When Daylight Turns To Starlight

Chapter 1

Back home. That's where we were going.

We had just finished our concert, the whole school chorus packed into the bus like sardines. Three to nearly every seat. Thankfully, I hadn't been subjected to that torture since I was on the bus first and the director, Ms. Chanson, joined me in the same seat. I aimlessly stared out the window, wishing that I was out of this lacy black performance dress and in sweats and my favorite hoodie.

I closed my eyes, as I was tired and it was an hour's ride back to our home school. I drifted off into the recesses of my mind, and dreamed I was on a cliff, exploring with friends.

Suddenly, I was jolted awake by the lurching of the bus and the screams echoing inside the vehicle.

Oh my god...

We were going to fall...

I didn't get a chance to register my next thoughts, as we had fallen off the bridge and the water got closer and ever closer...

Just before the metal monolith hit the water, my eyes were blinded by a green light, and I could no longer feel my body nor see, it was all replaced by the light and a feeling of weightlessness.

That feeling was gone as abrubtly as it appeared, replaced by the feeling of hard Earth and the light of a normal blue sky.

I felt weird... where was I?

I looked around, it looked like I was in a forest. Tall, thin trees surrounded me, and I could hear water somewhere nearby... I wondered if it was the river we had fallen into...

Wait... where is everyone else? I didn't hear a soul among the foliage of the Ohio forests.

I got up and wandered towards the sound of water. I had heard that if you were lost in the woods you should look for water, since there was likely settlements near them.

It was maybe a mile to the water, and it took me a while to reach in my dress, but it would've taken longer had I not ditched the heels after a few minutes of walking.

I finally reached the water edge, but it wasn't the Maumee river that I had believed it to be, but the coast of Lake Erie. I recognized the muddy water and thin sand.

I didn't know exactly where on the Lake I was any more than how I got here, but I figured that since the last place I knew I was in was Toledo, that meant my best bet was to go west.

So that's where I went.

I didn't know for how long I walked, but after sixteen breaks to drink water from the muddy lake and many hours of walking on the sand later, I collapsed on the ground, my legs no longer willing to take me another step. My breaths ragged in my throat, my heart two beats away from it's last. My eyes drooped closed after a few slow blinks, unconsciousness welcoming me like an old friend.

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I heard voices in hushed tones, the scurrying of quick feet on the bare earth, and the feeling of hands lifting me up. I wanted to protest, to wiggle and scream and squirm until they put me down, but I couldn't. Every muscle in my body burned, even though I was not the one moving them. I couldn't find my voice, and though I could tell my eyes were open and blinking, I couldn't see anything but darkness.

I forced my brain to think straight, and after I had counted four hands beneath me -two people were carrying me- I figured that maybe someone had stumbled upon my unconscious body and called the authorities. I hope everyone else is okay...

They carried me for almost twenty minutes- they must've been strong, or maybe I was lighter than I thought. I was set down on the ground again, and I could hear a lot more voices- though I couldn't make out a single word they were saying. Most sounded panicked, a few confident and authoritative.