“I think we can stop now,” said Ezzie. “It’s not safe to run in the fog lands.”

Ava made herself stop. She breathed in deeply, heart pounding and half expecting to hear muffled, maniacal laughter, but there was nothing but silence and the thick, chilly fog around them, and she had never been so relieved to see fog and hear nothing but silence in her entire life. Her feet were soggy from the putrid water of the tunnel, which didn’t feel good, and all she could smell was that putrid aroma. She wanted to change her boots so bad, and the front of her skirt was wet from when they’d had to crawl. Brown water stains were on Ezzie’s holey jeans and partially on her flowy green blouse. They both needed to change, but obviously couldn’t. They smelled like shit.

“Well, that was traumatizing,” said Ava. She wanted a cigarette, but thought better of it and didn’t because she only had five left. She needed to conserve her nicotine.

She remembered Harper and Aiden, telling them that of course the fog lands came to an end. She wasn’t sure how much she trusted those two. She was just happy to be away from them. Their maniacal laughter echoed in her ears and the memory of their licking tongues. Shame overwhelmed Ava.

“They said the fog lands come to an end,” said Ezzie.

“Yeah. Not that I trust those freaks,” said Ava, drying her still wet hands on her still wet skirt. This sucked. Now she was going to have to walk around in wet, disgusting clothes. It had been worth it though. “I’m happy we’re out of that oasis.”

“Me too,” said Ezzie, who took the compass out of her pocket and looked at it. “This way is north,” she said, and they began walking, damp earth beneath their feet, no noise in the muted fog surrounding them. And suddenly Ava got that feeling of dread again and sure enough the demon stood out in the fog, eyes glowing a bright red in the haziness, face twisted and contorted and long claws on its hands. Ava swallowed a lump in her throat and resisted the urge to run. It was closer than it had ever been before. She closed her eyes tight, willing the demon to go away, willed it to disappear.

When she opened her eyes again it was thankfully gone.

“Ezzie,” Ava said, as they passed a sharp, white boulder. Ezzie led the way, Ava following close behind because she didn’t want to get lost, all alone, in all of this grayness.

“Yes?” asked Ezzie, as they continued on their slow, cautious pace. There didn’t seem to be any spinning worlds here, but you never knew.

Shame made Ava’s skin crawl, made her feel like the way that putrid water had smelled in the sewer tunnel. She wasn’t sure if she was a whore or not, but her mom’s words still echoed in her ears. She wasn’t sure if she was to blame or not. “Mark raped me,” Ava said.

“Who’s Mark?”

“My now ex-boyfriend.”

“What does rape mean? We don’t befriend the bad men.”

“He got me drunk. I think he drugged me. He forced himself on me,” said Ava, feeling like she was going to start crying. “And my mom called me a whore.”

“That’s disgusting!” Ezzie said, and Ava imagined Ezzie thinking about one of those bad men with their huge guts heaving on top of her. That was disgusting. That was gross.

“My mom made me feel like it was my fault,” said Ava, biting her trembling lip. She would not start crying.

“Why would it be your fault?”

“Because I shouldn’t have been there in the first place! Did I somehow lead him on? Am I really a whore, like my mom said?”

“No,” said Ezzie simply. “It’s not your fault. Those men are just bad. I’m sure you didn’t lead him on or anything. No one has the right to force themselves on you.”

Was Ezzie right?

“And I have a crush on my friend Elizabeth.” Just saying her name out loud made Ava feel her face burning up. She hadn’t meant to mention Elizabeth. It just kind of came out. And she couldn’t take it back now. She had a serious case of mouth diarrhea. “I like her. We kissed and my mom saw and said I can never see her again.”

“What’s wrong with kissing her?” asked Ezzie. “I’m assuming the men in your world are bad too, like they are here, so kissing a girl seems like the better option.”

“Because she’s a girl!” Ava burst out. “I think I’m a lesbian. I never want another boy to touch me ever again.”

“Who the hell cares that she’s a girl. Kissing a girl is better than kissing a bad man. That’s repulsive.”

Ezzie made it sound so simple, but it didn’t seem simple to Ava. Ezzie just didn’t understand, but maybe she was right and it really was that simple?

“My parents will disown me,” whispered Ava. “If they ever find out what I am I mean.”

“Keep on seeing this girl you like. The hell with your parents,” said Ezzie. “And the rape, how disgusting, wasn’t your fault.”

