Lost Boys - A Sanders Sides fanfiction

Prologue

Roman wasn't sure why he was crying this time, or what had caused it, but he did know that it was the third time it had happened in a week. That... Wasn't normal, was it? It had to be, considering how often it happened. Right?

Those... Classmates, of his had thought it would be funny to steal his book of fairytales again. But, this time, as they were throwing it between themselves, one child missed his friend, instead having the book land in the open road. It wouldn't have been so bad, until the car had come along and run over the open cover. Pages ripped right out of the spine, flying everywhere, the remains of his hero's adventures scattered in the wind.

That was when Roman had started to run. There were tears streaming down his face, hot and salty, making it difficult for him to see where he was going. Not that he had a plan on that, anyway. He didn't care where he was going, or what he would do when he got there, he just knew he had to go, to get away from those people who thought it was okay to do what they did! Making fun of his height, his clothing, his love of magic and stories, everything he had once been proud of about himself. And now.... Now they had crossed the line. That book was everything to him, and they knew it. One would have to be a fool to think children were all kind and innocent.

Roman stopped, panting. He looked up, seeing that he had ran farther than he had realised. He was standing on the outskirts of a large forest, so close that if his mother was there, she would slap him upside the head and drag him off.

He had grown up in a town just next to the forest, but had never gone in on his parents' warning. But now, he didn't care. If a wild animal were to come and attack him, or even a person, Roman might even be relieved. Let him get lost for a day, or better yet, let him get so lost he never finds his way back out, and go insane from being there for so long.

He nodded, walking purposefully between the trees, which led to him speeding up into a jog until he could no longer see any buildings behind him.

Despite being just nine years old, Roman had an extreme sense of adventure about him, believing in magic and good people being rewarded with happy endings. This was, of course, the reason his classmates bullied him so much; they thought he was naive for still believing in fairytales.

As he walked through the woods, he realised he was looking for something. Some kind of.... Sign that the world was a better place than it seemed to be. So he would keep walking until he found it. And if he didn't find it, then.... Well he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

If he had a watch, Roman might have known how many hours he had spent in the forest. But he did know if the sun got any lower than it had since he entered, he would only walk into the trees and not around them. And he could only imagine his parents' reaction to him being gone overnight.

It doesn't matter how bad people are, he thought moodily. I still have to put up with them. For some reason.

He kicked a rock, desperate to get his anger out of his system before heading back. It flew, smacking loudly against a tree and dropping to the ground.

Suddenly, Roman heard a noise behind him. It sounded like the snapping of a twig, then a sort of humming noise one would associate with an engine began to fill the air. He turned around to investigate, but when he was facing the other way, the forest looked..... Different than before.

The trees were taller, thicker, and slightly farther apart than they had been. There was a thin stream twisting through the dirt – now covered in a thin layer of pine leaves – a few feet ahead of him, and the plants and leaves on the trees almost seemed greener, and more sunlight bounced off the floor.