One can only image a place outside imagination, outside dreaming, but that is all we can do; imagine it. No one knows for sure. There could be a whole world waiting to be discovered, but too afraid to show itself to civilization. There could be creatures of unknown species, or hidden magic so powerful that no human can control. But as humans we will never know. Until Now.

This is where our story begins.

‘Wait, what am I doing here? I was just helping my little brother get ready for his first day of high school and then I ended up here. Wait. Where is here anyways?’ I looked around and saw darkness everywhere except at my feet. So I sat up and saw light coming into the small cave like place I was in. I crawled out, to try and get a better view of where I was, when all of a sudden a gust of wind pushed me back to where I was. The wind blew so hard that it whistled in my ears and caused me to go blind momentarily. I tried to look outside of the cave but the wind made it impossible to see anything. As I waited for the wind to die down I curled into a ball and attempted to make myself warm.

The day slowly became night, it was hours before the wind even attempted to stop. Not knowing how long I would be in this strange place, I decided to go to sleep and to try and forget that I was taken away from my little brother. The air was cold, so it was hard to get a good night rest, but somehow my shivering made me feel like I was back home. My brother and I aren’t the wealthiest people so our house doesn’t have heat, which sucks during the winter, but we wrap ourselves in blankets and cuddle each other to stay warm during those cold, cold nights. I missed my brother so much that my eyes started to build tears. Since our parents died he has depended on me to look after him, and we have never gone longer than a school day without seeing each other. So I was starting to feel devastated that I didn’t know when I would get back to the only family I had.

After tossing and turning, for what seemed an endless amount of time, it was finally morning. When I opened my eyes the light blinded me at first, but after I rubbed my eyes they adjusted to it. I crawled out of the cave to stretch out my stiff body, and to see where exactly I had been transported. The ground was coated in layers of white sand. The sand was so thin that every time I took a step my foot would sink into it. The tiny grains of sand sept between my toes and felt soft against the bottom of my bare feet. Just below the surface of it the sand was cool and was a nice contrast to the almost burning sense that the top layer had.

I began to make my way through the sand, in an attempt to find something; whether it was a person or an abandoned building I didn’t care. The wind blew through my long brown hair as I walked, pulling it this way or that way. On occasion the wind was so strong that I would loose my balance and fall, or it would cause me to walk completely sideways, when I was trying to walk straight. Sometimes my hair would blow in my face or get stuck in my lip gloss, which was annoying, but I would just sweep it aside and continue walking. With the wind came a small gust of sand, which cause me to stop momentarily so that I could shield my eyes.

When I was able to look up I noticed that the sky was unlike the blue sky I was use to; in fact, it was quiet the opposite. I couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the sand hills began. The sky was covered in a dark smog and there was no sign of the sun; anywhere. There was also a tinge to light brown in the sky, it made me think of the only science fiction movie that my brother and I had seen together. With that thought in mind I began to wonder, ‘Maybe I’m in some kind of science fiction universe or something. Although that can’t be possible. Besides bad things always happen in those movies and nothing bad has happened to me.’ I threw back a laugh and kept on walking.

It was nearly nightfall, although with the sky being constantly dark it was hard to tell the difference, so I knew I had to find a place to sleep. It was hard to make out but I could have sworn that right in front of me was an abandoned war-like truck. However, as I moved closer the image began to disappear, and I knew it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. With my exhaustion slowly growing I began to stumble my feet, which lead me to fall on my face. As I fell the wind started to pick up and I was blown down a sand hill. I rolled and rolled and rolled. My hair wrapped around my head, thankfully so I wouldn’t get blinded, and I crossed my arms over my chest to it hurt less when I rolled. When I finally reached the bottom I was in so much shock that I just laid there stared at the sky wondering if I should just sleep where I was. I felt like I was on air, because the ground below me was so light.

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Ultimately, I decided that I would be too cold so I stood up, brushed the sand off of myself, and kept searching for a place to sleep. In what seemed like no time at all I found a tiny, broken down house, that looked like it had been destroyed by the weather for years. Most of the roof was gone, the wood door had been blown off and the outside of the house had very little detail to it. ‘I guess it’s better than nothing.’ So I made my way into a room and got as comfortable as I could on the hard, cold, floor. Throughout the night I could hear the wind ripping at the house and the sounds of wild creatures calling to those in a far off distance. After being constantly startled by the wind, it eventually became a calming noise and helped me get to sleep.

I hadn’t been asleep for more than a few hours when I heard a different noise, coming from inside of the small house. It sounded like footsteps made by a four legged animal. I rose abruptly and scanned the room to see if I could see where the noise was coming from; however, all I could see was darkness. So I laid back down and attempted to go back to sleep. Nonetheless, as soon as I closed my eyes the noise started up again. I stayed still and hoped that the noise would go away. But it didn’t. In fact, it became louder and louder. Tick tick tick tick tick tick, like claws hitting hardwood floor. When the noise began to echo in the room I sat up and looked into the doorway; and there it was. There was maybe four feet between me and the beast.

It had green glowing eyes, its head was completely covered in a thick fur and thankfully it didn’t show its teeth. They were probably long and ferocious, perfect for eating humans with. Its legs were skinny and also covered in a thick fur, and at the end of its legs were big paws that were bigger than my hands. Attached to these giant paws were long claws that could easily slit my throat, if it was given the chance. I could not see the body of the beast, but from where I was sitting I didn’t know that I wanted to. Against the shadows, behind the beast, it looked ginormous, both in height and in length.

I was petrified. I didn’t know what to do. ‘Do I just sit here and stare at the beast? Do I try to fall asleep? Do I try and escape and hope for the best?’ I slowly attempted to stand up, thinking that I could escape and find somewhere else to sleep. The moment I took my first step the beast cried and broke the last remaining window in the room. Now the wind blew straight into the room making it impossible to warm up, if I were to go back to sleep. I knelt down and sat on my knees, not taking my eyes off of the beast. As I did that it sat down as well. I stood up again and the beast followed my actions. Not wanting to irritate the beast again I sat down on the floor, just below the window, and hugged my knees for protection against the wind.

The beast just sat in the doorway and stared at me the entire night. I couldn’t go to sleep because I was so afraid that the beast would attack or eat me when I was most vulnerable. My head drooped a couple of times, but I suddenly picked it up trying to stay awake. I could see the beasts head doing the same thing. So giving into my tiredness I gently placed my head on my knees, and trusting that the beast would not attack me, I fell asleep.