“You make it sound so simple.” Ava sighed. “You make it sound so easy, but it’s really not. My parents would kick me out. Where would I go? And they’re helping me pay for college. They wouldn’t help me anymore.”

“Go be with Elizabeth. She can be your girlfriend. And you’ll find an alternate way to pay for your school. Your mom is toxic.”

“She is?”

“Yes, and this ex-boyfriend of yours, Mark, is a monster!”

He was.

“I’m so ashamed though,” said Ava, hating to admit it out loud, and she felt tears forming in her eyes and willed them to go away. She would not start crying. She would not start crying! Just opening up to Ezzie about this made her shame worse.

“I don’t see what you have to feel ashamed about,” said Ezzie. “I’m sorry this all happened to you.”

“So am I,” said Ava quietly, and she was. “It’s the reason why I was even at the rollercoaster in the first place. It’s why I was there so late. I needed to escape.” Ava couldn’t help sounding bitter. “I guess I got what I wanted.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“I wouldn’t beat myself up about it. Things happen. I shouldn’t have sent that book to your world and destroyed the controls in the first place. I wouldn’t blame myself.”

That was true.

“Okay,” said Ava simply. Luckily she didn’t feel like she was going to start crying anymore. “And there’s something else.”

“Yes?” asked Ezzie.

“I keep on seeing this demon from my nightmares, out in the fog, like it’s following me. It’s why I ran that one time and ended up in the spinning world.”

“That’s strange,” said Ezzie.

“Yeah,” said Ava. “I’ve seen it three times now.” And she was more than happy she wasn’t seeing it again. “It fills me with dread. Am I just hallucinating?” She really hoped she wasn’t hallucinating. The last thing she needed was to add a mental illness to her problems.

“I don’t know,” said Ezzie. “Try not to worry about it though. Are you seeing it right now?”

“No,” said Ava.

“That’s good.”

It was.

They continued on in silence, only the muffled fog around them. They walked, and soon the damp earth beneath their feet was replaced by a broken cement street. Their footsteps were loud on the cement, and Ava tripped over debris a few times and had to stop herself from bumping into Ezzie. Apparently the broken cement street led north because they followed it, and Ava really hoped they wouldn’t come to another cement wall with an archway, or a broken glass door, but thankfully they didn’t. Ava thought about Mark and her mom and Elizabeth, and the possibility of coming out to her parents. The mere thought made her shiver, and she hugged her bag to her chest. Goosebumps exploded on her arms. She could feel them through the fabric of her plain black hoodie. Her feet sloshed in her boots as they walked. It was so uncomfortable. She wished she could dry her feet.

She thought about what Ezzie had said, about her mom being toxic. Ezzie must be right. Fuck her mom and what she had to say. She couldn’t really be a whore, could she? And was it really so easy to find an alternate way to pay for college, and would Elizabeth even want her to move in with her? She had run away when Elizabeth had kissed her after all. What would she think of her now? And besides that, Elizabeth still lived with her equally religious fanatical parents.

Ava sighed. It really didn’t seem as simple as Ezzie made it out to be. She could just see Elizabeth in secret and live with her when they transferred to the four-year campus. They were both planning on transferring to the same school after all. But could she handle another two years of living with her mom?

She didn’t even know how long she’d been gone, walking through this foggy wasteland. She didn’t even know how her parents were going to treat her now.

She never should have been at Mark’s apartment in the first place. Her dad had told her not to go to his apartment. She should have had Elizabeth rescue her sooner.

But there was nothing she could do about it now.

She was so tired, and her feet hurt. How long had they been walking? How was she going to explain her absence to her parents. She supposed they were already pissed off at her. She supposed it didn’t really matter all that much.

Ava bumped into something with her knee.

“Ouch!” she cried out, and saw she’d bumped into something metal and rusted, lit dimly in the fog, but she saw, even through the fog, that it was a cart from an amusement park ride. A Ferris wheel cart perhaps? It looked like one. The fog wisped upwards, revealing more broken carts, and a fallen Ferris wheel, colors on it rusted. Through the rust Ava saw a clown’s smiling face on the side of the cart she’d bumped into.

“What is it?” asked Ezzie.

“An old Ferris wheel,” said Ava, knee still stinging. She really needed to watch more closely where she was walking.

