An Unfamilair Place

An endless sea of darkness is surrounding me. Without any sense of time passing by, I had no idea how long I was out for. Maybe a few minutes, or even longer. I really couldn’t tell. There aren’t even any sounds to go off of either. I think I fainted after the reflection in the mirror got stronger. How does that even happen? Sunlight doesn’t become stronger out of nowhere. Was it the mirror that did that? But what sense does THAT make? It’s a mirror. Mirrors don't do that.

As these thoughts were flooding my brain, I started to hear something.
Is that the rustling of leafs? At least my sense of hearing is back somewhat. I tried listening more and started to notice the sound of flowing water.

‘There is water around these parts?’ I thought to myself. ‘I didn’t know there was any water around the place I was biking!’

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t see anything before, but being greeted by the sunlight after what felt like forever, really blindsighted me. Looking up, I can see the sunlight shining through the tree leaves.
Trees? There aren’t a lot of trees near my neighboorhood. At least not this close together. Where am I?
Noticing that I was lying on my back, I tried getting up so I could look around more easily.

‘Owh!’ I softly whimpered.

Why is my body hurting so much? I looked closer at the trees towering above me and I noticed how some of their brances are broken off. I looked around at the ground beneath me and saw quite a few brances surrounding me.
Did I fall down from above the trees? But how would that have happened? This is getting stranger by the second.
Despite my body still hurting a bit, I got back on my feet and took a better look at my surroundings. Even though it was a little foggy, I could tell in what type of place I was.

‘I’m in a forest!’ I thought to myself.

I wish I brought my phone with me when I left. Since I recognized the address I was going to and that I wouldn’t be away for too long, I simply felt it wouldn’t be necessary to bring it with me. Now I regret that decision.
Looking at my clothes, they look fine, but a little dirty since I was just lying on the ground. But while rummaging through my pockets, I found that I had nothing on me anymore. Looking around me, there seems to be no sign of my bike or the mirror either.

‘Did someone rob me after I fainted?’ I thought to myself in a slight panic. ‘But how did I end up in a forest? Would anyone drop someone in a forest after robbing them and even if they didn’t do it, then who would?’

As these thoughts were flooding my brain, struggling to find a semblance of logic about my current predicament, I felt myself falling in a slight sense of panic.

**Rustle**

I could hear the bushes behind me rustling. My current lack of composure and the sudden increase in sound made me jump back. I’m in an unknown place without any indication where I might be and nothing on me. I don’t want to be attacked by something on top of that.

On closer inspection, I could see a head poking out from just above the bushes. Although I could only see it’s hair, I could tell it’s another person.

‘Fantastic!’ I thought to myself. ‘Maybe they can help me and tell me where I am!’

‘Uhm, excuse me!’ I said to them. ‘Could you tell me where I might be?’
‘Who are you?’ The person exclaimed while jumping out from behind the bushes.

It’s a kid who didn’t look much older than 10 years old. He has brown hair and his clothes look rather simple. A plain light-blue shirt and light-brown pants. Yet, they have an older feel to them. Almost as if they came from 1000 years in the past.
And is he holding a bow and arrow? Better yet, why is he aiming it at me?

‘Uhm, can you put down the bow and arrow please?’ I asked him in a hurry. ‘It’s really dangerous to point that “thing” at someone else!’ I said this last part while pointing at his bow and arrow.
‘How do I know that you are not the dangerous one here?’ The kid said to me while pointing the bow and arrow at me.

‘Look, I don’t have anything on me!’ I said to him.

I put my hands somewhat in the air while showing him that I don’t have anything on me that could be seen as dangerous. I know I could try to run away, but this kid is so far the only one who could potentially tell me where I might be. And besides, I really don’t want to take the risk of him potentially shooting at me. He looks like he is ready to do so at any time.

‘You seem to be safe enough I guess!’ The kid told me. ‘But I still don’t quite trust you yet!’

Good enough for me at the moment. At least he now lowered his bow a little, but he still kept his eyes on me. Almost as if he is looking whether I’d make any sudden movements or not.

‘CASPER! CASPER! Where are you?’ I could hear a feminine voice in the distance.
‘Hey sis, I found a stranger!’ The kid suddenly shouted.

Did he just say sis? Maybe they can tell me where I am.

‘Hold on, I’m almost there.’ The voice came from behind the bushes that this kid just jumped out from.
‘Okay, I’m here! So what did you say you found?’ As she said that, she appeared from behind one of the trees.

I locked eyes with her. It’s a girl who looks like she is around my age. She has brown hair that goes barely past her shoulders and is wearing a short light-brown dress that goes just below the knees with the upper-body portion of her dress being white. She also wears a sunhat made out of straw and just like the clothes of the kid, her clothes feel like they come from a time long gone.

She looks at me closely and breathes a sigh of relief.

---

Although I couldn’t have known this at the time, but meeting this one person would end up changing my life for the better.