That one day

Chapter 1

You'd never expect to go walking through a forest to then find some random brown canvas backpack lying there. On some old, moldy, soggy, half falling apart half barely staying attached tree stump.

Well that's definitely not what Andrea expected while taking a nice peaceful walk to clear her mind in some near walking trail 5 minutes away from her house. Who would leave their personal belongings there? And why was it placed so..... perfectly?

She walked over to examine it, the bag was in perfect condition, it even had that newly bought smell. A little peak wouldn't hurt.. would it?

She carefully grabbed the belt latches, glancing around to see if anyone was there, then lifted it up. Nothing. Nothing was there. She closed the pocket and looked through the other pockets, still nothing. It was completely empty.

'Might as well take it home with me'

The thought came to mind, debating on the decision as she stared at it for several minutes. She shrugged it off and snatched the bag, taking it home with her.

She strolled through the woods and walked back out through the opening. the sky was filled with beautiful colours for a sunset, shades of pink, orange, yellow, purple and blue painted the above, as the clouds started to disappear to let the stars have their time to decorate the sky. It was past supper time, and it was nearing the time to go home so she could get ready for bed and sleep for tomorrow. Ugh. Monday. A day that most people hate. Especially most kids that go to school.

The walk home wasn't too long. It would take around 5 or so minutes, the thought of being picked up definitely came to mind. But the thought of what she would tell her parents about the random backpack made her change her mind. Maybe she could sneak it in, or she could lie, or maybe—

"Hey, Andrea!"

She stopped walking as a familiar voice called her name out, she turned around to see her next door neighbour, he was an old guy, hunched back, and he dressed like an average old guy you'd see in public.

"Oh, hey Mark."

She smiled, walking over to him with her newly found backpack on one shoulder

"What'chya got there?"

Mark looked at her shoulder, seeing the bag

"I haven't seen that before, it looks new. Where'd ya get it?"

He half smiled, looking back at her in confusion and interest, Andrea started panicking.

'What should I say? Should I just tell him? A gift? Just bought it?'

Before she could make her mind up, she just suddenly blurted her answer out

"I found it"

She stopped completely, eyes widening. Did she just admit to stealing? She waited impatiently for his answer, holding her breath

"Does it have an owner?"

That was an answer she was not expecting in the slightest. He was totally clam about it, not scolding her for stealing

"Uh, I'm not sure. I just.... Found it..... sitting on a tree stump in the woods. So I took it."

"Is there anything inside?"