Question Everything

Strange Place

"Don't question your culture," mom said. I was cradled in her arms, giggling. Her high, sweet voice calmed me. Her hand ran through my hair. "Don't do it." She was smiling. She leaned down, her lips caressing my small ear. "Unless you want to be punished," she whispered. Her voice was freakishly deep now. An image of a crying baby flashed in my eyes, the sound loud and overwhelming. Then, a girl with pink hair on her knees, screaming. The last image was one of a boy with green hair crying over the limp body of a little girl. Mom started laughing, her voice still low, and the sound of baby crying resonated from me, still in her arms, and it faded to black, until only the sound of laughter and crying was there....

I shot up, covered with sweat. The back of my head hurt, like I had taken a hard fall.

Suddenly, things started to register in my brain. My fingers weren't touching the soft sheets of my bed, they on long grass. It was pitch dark, but there were glowing things around me. To my left, a waterfall glowed a bright blue. Glowing green mushrooms were scattered around the grass, and there were little balls of light floating around in the air. A tree in front of me was dark except for the glowing red vine twisted up and around it.

I looked at the grass, which was slightly lit from the light around it, but found a spot where the light was blocked out. Two pitch-black figures laid still in the grass. They looked like people, one boy and one girl.

I crawled slowly over to the figures, and touched the girl's shoulder. I shook her a little, and her pink hair caught the light so I could see it.

Pink hair. "Gia!" I said, shaking her. "Gia, wake up!"

She sat up and looked at me. I could see her face now, and it was definitely Gia. "April?" She said. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea," I responded. I suddenly remembered the boy. I wondered if he could be....

I crawled over to the boy's body, and I shook his shoulders. He opened his eyes, and the light from the glowing surroundings reflected in his eyes. "April? What are you doing in my house?"

"Um, I don't think we're in your house."

"What?" He sat up and looked around. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I have no idea. I just woke up here and you Gia were laying in the grass next to me."

"Wait, Gia's here, too?"

"Yeah." We looked at her, and she had gone to inspect the tree with the glowing vine.

"Hey, you guys?" She called. "You don't think maybe we're here because we questioned the Latosh? I mean, nobody really ever knew where they went, and this could easily be it. Plus, there's no one else here, and it was us who questioned it."

"Maybe," I said. "I just feel like it's too pretty to be a punishment."

"April, you're just saying that because you don't want to be wrong."

"Yes, that is true, but it's still a possibility."

Gia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I think we should sleep. It's already been a... weird day and the hasn't even risen yet."

"Ooh, 'risen.' Looks like someone knows her grammar." I said in a baby voice.

Gia groaned. "Would you please stop that? Seriously though, we should sleep."

"Alright, alright. I'm sleeping, see?" I laid down and made pretend snoring noises.

"You are so immature," she muttered as she laid down a few feet away from me.

"Woah, guys. Calm down." Greson's voice was calming somehow, especially since he hadn't talked for a little while. "You're still friends, no matter where you are."

He walked over to me and kissed my forehead, before walking back to the tree to lay down.

My eyelids feeling heavy, I smiled and let myself fade into sleep.