You know when you are about to wake up, just as consciousness starts to flicker, and you awaken well-rested to the sounds of birds chirping, have you ever had such a relaxing start to a morning? