A girl out of time

Chapter 1

(Hopefully you all are enjoying the story so far. Decided to update a little early! It's my birthday today and wanted to update a new chapter. The next one will be updated a week or two from now though.) 

I came to a little while later, and looked all around, wondering why no one was there to wonder why the hell a young, twenty-year-old woman was lying in the middle of the woods at night, and that was honestly a good thing. I started to shiver with slight cold and rubbed my hands up and down my arms a few times to generate some warmth, and looked around, taking in my surroundings. They were a bit different from the woods I grew up around and walked through whenever I needed a break from my brothers and sister, and they were always comforting and quiet to walk in when I needed some peace after a quarrel with one of them when we all lived in the same house. I knew practically every nook and cranny of them by the time I was in high school. But these woods? Completely different. No tree roots marked by my crappy gray tennis shoes, or any little quiet glens and clearings I've sat down to read in even that little ravine, curse that ravine, that I fell down, wasn't there.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a horrid, ugly bump on my head like I expected when my fair skinned hands flew up to the side of my tousled brown-haired head to check. I glanced around at my surroundings again once my eyes adjusted better, which didn't take long because I had inherited my mother's eyesight, and she's never needed glasses or contacts and I didn't either. I was laying on the side of a narrow trail, my clothes dirt covered, and leaves strewn throughout my hair. I was honestly starting to get scared, it was a slow, creeping feeling of fear though, like when a little kid believes there's a monster under the bed or is afraid of the dark. My breath hitches a few times in fear and confusion as I dusted myself off and picked out the dry leaves from my head, and stood up, dusting off the back of my legs and shirt as well.

All I could think about right at this moment was that I was dreaming, having some weird, out-of-body experience or a lucid dream. I wondered what I should do for the time being, if I should see if there's a phone nearby or if I could find a room for the night. But then I realized, with what money? I left my lanyard that holds my cash in my room because I didn't need it. What I wouldn't give to wake up in a cold sweat in my room right now and wake up from this twisted dream... Right now, though? This was completely unfamiliar territory, completely different surroundings than what I'm used to. No familiar landmarks, no cell service, no dogs barking from the neighbors' properties, nothing. Completely new territory to me.

It all just seemed so real though, I couldn't see anything telling about this being a dream. I could hear animals hiding in the woods, chittering and chirping softly, the owls hooting up in the trees with the illumination of the silver moon high above, with stars glinting like tiny diamonds alongside. I will admit, it is a beautiful night. The temperature seemed a bit warmer as well, being a bit odd but not unheard of in my neck of the woods back home. My thoughts were racing along a million miles an hour right now, and I needed to at least try and figure out my position and see if there was anything nearby: a hotel, a town, a phone, a map, anything to help me figure out what the hell is going on and what to do.

I checked to see if my crappy little iPhone 5s was still intact and thank goodness it was. My phone was a big part of my life, I take it everywhere with me: road trips, camping, and I use it a bunch at college to catch up with friends. No service was found, which was still kind of odd, but I probably just wasn't in range yet. I tucked it back into my backpack for safekeeping. The rest of my possessions were still intact as well, so I quickly straightened them up, zipped up my bag after making everything secure inside, put it on my shoulders and started walking.

Eventually, I came to a little overlook which looked down on some lights in the distance. And I was quietly cheering inside, my mouth lifting up in a small smile, thankful that there was somewhere nearby for me to go for the night. I got out my sweatshirt and put it on due to the slightly chilly wind that was now blowing, whipping some of my golden-brown hair into my eyes. Apparently there were some tiny twigs that I missed, so I picked them out of the tornado I call my hair, and then yanked it seamlessly into a French braid to make sure no flyaways got into my eyes again.