LOST

The Sight of Something New

My legs were so sore. Walking was so hard if you did it for a long time. Dale said the trip to town wasn't too close, nor too far. The trail had disappeared a while back and I had kept walking straight. The entire forest surrounded me.

So many different types of trees and animals. How could a world be so precious? And how could someone so evil keep me from it? I felt so disgusted with Dale. But I still had that doubt in my mind...That maybe he was truly helping me...

Ugh. Whatever. I have to find my relatives, at least.

I mean, what are the chances of me running into trouble?

As I kept walking, I felt someone watching me. I didn't know who, or why. But I just did. For some reason, I felt Dale's eyes on me...

Pssh. No, Sarah. Don't be silly. He's locked up in that cottage. You'll get him out of there later.

But what if...Dale was right? What if the real killer of my parents was behind me?..

No! You're thinking silly. What kind of a person would wait fourteen years for a girl to come out of a cottage in the middle of the woods? Why would he observe for all of those years?

It felt kind of scary to be alone. But the feeling went away...because I heard something.

It was like...I don't know how to explain it. A constant humming or moving. I heard two other noises. And then I heard them again! Sort of like a 'beep'. I followed the noise. The trees started disappearing in the middle.

Could it be? Am I out of the forest? Are those cars and people I see?! Oh my goodness. I did it! I did it! I did it! I'm out! I'm free!

I ran towards the opening in the forest and saw a whole other world.

Houses. Cars. Signs. Little children. Babies. People. People! That can help! Help me find my relatives!

I hope Dale had taught me how to communicate properly. I hope he was really innocent. For some reason I felt like he is innocent. I'll go back to get him. First, I wanted to find the rest of my family. My relatives. I must have an Uncle or a cousin in this town somewhere.

I saw a woman who looked like she had nothing to do. She was just walking and looking around. Maybe she would help me find my family...

I took off Dale's bag and searched for the newspaper. This would be proof. It looked pretty old. No one would keep an old newspaper story like that. Only if they were related to the story in some way. Or if they were a relative of the victim or suspect.

I walked towards the woman and started to become nervous. This is the first time I have ever spoken to someone other than Dale.

Don't worry, Sarah. She won't kill you. Relax.

"Excuse me?" I smiled at the woman.

She smiled back. "Yes, sweetie?"

Yes. So far so good. Now how do I break it to her..? I have no choice but to be straightforward.

"I need your help. Can you bring me to the authorities to find my relatives, please?" She looked confused. I handed her the cut up newspaper.

She was mouthing the words she read when she finally looked back up at me. "You're...you're the girl..."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Sarah Preston."

She smiled and her eyes got watery.

Did she know me? Was she around when the story was released in the town?

"My parents told me about you. Everyone in the town started looking for you and the kidnapper. Someone said that they saw-...wait. Did you just escape from another kidnapper?!"

"Another one? Well, yeah. Umm...I don't know if he's a kidnapper, too. Dale said that he was a friend of my parents. My parents gave him the responsibility to protect me. We've been living together in the forest for all of my fourteen years of being missing. He never let me out. He said it was to protect me." I explained further to the lady. Why I couldn't be let out of the cottage. How we survived. How Dale would go into town to do trading and buy things for us to live off of. And I told her about the key and how I escaped.

"The police captured the original kidnapper. He wasn't careful with escaping quickly. We need to get you to the police. I can't believe you're back. We need to find Dale, too."

"Thank you." I had my eyes filled with tears.

"I'm glad to help. We've missed you, Sarah."