Dreamer's Odyssey Vol. 1

A Scary World Indeed

John and his friends walked along the forest trail. They heard a voice calling from behind them. "Hey! Guys, wait up!" It was John's little sister, Lily. Max turned to John and said, "Does your annoying sister really have to come with us?" Penny hit Max on the arm, then said, "Shut up, you're being rude." Max scoffed, "it's not rude if it's true." John decided he had enough of Max, and aggressively told him "stop it!" Once he did, Lily had finally caught up to them. "Hey guys, what are you talking about?" John replied, "Nothing, Lily. Come on." The group arrived at their usual hideout. Max seemed annoyed because there were certain "activities" they couldn't do with Lily around. Sarah tugged on John's shoulder and asked, "can we speak privately for a moment?" John said yes, and they went to a more secluded area. "Why did you get so upset at Max, back there?" Sarah asked.

"I didn't like him talking about my sister like that."

"But, he's said awful things before, you know he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes."

"Well it's just that......"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"John, you can tell me?"

"Lily, she's staying with us because........our mom is in the hospital. She got in a car wreck, and we're not sure she's going to make it."

Sarah's eyes began to water. "John, I'm sorry I- do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I- I just want to forget about it, just for now." John's eyes began to water as well.

Suddenly, Penny ran up to them with urgent news. "Uhh John...we can't find Lily."

John was stunned. Then he opened his mouth and slowly said, "what?"

"How do you lose a little girl!?" John yelled at Max. "Well dude I...I was distracted." John's eyes began to water even more, then he punched Max in the face. Penny jumped between them, and said, "Stop it! Fighting won't bring Lily back." John looked at her and said, "You know, I'd expect Max to ignore my sister. But not you, Penny." She began to look guilty, as if this was her fault and she knew it. Sarah cut in saying, "Penny's right. If we want to find Lily we have to look for her." John tried to calm down for a moment, then he asked Penny, "where was the last place you saw her?" She turned around and pointed between two trees, "over there," she said. "Well, she couldn't have gotten far," John said. The group began wandering through the forest while calling out Lily's name. Eventually, they found a piece of ripped clothing on a tree branch. It was blue with yellow flowers, just like Lily's jacket. "She must be close by," said John. The group crawled over a small hill, and saw a large abandoned sewage pipe. The walls around it were cracking and moss was growing out of them. "Do you think she's in there," Penny asked. "Maybe we should split up, we'll cover more ground that way," John said. "Alright, me and Penny will go in from the front entrance, Sarah, you and Max check the back way."

"Wait, why am I going with Sarah?"

"Because last time I left you alone with Penny, my sister ran away!"

"Who died and made you boss?"

Sarah once again intervened. "Will you both shut up! Lily could be hurt! Let's just go with John's plan."

"Ugh, fine," said Max.

John and Penny entered through the tunnel in the front. It was so old the walls were nearly withered away. They used their phones as flash lights to illuminate the dark tunnel. "I don't understand, Lily wouldn't just walk away like this," John said sadly. Penny turned to John and nervously began to speak, "Hey, uh, John."

"Yeah, Penny?"

"There's something I need to confess."

"What is it?"