Early morning, the sun barely hung in the sky as I bounded out the door and across the street towards my best friend Harry’s house. We had planned on going to the patch of weeds that rested in the middle of the town to play, wanting to use our imagination to come up with something fun to do.
“Cass!” Harry’s light voice called as he hurried down the front stairs, racing towards me as I stood on the sidewalk. He stopped a feet from me, panting as he stood still to catch his breath. He smiled at me as he pushed back the hair from his eyes. “You all ready?” he asked, his smile coating his face.
“I sure am,” I smiled back at him, grabbing his hand before I started running towards our destination.
“Slow down, Cass!” Harry said as we ran. I glanced back at him, slowing down as I heard him breathe hard. “I can’t run that fast,” he said, his eyes barely meeting mine as we stood on road.
I giggled. “We just gotta hurry,” I said, gripping his hand in mine, again. I ran a little slower, making sure he stayed with me. “Finally!” I shouted loudly, glancing back at Harry, seeing him leaning over, getting his breathing under control. “No time to waste,” I said, excitedly gripping his hand and dragged him through the tall weeds. “Quickly now, Harry,” I said, pulling his hand more, causing him to stumble and fall, bringing me down with him.
“You needa slow down, Cass,” Harry glared, looking from me to our surrounding. “Cass, Cass get up and look,” Harry said, looking around to what I remembered was a field of grass, that beautifully changed into a forest. Now the trees weren’t so green anymore, and they were scatter about. Yet, it was breath taking. “Cass, I- I don’t think we’re in Kanesville anymore,” Harry’s voice held worry as his eyes met mine.
“I’m gonna agree, Harry,” I said, quietly rolling over before sitting on my knees. “Do you know what this place is?” I whispered quietly, moving my gaze to Harry to find him up on his feet. My eyes widen as he is taking careful steps forwards. “Harry!” I hissed. I knew he would do something like this, he was almost fearless.
Harry twisted around to face me. “Come on, Cass,” he smiled at me. “This is adventure!” he yelled, his lips turning into one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen on him. I bite my lip, glancing around before standing up.
“Boo!”
We jumped, both turn around, letting out audible screams as we did. Coming face to face with another kid, he looked around our age but dressed oddly. He was dressed head to toe in some kind of costume that was fuzzy, white and huge. “So, easily terrified,” his voice was clear as he started laughing, holding his stomach. “Who are you?” his eyes showed curiosity even in the dim light of the forest.
“Harry!” Harry said, excitingly sticking his hand out to the boy, who in return stared at it as if he was afraid of the gesture. “Oh, um…” Harry started, his eyes quickly finding mine as I looked towards him.
“Harry we need to go back.” I said, pulling on his arm, shaking him. “How are we supposed to get back?” I asked nervously, we couldn’t possible be stuck here. That was impossible, this just couldn’t happen.
“We’ll be fine,” Harry assured, and smiled at me. “Why are you so worried, Cass, we just got here?” Harry asked.
“There’s no worries here,” the young boy caught our attention. I stared at him, wondering how he would possibly say that.
“What?” I asked him, my voice rising. “No, we needa leave,” I begged, “What if we get stuck here forever?” I questioned him, looking around the area. I couldn’t see anything but tall, and thick trees covering my any possible way out.
“Cass, calm down,” Harry’s voice broke my panicked state. My eyes grew wide as I looked at him, how could he be so okay with this? “We will be fine.” His smile assured me. I just wanted to go home. This isn’t something that would normally happen. I felt hot, wet tears travel down my cheeks as I stared at him. “We’ll be fine, Cass. See, he’s okay,” Harry said, glancing towards the younger boy.
“You’ll be fine here, I promise,” the other boy smiled, “I’m George.”
“No, we need to leave,” I said, glaring at him.
“You can’t,” George stated. “You’ll be fine, I promise.” George tried for a smile but it wasn’t working.
“How are you so sure?” I asked. It was confusing on why he wouldn’t tell us where the way out is. There had to be a way out if there was a way in, right? Maybe, he didn’t know.
“I stayed here and because there isn’t a way out,” George shrugged, “You can be my friends now.” George said reaching out to grab our hands but I moved away quickly, and stared at him. He was able to grab Harry’s hand before I could pull him back.
“No, there has to…” I was cut off by George
“You can’t leave!” George shouted. “You’re going to stay here and be my friends,” he added, quietly turning away from us as he pulls on Harry’s hand to get him to follow. Harry smiled at me and nodded towards George, making me follow them.
“Why are you here?” I whispered, afraid he may yell, again.
“Because I’m stuck here too,” George replied. “I don’t know how long either, but it’s good here.” George smiled at us, “There isn’t anything to be afraid of, I promise…”
George began walking, where I wasn’t sure but I assumed it was where we would be staying for some time.