They continued down the broken street and passed an old, rusted and red tilt-a-whirl, looming up in the fog like a ghost. They passed an old scrambler, the silver carts resting on the damp earth on the side of the road, and Ava wondered why there was an abandoned amusement park out here in the fog, which seemed to be thinning out a bit. Ava caught glimpses of stars above. They passed an old, wooden ticket booth, halfway crashed in on itself and paint on it white and peeling.

“Why is there an old amusement park out here?” Ava asked. “It wasn’t on the map.”

“I don’t know,” said Ezzie.

They passed a concession stand, and the damp earth on the side of the cracked cement street was littered with empty popcorn boxes and spilled boxes and cotton candy cones. Ava wondered if they’d pass an old rollercoaster, but they never did, and the fog continued to thin out, revealing even more bright stars above. They must be coming to an oasis. Maybe the candle oasis, on the very edge of the fog lands? Ava hoped so. Though a sense of unease filled her at the thought of seeing her mom and possibly Mark again.

Ezzie stopped suddenly, and Ava almost bumped into her.

“Something is watching us,” said Ezzie, and sudden dread filled Ava. Was it the demon? She didn’t see it anywhere. All she saw was broken, rusted rides, fog, and bright stars above.

“What is it?” asked Ava.

“I’m not sure, but let’s walk faster.”

“Okay.”

Ava followed Ezzie, as they quickly walked around debris and over cracks in the street. She didn’t sense anything watching them, but she trusted Ezzie, and she assumed whatever was watching them was dangerous. They walked through the thinning fog, and then Ava did hear something—soft footsteps through the damp earth behind them, along the side of the road, and she heard panting. Some sort of animal stalking them? And suddenly Ava felt like prey. They did need to hurry! Soft paw steps through the fog.

“I hear something,” Ava whispered.

“So do I,” said Ezzie, and they continued at their fast pace, but whatever followed them just kept up.

“I think it’s stalking us,” said Ava, and then she did think she caught a glimpse of bright yellow eyes and white fur behind them—maybe a wolf?

It growled.

“Run!” Ava cried out.

It leapt at them, and Ava and Ezzie ran down the crumbled street, and the wolf-thing, or whatever it was, ran after them, panting and growling. Ava did not want to become that things lunch. Her heart beat rapidly and she struggled to breathe. She needed to quit smoking. Her feet hurt as they ran. And the growling creature in the fog kept up with their pace. The fog cleared, and a huge tree loomed ahead of them, bark deep brown and branches overhanging and leaves on it bright purple.

The street led straight to it.

Ava thought maybe they could climb that tree to get away from the creature, but as they neared Ava saw that there was a large tree house beneath the tree, wrapping around its huge trunk, made of pale white siding. Candle flames flickered in the windows.

The candle oasis on the map.

Ezzie collapsed just as the bright leaves and overhanging branches were above them, and Ava nearly ran over her. She stopped and knelt down beside her.

“Come on!” she said, urging Ezzie to stand, but Ezzie’s eyes didn’t open. She’d passed out. When was the last time she’d drank any blood? It had been the blood in that strange room at the tower oasis.

The door to the house and hopefully safety wasn’t far away. Ava grabbed Ezzie underneath her arms and tried dragging her.

“Help! Help!” she screamed. “Please help us!”

The creature wolf-thing growled, and Ava saw it clearly—it did look like a huge, white wolf. Its eyes glowed yellow, and it had awfully sharp teeth.

Ava continued trying to drag Ezzie to the door of the house, heart pounding. They needed to get away from that wolf creature! The wolf seemed to stay where it was, as though it were afraid to come too close to the strange house under the strange tree, and then the door to the house opened, emitting bright yellow candlelight, and an old woman stood there with a lit lantern. She went to Ava and Ezzie.

“Be gone, beast!” the old woman said, waving her lit lantern, and the creature cowered and backed away, until it was lost in the thinned out fog around the tree.

Ava willed her heart to stop pounding.

“She passed out,” said Ava, referring to Ezzie, and the old woman squinted at them. She was rotund and had a cheery face with short, white curly hair.

“Let’s get her inside. The beast may return. Though I doubt it. It’s scared of candlelight.”

“She needs my blood!” said Ava.

“How peculiar. Well, lets get her inside,” said the old woman.

The old woman took Ezzie under one arm and Ava took her under the other arm, and together they managed to drag Ezzie to the open front door and inside, where the candle flames were even brighter and glinted across silver tin foil. “This way, hon,” said the old woman, and they managed to get Ezzie up on a comfy looking sofa and the old woman closed the door behind them and set down her lantern.