Chapter 1 - Who is Calling?

I swears to God that I must have slept for over 100 years. This is the only reason I could think of that explains why my whole body is stiff and my bones are cracking.

This is all Jenn’s fault… If it wasn’t Jenn, I would never try that bottle of liqueur she stole from her dad. I wasn’t really interested in putting some random liqueur collected from God knows when into my mouth, but Jenn convinced me; it truly was my convocation yesterday.

I was probably knocked out right away after that first sip. I shake my head trying to stay awake. Without opening my eyes, I realize my room smells different now. Did mom buy a new set of fragrance candles? It smells nice, like I’m surrounded by fresh trees.  

Out of no where, I feel a tiny raindrop fell right on the tip of my nose. The coldness gives me great chill. It must be my little brother’s prank. His name is Jack, and he has always been into pranks.

“When are you going to be mature, Jack?” I finally sit up and tear my eye lids open.

I almost bite my tongue and cannot believe what I see.

I am sitting by a giant tree; a Sequoia tree I saw in the well-known Sequoia National Park. But this one is much bigger with giant leaves and much darker bark. I look around, very, very confused.  I somehow have accidently broken into a forest, a forest with canopy too tall to be in sight and tree roots winding out into soil like anacondas.  

Where am I?

I start to question if I was in a dream.

I normally feel calm and peaceful around trees, but this place is oddly quiet. I can’t help to huddle up my legs tightly against my chest.

Could this be another prank? You know, the family prank for their one and only high school graduate daughter?

Maybe it is a surprise trip for my convocation. It’s been a long time since we had a family trip.

My nerves are eased a little under that assumption. I stand up, now I must go find out where they are all hiding.

This forest is so different than any other ones I have been to. It is raw, de-modernized and some plants I see are so strange looking that I question why no textbooks or documentaries ever mention about them.

So far, I have tripped myself three times, after only a half hour search. The soil is looking soft, but it is incredibly hard to walk on. The ground of this forecast is covered with thick layers of rotten leaves, roots and sharp stones.

I still can’t find my family, not even a clue. What has frightened me is that I also cannot find any sign of humanity.

I start to feel nervous. How could this happen to begin with? I have so many questions. If this is all supposed to be prank, then how did they move me thousands of miles away from home without waking me up?

One fact I know is if this is truly a prank, then all of them are in big trouble! I will not let it go easily; I start to lose temper.

I normally is very chill, if you ask me, it is probably because I was trained at very young age as my dad is very good at pranks.

This time is different. I am cold, hungry, sleepy, dizzy, exhausted and more importantly, I am in my pajama and slippers this whole time!

This is unforgivable.

“What shall I say to the very first person who is kindly enough to find me then?” I starts to mutter to myself, “Tell them that I came here to visit? Oh, and this is such a beautiful place! And EXCUSE MY DIRTY PAJAMAS?”

I deeply sign, “I will scare people to death.”

I don’t realize that I am holding this idea of family prank like holding the rope prevents me from falling off a cliff.

It is getting cold and dark; I don’t need to be the smartest girl to know the forest is 10 times more dangerous when it’s in the dark than in the light.

I must quit whining and find my family as soon as possible. But how? Now I already lose track of my way back and my headache is worse because of the increasing anxiety.

“…He..re.”

Uh? I immediately turn my head; could this be my lucky call?

“..Com..e.”

Yes! Finally! I am so relieved that I cannot hold my tears of joy. I run quickly towards the direction of the sound.

“I’m here!” I wave my arm so hard, hoping the person who calls me could see.  

“….Her..e…Co…me..”

The sound seems a bit twisted by the wind, I don’t know if it is because of the person’s accent or if it was blocked by something.

Even if the voice sounds like nails scratching on chalkboard, I truly can’t care less.

“Wait, I’m coming!” I can feel the smile on my face. I am surprised that I can run this fast – even the slippers do not seem to be an obstacle anymore.

“Co..me…Her…e” the voice appeared repetitively.

I am so close now; my heart is pounding. The sound feels just around the corner.

“I’m here! Can you see me?” I cross a small bush, look around, trying to find the second person in here. “Where are you?”

“He…re…” the weak, twisted voice echoed behind the tree.

I desperately want to jump right behind that tree and give that person a huge hug, but somehow, I hesitate. I start to sense weirdness in this situation. I just notice my blood runs so fast, and I look down, just realize I am shivering non-stop.

Maybe I should safeguard myself first before jumping in for any of the stranger call. I finally realize that not all calls are friendly.

I shouldn’t answer the call this quick at all.

What if I’m in the movie <Wrong Turn>? I could be dead in 10 seconds. I don’t want to try my luck here. Holding breath, I slowly back up a few steps.

Squatting behind the bushes, I find a few sharp stones on the ground that I could put them in pockets. Underneath the bushes, there is also a wood stick that I could hold with a sharper end on the other side.  

I now feel much more secure with weapons on hand.

Though I don’t plan to answer that call, I need to see what is behind the tree, but not from over here, it’s too close.

I can hide and see from up the hill. I have an idea. I always have a great vision inherited from my family. Jack even wrote when he was in primary school that he will be a pilot when he grows up.

I silently wipe out tears as I turn towards the hill.

I only wish my family is safe now. Please, please, please….

It is getting darker and darker, I quickly run back to the hill and look down, and I am able to catch it right before the sunset.  

There is no human behind the trees, of course. There is only a giant weird ugly flower, at least 2-meter tall, mouth in the center of the pistil with shark-like teeth awakening as the sun goes down.

I lost words. How could the flower talk? How could those creature exist?  There is another fact I know for sure; I am the prey in this forest. A flower could easily trap and kill me.  

Calm down, Joanne…Calm down. I convince myself to take a few deep breaths.

The sunset is so beautiful, the red, orange, purple burning light shines right on my face. I should enjoy this moment, but I know I am running out of time here. It would only take another 5-10 minutes for the night to completely arrive, and I have zero energy left.

At this quiet moment, I suddenly hear a slithering sound behind me. A weird creature is crawling on the dry leaves towards me with a strong smell in the wind coming from behind.

Ugh, it stinks. The smell force me to imagine blood, bones, and dead animals soaking in water.

Isn’t this fantastic? On the second day after convocation when my life was just about to begin. I look back, and see a giant black python hissing, with a size I only once saw in movies. I might be the only one that experience the actual fear facing this size of a python.

I know that I am not ready for death. I just had my first crush whose name I already forgot. I didn’t give enough hugs and kisses to families and friends; I haven’t experienced the world enough to say that I have not regrets.

In the moment of death, everything feels like in slow motion, I see the snake gradually drops its head and opens its jaw.

Wow, like a deep stinky cave. I even have a glance inside its mouth.

This is it. With all the regrets.

I close my eyes.

But things don’t go as expected. It truly is my lucky day.

In the darkness, I hear a weird scrunchy sound like mom cutting poultry in the kitchen. Completely out of guard, I am then splashed and covered by massive liquid – sticky and stinky, with a dull thud in the end.

Maybe the story is not supposed to end here.

With a glimmer of hope, I open my eyes.  

A man, looks like a real human being, is standing in front of me. He is very tall.

Sitting on the ground, I can only see his dark combat boots and his sword casually pointing downward.

Dark red blood keeps dripping down from the sword tip into the ground.

I try to look up, but I can only see a small piece of his sharp jawline.

Seems to hear me, the man turned around and lowered his head.

Unpreparedly, I gaze into his eyes as I fall right into that turquoise Atlantic Ocean.

He has a pair of gorgeous, icy-blue eyes.