Gemma stared at the message before her for a moment. When she willed it away with a horrible desperation for it not to be real, it disappeared.

First she pinched her cheek, then she reached for little Nellie’s hand. The baby curled a few fingers around Gemma’s.

Gemma took a deep breath.

“What is Mia going to say?”

Gemma pulled out her phone. Though it had an almost full battery, there was no phone service.

“I can’t even tell her where we are. What if she thinks I kidnapped you?”

Gemma squatted on the ground and held her head as she sucked down more deep breaths to avoid the panic attack that was ready to strike at any moment.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is very, very bad.”

When some semblance of sanity returned, Gemma climbed up a tree to see if a city or town was in view that she could head towards.

The rough bark was coated in a velvety grass, so she didn’t scrape her hands much. When she poked her head above the leaves, tension melted out of her body.

A short yelp could be heard as she almost fell out the tree when her grip relaxed.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Gemma said once she had a firm grip on the tree branches.

Some distance away there seemed to be a ramshackled, brown colored area filled with huts.

Gemma shimmied down the tree, unlocked the brakes on the stroller, and headed towards the town.

It was slow going with all the bumps and grassy knobs underfoot, and a drop of sweat dripped down Gemma’s face. Nellie finished her bottle and held onto it.

After a while of walking, Gemma climbed up another vine covered tree in order to double check that she was headed in the right direction. She adjusted their course a smidge and continued on.

“Please say that’s it,” Gemma said as the foliage thinned out.

It was.

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The whole village was mud colored, and the small brown huts had no windows. Though it was primitive, a flush of happiness overpowered Gemma at the thought of any kind of civilization. Gemma checked to see if her phone had picked up a signal. Nothing registered, so she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

“Hello?” she called out while she pushed the stroller further into the vicinity of the village.

There was no answer.

The village was too quiet.

Gemma knocked on the door of one of the huts, but no one opened it.

She pushed on the frame and was surprised when the door opened. Nobody was inside, but there was some basic furniture. A bed, a table, two chairs. No books or anything that Gemma thought would give her more information on where Tralavar was or what it was like. She unbuckled Nellie and set her down onto the packed dirt floor, then sat next to her. Nellie crawled over to Gemma and reached for her face.

“Whoa, gentle!” Gemma leaned her head back away from Nellie’s fingers. She was putting them way too close to her eyes.

“Baha!” Nellie said and reached for her face again.

“Hey! Gemma said, and dodged again. Nellie was delighted at this new ‘game,’ where the safety of eyes and other vulnerable face parts were at stake.

Gemma relaxed and decided to go along with it for the moment. They played together until the light from the door began to wane. The sun was setting on their first day in Travalar.

Gemma thought about food for a moment. Inside the stroller there were some snacks, but if they were caught out here long term, a lasting source of food was a necessity.

For now Gemma doled out another bottle to Nellie, half emptying the water bottle she’d brought along, and ate a banana while Nellie drank.

“Tomorrow,” Gemma told Nellie when she’d finished her bottle, “We’re going food hunting.”

Nellie burbled a response.

Gemma smiled at her and got up.

If the door to the hut was left open, Nellie could easily crawl out, so the door had to be shut. Since there were no windows, the room was encased in darkness. Nellie did not like that, and she made her position clear. She flipped out, and started screeching.

The loud cries went on and on, and Gemma thought her head would burst. She laid down next Nellie and brushed her fingers over her head.

“I'm so sorry,” but Nellie cried even harder at Gemma’s voice.

“I’ll find us a way home, I promise.”

It felt like an eternity, but eventually the shrieks became snivels, the snivels, sniffles, until the even, slow breathing of sleep was all that was left.

Only now, when Nellie slept and it was too dark for her to see Gemma’a face if she woke up, did Gemma let the tears fall.

The salty drops streaked down her face, and terror overwhelmed her now that she was alone with her thoughts.

Her parents would freak out, Mia would freak out, her friends would worry, and her classmates would whisper rumours of her bizarre disappearance.

She was freaking out.

Please, Gemma thought, please let this just be a horrible, realistic dream. Please let me wake up from this nightmare.