Stuck In Emersonwood

[Chapter 1, Wrong Answer]

The date was September 29th. It was a rainy fall day in Minnesota, Springsteen. Quinn woke up, still feeling sleepy. She didn't get much dream last night. She yawned before getting up out of bed. She put on her pink bunny slippers that matched her pink night gown as she got up. She walked over to her dresser to pick out her clothes for the day. She grabbed a coral sweater, light blue jeans that matched, long, green cat socks that matched her green eyes, a bra, and underwear. She headed to the bathroom to shower. After 20 minutes, she got out of the shower, and changed into her clothes. She brushed her teeth, and brushed her short, black hair while thinking about her dream last night. Since school started, Quinn has had this strange dream that she's stuck in the forest. It occurs every night, she doesn't know what it means nor why she started having this dream when school started. She likes to draw this dream, it helps ease the fear of the thought of being stuck in the forest in her dreams.

After getting ready, she goes downstairs. Right when she stepped on the ground, her father, Mr. Robinson, came around the corner. "Good morning, Quinn." He said with a big smile. Quinn looks up at her dad, looking at his eye bags. "Were you up all night again, dad?" She asked.
Mr. Robinson sighed. "Quinn, you don't need to worry. I was just working late again."
Quinn rolled her eyes when her dad says he was working late again. Mr. Robinson has started working more later, and later since Quinn's mother has died due to mysterious causes. Mr. Robinson tries his best to be a single father even if it ruins his sleeping schedule, and mental heath.
Mr. Robinson put his hand on Quinn's shoulder, reassuring her. "Don't worry, pumpkin. I'm fine." He perked up. "Now what do you want for breakfast? Pancakes again?"
Quinn smiled, feeling reassured. "Of course! I love your pancakes."

Quinn is sitting at the dinning table with a notebook while Mr. Robinson cook pancakes. She was sketching her dream, she drew a foggy forest with many trees that had veins hanging from them. As she was almost done with sketching, the backdoor opened. A short, blonde girl, Ophelia, walked through. "Quinn! Your bestie is here!" Ophelia called out to Quinn.
Quinn turned to the girl, and smiled when she saw it was Ophelia. Ophelia, and Quinn are neighbors. They've been friends since they were in 5th grade. They've always shared classes together, even now, in their sophomore year, they still have all the same classes. Ophelia tended to randomly show up, she had quiet feet so she often scared people on accident, except for Quinn since she got used to Ophelia's random appearing. Everyday before school, Ophelia showed up at Quinn's house to discuss homework, school drama, boys, escape her arguing parents, etc.
"Lia! Kind of you to join." Mr. Robinson said as he set plates down on the dining table.
Ophelia sat down next to Quinn. "Hello, Mr. Robinson." She turned to Quinn, noticing her notebook. "What are you sketching now?"
Quinn closed her notebook, not wanting anyone to know about the forest dream. "Oh, nothing. Just some simple stuff."
Ophelia shrugged, not finding it suspicious. "Alrighty."
Mr. Robinson puts some pancakes on the girls plates. He put some berries on the side of Quinn's plate. He put whipping cream, and sprinkles on Ophelia's pancakes. He kept his pancakes plain. Mr. Robinson sats down at the table before asking Ophelia something. "So, how's your parents?"
Quinn looked at her dad with a look that screamed: "Be quiet" because Ophelia's parents were currently going through a rough spot. Mr. Robinson sees the look, and quickly switches the topic. "How's your brothers?"
Ophelia smiled. "My brothers are annoying as always. There's three of them so it gets pretty annoying."
After breakfast, Quinn, and Ophelia head towards the door, backpacks on their backs. Before leaving Mr. Robinson stopped them, and gave them both an umbrella. "Bye, Quinn. Bye, Ophelia. Love you both." He said with a warm smile.
Quinn smiled back. "Love you too, dad."
Ophelia waved. "Bye, Mr. Robinson."
Quinn opened the door, Ophelia, and her walked out while Mr. Robinson closed, and locked the door behind them. The girls opened their umbrellas' before walking to the bus stop.

