbed back up. Now that my body was stable on the branch, something beeped. What was that? It beeped again, but this time my bag vibrated. Rummaging through it, I found the source. The tracker was flashing, the white light blinding me in the darkness. The path of life symbol bled black, the display flickered. Thin lines of white noise decorated the screen, appearing in different places. The symbol cleared from the screen as words materialized. “Go in the Rewind”. The display reverted to the original pulsing grey dot.

"What is that even supposed to mean?”

Feeling disturbed, I laid back. The stars were burning bright against the sea of black. I stared at them in utter fascination. How were they billions of miles away, but people can still see them? They lie in between the spaces of your hands. For when you try to catch one, it slips past your fingertips. They remind me of lightning bugs that are like little flying stars that get to go travel the world instead of the stars that stay in the sky. Of course I have never seen one in my life, I have only read about them just like everything else in my life.
   
I studied my surroundings which was only made up of trees, grass, bushes, and more trees. Never have I felt so alive. This would definitely be my all-time favorite moment in my life. I felt almost one with nature and life itself. I finally felt free, letting go of every moment from my life before only wishing to live in this moment, forever.
   
Whiteness surrounded me, pure whiteness. It was almost as if the sky opened up, and, then it was over leaving me seeing darkness. Things started to take shape, and I could make out a house. Where am I? Doing a full three hundred and sixty spin to take in the view, houses lined a street, and apparently I was standing right in front of one of them. Did I just go through a portal? That was the best thing I thought of, the only scenario that actually made some sense.Right above the hill behind the house I was staring at, there was an orange color that bled through the sky like a paper towel soaking up water.
   
If I did go through a portal, then what should I do? There were two obvious options. One, leave this street and get stranded in the middle of the night or two, go into this house not knowing if a crazy person lives here and risk the chance of dying. Yeah. I didn't like either of them, so I conjured up another feasible plan, that had its set of holes. The third option was to go to the police and tell them about my situation which they probably won't believe, so I would get locked up in a crazy hospital for the rest of my life.

They were all pretty sucky plans if you ask me, but I went with the second. I have know idea why. I knocked on the door. Nothing. Knocked again. Still nothing, so me being stupid and a complete idiot, a small stone on that was on the ground found its way into my hand that was ready to pelt it at at one of the windows. Before I could, a window on the second story opened, revealing a face.

"What do you want?”
   
Freezing in my spot, not moving a muscle I stuttered. "I...I uh...I uh wanted to uh..." I should’ve thought about what I was going to say.  

Drawing in a breath, I hoped this lady would leave me alone. I spoke, making everything up as I went along.
"I'm with the ‘secret’ organization. They sent me." Wow. That sounds so believable. Who wouldn’t see through that?
   
The woman looked at me with urgency. "The door is open, make sure you’re super quiet. Meet me in my room."

Well, apparently she couldn’t see the lie. I was actually quite frightened. Why did she believe it? Was there an actual secret organization? Creeping closer to the house, I opened the door. It looked just like a regular house I have seen in books. A staircase was against the left wall while a room was to the right and straight was another room. I walked quietly up the stairs and tried to think of where the lady's room was. Ah. It was to my left.

There, I saw a door that was slightly open, I peeked inside. There was a person sleeping in the bed. I guessed wrong. Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I stepped away from the door, startled.
   
"Boy! Get out of my daughters' room and follow me." It was the lady and a man, most likely her husband, next to her. She spoke slightly louder when we got to her room.

"Thank goodness you showed up. We were starting to worry."
   
"Speak for yourself, Marleene."

I went along with it this madness, playing my part. "Sorry I was late, but my motto is better late than never."

The woman piped up. “There was another episode yesterday late afternoon. At around two or three.”

“What kind of episode?”

The man answered. “I’m not to sure, but one minute we were in the house and the next somewhere else. We don't know what’s causing it, but we do have a suspicion.”

I was sucked into this story interested in hearing the rest. “Who?”

The wife looked around almost like she was making sure no one else was listening. “This has happened a few other times and it all leads to my---”

There was a loud squeak followed by a gasp. "Who's there?" The lady asked. "Ava, is that you again?"
   
"Yes, it's me." Her voice sounded like honey, but it was soaked in sarcasm.
   
The yelling from Ava's mom began. "Young lady, what are you doing? It's 3 o'clock in the morning and you woke us up." I heard the rage in her voice.
   
Her dad Dad interrupted. "Let me handle this, Marleene. Honey, please explain to your mother and I why you are trying to sneak out."
   
"Mr. Lane, you don't get it. Try living with foster parents. Try being constantly told what to do with no explanation. Try--."
   
Hearing her run down the hallway and down the stairs, I was momentarily stunned for the second time tonight. It was starting to be a theme in my life.
   
"Come back here this minute." Her mom yelled and she looked at me and said "Go get her! She’s dangerous!"
   
Sprinting down the stairs, I saw an open window, so I went for it. The window shatter in millions of pieces. Seeing Ava's figure in the dim light, I chased her down the road and street after street. It is odd, but I loved this opportunity to run.
   
I stopped abruptly. The sides of my vision white. My brain muddled and couldn't process what was happening. Catching my breath I put my hands on my knees and looked up. White assaulted my vision, but I saw that she was fleeing from me. I watched her get smaller and smaller until she dissolved in the whiteness.
======▪======
My eyes opened to trees, a rope around my waist. I was back in the tree. My body ached, tired.I decided it was time to start moving, but when it started to get lighter out. Getting some rest would be a great idea, but it would be hard to stop the questions from gnawing my brain. There, I was laying down and staring at the sky again. My eyes closed with sudden tiredness. When they reopened, it was dawn.
   
Getting up, I unknotted the rope around my waist and jumped to the forest floor. Heading in the east, to find the pulsing dot on the tracker, I stepped over logs and fallen trees. After breaking a small tree by accident, it seemed like the plants were mad at me because they scratched my arms, legs, and face relentlessly.
   
It took about ten minutes until I reached a back of a small run down store. Walking inside, it felt as if I was being stalked by something or someone. Disregarding it, I continuing along, spoting fallen items on the ground. Some consisted of Gatorade bottles shoes, and apples, while one aisle had shards of glass that looked as if they were tiny daggers predators waiting for its prey.

One shard was particularly interesting with a slight tint of red. The floor after, was just like the rest, dirty and worn, but a trail of blood was leading to the front of the store. Guessing that someone had an unfortunate 'encounter' with the glass, I curiously followed the splotches.
   
Not wanting to be the glass' next victim, I tentatively stepped over them.  Once at the front of the store, I spotted a small child about...about...I had no clue, with dirt the only facial feature I could see. With the boy looking scared, I was puzzled over the fact he did not have anyone accompanying him on his journey. Journey where? No ideas popped into my mind.
   
"Um...Hey there...Um...why are you here?" The kid sat there not saying a word to what I had just said.
   
He looked a bit startled when I started waving my hand in front of his face like a crazy person.
"Um...water please?"
   
Now it was my time to look shocked because there was water here in the store, but dropping my backpack, I took out a bottle and felt a hand grab my bag. The boy sprinted out the door with my stuff in his hands.