***

Chris found himself in the middle of a beautiful green wilderness. There were beautiful trees and shrubs, luscious green meadows visible through a clearing in the forest. Beyond that, rolling hills. It was beautiful alright, but Chris didn’t know what was happening. A second ago he was in the dark hallway of his friend’s creepy old house and now he was in a tropical wilderness?! He was thinking that he was going crazy, or that it must be a dream. A voice filled his head.


“Chris”, it was Steven’s voice!

“Steven?” he answered, his voice laced with pure fear.

“Yes Chris it’s me”, Steven’s voice sounded distant and strange.


Chris looked around at his surroundings. Steven was nowhere to be seen. He spoke back;


“Steven where are you? … Where am I?”

“Chris, don’t worry. You’re going to have to trust me ok?”

“What?” Chris answered confused, “Trust you with what. Tell me what this is all about! Where am I and what is happening?!”

“Just do what I tell you Chris! I know you’re confused but you have to trust me. I’ll tell you what this is all about but for now you have to move. You are not safe. Go through the clearing in the trees. Get out of the woods and turn right. You will see a cabin. You need to go there. Do you understand?”


Chris had no clue as to where he was and he wanted to argue and question the whole thing, but he was fearful for his safety so for now, he reluctantly went along with it. Walking out through the clearing into the unknown, he had crossed the border into the meadow. He turned his head to the right, looking for the cabin which Steven had told him of. Sure enough, there it was, a small quirky log cabin which just sat there alone in the meadow with the woods to one side and behind it, a beautiful lake. The place was stunning for sure but Chris wasn’t bothered by how it looked. He was more concerned about the notion of being unsafe as Steven had informed him without detail or explanation. He turned and began walking quickly towards the cabin, hoping he would be safe there.

Chris moved through the big empty meadow as fast as he could without running, his senses were all on high alert. He could hear every sound, see every sight, feel every pebble, every bump under his feet as he walked. He heard the gentle rustling as the wind ruffled the leaves on the trees, the gentle sound of water trickling as the small waves lapped at the bank on the edge of the lake. He saw the tiny ripples on the water as the sunlight bounced off of it, the trees swaying elegantly in the gentle breeze. It was a very pleasant scene but still he was panicking. It was difficult to see how he could possibly be unsafe here but he could surely feel that something wasn’t right. Where was Steven’s voice coming from? That was what was most confusing to him. Where was he? It was all very weird. He just kept walking, his mind working harder and harder as the seconds went by. His breaths grew shorter and more hurried. His feet began to move faster and faster in the direction of the cabin as his sense of unease escalated.

He was nearly there, just a few more paces before he reached security. He reached the cabin and let his pace drop a little as he hesitantly explored the outside of the tiny building. The cabin was surrounded all the way around by a well kept bed of unfamiliar purple flowers. Chris frowned a little as he looked at them. They were unlike any flowers he had ever seen before, with just one oval shaped petal on each head. They were indeed very strange. To be honest, they smelled like the back end of a dog. Even without trying to, Chris could smell the ghastly stench of these simply weird flowers. He tried to take his mind off of them by exploring the outside of the building further, gazing over every visible inch with his eyes. It was a very simple rectangular shaped building with one window and one door, both on the front side of the cabin which faced the lake. He decided to approach the door, which was also made from wooden logs. He hesitantly knocked on the door, he didn’t know if anyone would be there. How would he know? He didn’t even know where he was. In fact come to think of it, he didn’t even know if any of this was real!