010

Part One

I stare out at the forest, I think it's a forest, I don't know much. Except that it's cold. And some kind of white substance sprinkles the ground. I found some kinds of clothing, but they don't fit me, the shirt hangs off me leaving parts of me exposed, and pieces of the pants are ripped, the boots I found are rubber, and have given blisters, but it's all I have. I go to focus, I can get to the woods if I concentrate.
   I close my eyes and envision myself on the other side, I snap my fingers and before I know it, I'm there. I feel myself falter, like I'm fading. I've used a lot of energy, I'm not as strong as I like to believe. Going unseen is easy, but moving your entire body without using a muscle outside your brain is hard. I slouch, heading to the woods. It's getting darker, the sun is setting. I wipe my nose. It's bleeding again, I don't know why that happens.
   I flex my muscles, trying to increase the blood flow to my limbs. I feel the ground beneath me compress, dry leaves crunch beneath me as I take slow steps deeper into the woods. A gentle wind stirs short wispy hairs into my face, then a stronger wind thrusts me to the right. I stumble, but find my balance. I should be used to the cold, but I find that it still picks at me. I take my time going through the woods, until I come across a small building, well not really a building, but it's made of tree branches and sticks. I don't bother with it, but soon I find a small house, I think, it's made out of more wood.
   There's a bigger house just a bit further up, and I'm hesitant to approach it, I'm scared someone will see me and do something. Father told me that the world outside is dangerous, and that people would fear what my sisters and I do, that we'd be killed. A lot of what father said was a lie. I don't know if this is too, of course there's one way to find out. I tiptoe to the door on the side of the biggest building. I bang on it, a little too hard I think because I hear a shout from inside. Whoever it is, it's definitely a woman, she sounds somewhat upset. As I'm about to give up hope, a man, or a boy, someone in between, I think a teenager, answers the door with a large box that has a big round lens and he points it right at me. He lowers it and whispers to himself.
  "Uh mom!?" He shouts, I wince, it takes me a second to realize it's really him talking and not me thinking, it's been so long since I heard a voice, it's foreign to me.
  "Ugh Jonathan I don't have time for your videos! I need to find the keys!" Another voice calls back.
  "Mom, there's a girl here..." he yells back again.
  "Jonathan, really I- oh! Found 'em!" The Woman says as she comes up behind the teenager, and looks me up and down, she frowns, looking more than worried, and then she pulls me inside.