Something to Nothing

Chapter One

"Spencer, come here." My friend says to me as she waves me over.

"What?" I ask, going to her side.

She is looking down an empty road. It is as if it has been abandoned. There is nothing there at all. The road just goes on into the distance.

"Don't you think it is strange? Why is it so empty?"

I shake my head. "It is the middle of the day. There probably just is not anyone on the road. Let's just go. We have to meet up with our other friends."

"Just a moment," She begins, "We should go check it out."

I turn to her. She has taken a few steps forward into the road.

"Why? It is just a road. Come on." I try to pull her back onto the sidewalk.

"No, Spencer. Something is odd here. It should not be like this."

A breeze comes by and pushes my hair into my face. I push it behind my ear and turn to the main road. A few cars drive by, but they do not seem to notice us. I can hear the voices of children from inside the buildings. Nothing seems to be wrong. I glance back over to my friend.

"We should go. If something is wrong about this place, we should get out of here."

"Fine. I'll follow you."

"Alright."

I start to walk forward heading towards the town where we are supposed to meet, but I hear footsteps going off in the other direction. I turn around and see my friend has run down the road. I take a deep breath and follow after her. I have trouble catching up with her as I am wearing black stilettos. I stop for a moment and when I look back up, I find my friend is gone. Where did she go?

I look back up the road, but I am all alone. In fact, I can no longer see the village. That is strange. I know I did not go that far down the road. I run up in the direction of the village, but it seems I am on a never ending road. Behind me, I hear a scream. I stop and slowly turn around. It sounded close by, but I do not understand how that can be. I walk further down the road, looking for any sign of life.

The land on the side of the road is bare. There are no trees and there is not green grass. There are not any birds flying around or rodents scurrying along the road searching for food. Another scream, closer. I quickly turn around. Nothing. I run forward, throwing aside my shoes. I keep running, I do not stop. Still, I do not come across the town. Suddenly, there is someone in front of me. I come to a stop. I do not know this person. Actually, I am not sure it is a person. Whatever it is hides inside a giant black cape. It looks me up and down. I take a step back and run into something. The figure is behind me. How did it move so fast?

"So, you thought it would be okay to cross over to my land. Well, you are about to see what happens to those who cross to my land. Just like that girl." The thing speaks.

I turn around. "What do you mean?"

"You do not need to worry about that."

"Just let me go and where is my friend?" I demand.

"Facing the consequences like you soon will."

I do not say anything. I try to step away, but it reaches out and grabs me by the wrist. It looks down at my arm and goes immediately to the bracelet I wear. It yanks it off. The thing inspects it as if it is a danger.

"Oh, how lovely. I caught myself a rich specimen. I have never had one of those before." The thing notes.

"I'm not rich." I lie.

"I'm not stupid." The thing begins, "This bracelet is made of pure gold. It is from a foreign area. Those clothes of yours are much more expensive than anything I have ever seen and you are much too beautiful to be poor."

It reaches out and takes a strand of my hair in its hands. I take a deep breath and try not to seem scared even though I most certainly am. It grabs hold of my jacket and rips it off, revealing my white silk dress.

It does not seem to be speaking to me when it observes, "Yes, expensive materials. Oh, earrings, made of diamond. Much too valuable to just wear for a casual outing, unless this was not casual at all."

It takes my hand in its hand, looking at my nails. "Perfectly painted nails."

Looking up at my face, "Perfect makeup. Perfect wavy hair. Although I never thought a rich girl would have chocolate colored hair. Ever considered going blonde?"
He continues on, "Beautiful amber eyes. Caramel skinned. Yes. Very precious girl in deed."

I am uncomfortable. What is this thing and what does it want with me?

I tear myself from its grasp. "Let me go. Tell me how to get back to my village."

"No. You are mine now, but I can not simply do to you as I do the others. I want to see how the rich react in new environments. Yes. Yes. I have just the plan."

"No!" I scream, running off.

However, the thing is much faster than I am. How I forget these things. It gets ahead of me and grabs me.

"Get off me!" I cry.

"You seem to be a fighter. Interesting. Maybe I misjudged your kind. I guess we will see." The thing says, dragging me in the other direction.

It takes me off the road and into the middle of the dead field. Then it lets go of me. I try to move, but somehow the thing makes it so I can not go anywhere. It pulls something out of its pocket and hangs it in front of me. It is a silver chain necklace. There is a pale stone charm on it. The creature comes closer to me and clasps the necklace around my neck. It steps away. I reach up and try to tear the necklace off. It will not go anywhere.

"You fool!" It shouts. "You can not take that necklace off. Only I can do that and I only will take it off if you can complete my challenge. But face it, you will die long before that can happen. You do not know how to deal with problems when you are nothing!"

Then it disappears. I am again left alone, but this time I am alright with it. I try to escape, but I still can not move. Suddenly there is a burst of white light. It grows until I seem to be in a land of nothing, just space. Then a blue light comes out of nowhere, colliding with the white light. I turn my face away so I will not be blinded. A boom sounds, from where I am not quite sure, and then the light fades away. I am in a strange place, but before I can even look around, I black out.