Once they arrived at the bus stop. They sat down at bench.
"So, did you do the homework?" Ophelia asked.
"Of course. Do you want to copy off of me... again?" Quinn asked with a light laugh.
"Obviously." Ophelia pulled out her homework, and a pen from her bag before pulling out Quinn's homework from her bag.
"I'm going to guess." Quinn said. "Your parents were fighting all night so you couldn't focus on homework?"
Ophelia sighed. "Yeah, they were being so loud. I swear, they should get a marriage counselor, or at least divorce already."
"That must suck. Is your mom still accusing your dad of cheating?" Quinn asked.
Ophelia nodded. "Yep. Even though I know he wouldn't do that, he's a good person."
The bus pulled up to the bus stop. Ophelia put away the homework before she, and Quinn got up. They got on the bus, and sat in the third. Ophelia taking the window seat. Ophelia took out her phone, and headphones from her bag. She plugged in her headphones to her phone before logging in, and playing music. Quinn looked over Ophelia's shoulder to see what she's listening to which was a band called: "Deadmen". "Deadmen? Seriously?" Quinn judged.
"What? They're good!" Ophelia defends before turning up the volume.

The bus took them to their school; Springsteen K-12. The bus came to a stop, and kids pour out of it, Ophelia, and Quinn being the last. Quinn, and Ophelia entered their school. Their first class was English, Mr. Stewart was the teacher. Mr. Stewart was Quinn's favorite teacher due to his attitude. He was kind, funny, and calm. He always helped students who had troubles which was usually Quinn. She's loved him since the start of the semester. Quinn, and Ophelia entered his classroom. Mr. Stewart was writing something on the board, he always kept his appearance up but something was different today. His normal straight, brown hair, was now messy. Based on his body language, he was also tired. Since Mr. Stewart was Quinn's favorite, she got worried. She went up to Mr. Stewart. "Mr. Stewart. How are you feeling today?" Quinn asked.
Mr. Stewart turned to Quinn except his face was distorted like it was melting, his eyes were black, his skin was darker, and his head was tilted. Quinn didn't expect Mr. Stewart to look like that.
Quinn backed up. "M- Mr. Stewart?" She stammered.
The lights flickered, and he was back to normal. His hair was styled, his eyes were back to brown, and his posture was better. "Quinn? Are you okay?" Mr. Stewart asked.
Ophelia looked at Quinn. "Yeah, you look like you saw a ghost. Are you okay?"
Quinn looked at Mr. Stewart, then Ophelia. "You... You didn't see that?"
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"
Quinn looked back at Mr. Stewart, then at Ophelia once again. She relaxes. "I think I was just seeing things. Come on, let's sit down." She grabbed Ophelia's hand, and lead her to her, and Ophelia's seat.
Mr. Stewart looked at Quinn, and Ophelia sit down before greeting other students who were entering. Once all the students were there, he started class with a test. He handed them all out, along with handing them some pens. He went to the front of the room, and wrote on the board some reminders which where: "If you don't know something. Take a guess", "Please ask to use the restroom", and "Remember to hand in homework at the end of class."

The test started, and all the questions were normal... except on Quinn's test. For other students they got questions about English but for Quinn she got strange questions. The first question was: "Does anyone love you?" That question baffled Quinn because this is an English class, still she answered the question. "Yes." Quinn wrote while thinking, "This is weird..."
The rest of the questions were equally as confusing, and frightening. The last question was: "Would anyone care if you went missing?" Quinn just stared at the question, confused. She got fed up with the weird questions so she raised her hand. Mr. Stewart came over to Quinn. "What's wrong?" He asked.
Quinn looked up at Stewart. "Why are the questions like this?" She looks down at her test, and points at a question. "One of them is: "Would anyone care if you went missing?" That's really weird, who would ask-"
Mr. Stewart cut off Quinn. "Well, would anyone care?"
"What?" Quinn asked before looking back up at Mr. Stewart. When she looked up her eyes widened because his face was distorted with the black eyes again. "Answer the question, Quinn." Mr. Stewart demanded, his voice deepening. He got closer. "Would anyone care if you went missing?"
Quinn leaned back, her face going pale. "Well, o- of course!" She looks around, and everyone was suddenly gone. It was an empty classroom. Her heart raced.
"Wrong. Answer." Mr. Stewart said.
Quinn looked back at Mr. Stewart but he wasn't there. He disappeared. She looks around again, and the fun, calm classroom was gone. She was now in a forest. The same forest she's been having dreams of. The air cold, and thick.