The Land of the Hidden

2

I grabbed the branch, swinging and slamming into the cold damp bark. I gradually made my way down the tree. Getting scratched up in the process. I ran towards the woods. I continued to run into it without thinking. I felt free. Like I finally got to control my life. I ran as fast as I could. Wind running through my hair and- I tripped. My face smacked something hard. I laid there my head hurt. Bad. I began to get up. I fell and everything went black.

When I woke up something was tickling my ears and I heard a weird noise. I opened my eyes and saw the moon staring at me. I sat up and looked down. I was in a small creek. My clothes were soaked. How did I get here? I stood up and slowly made my way out of the river. I sat down in a dirt patch. My arm stung. I pulled up my sleeve to find a large cut, blood slowly making its way out of the wound. I covered it with my sleeve and limped in a direction I thought was back to the house. I walked up a hill and looked above all the trees. I was really close to the large tree I had seen outside my window. I walked toward the tree. I wouldn't be able to walk all the way back home like this. I could find somewhere to sleep there.

    When I was about three yards away from the base of the tree I saw the girl. "Hey!" I yelled at the girl. She quickly turned around and looked at me. Her emerald green eyes staring at me. Her hair was shorter than mine. She had a pixie cut, so I could see her face clearly. "Who are you?" I asked stepping closer towards her. She slowly backed away towards the base of the tree. She was in sort of a stance. Then something hit my arm. I looked to see what had struck my arm but could see nothing. Searching the ground for what had hit me I saw a rock among the tangled grass. I looked back up to see the girl running away from me. She was already about 30 feet away. I ran after her without another thought. Looking back on it I don't know why I wanted to catch her. Probably to know why she was here. That was it. I was determined to catch her. I ran as fast as I could. My shoulder still hurt and so did my leg. They ached terribly, every step triggering a jolt of pain. But I didn't care. I was so determined to catch her it felt as if nothing else existed. Like my only purpose was to run as quickly as my body would allow me to. I continued to chase her I was closer to her than before but I was still about 15 feet away. My eyes were focused on her. We reached a large hole. She ran towards it and hopped into it, sort of sliding down the dark hole. I watched her make her way into the darkness. I looked around and slowly began putting my legs into the hole. I suddenly started to slide down on my back. I was going to fast. It was almost straight down and it was just big enough for me to smoothly slide down.

It lasted a while. I continued to slide down the tube-like path in the ground. I closed my eyes and began to think to myself. How would I get out? Why is it so long? Why d- my thought was interrupted by me slamming into the ground. I was in a room filled with dirt. There was a hallway in the center. The girl was walking down it. I jogged over as fast as I could with my limp. I came up next to her. "Where are we?" I asked looking at her. She looked over at me quickly, surprised. She swung her leg behind me, knocking me to the ground. She sprinted down the hallway.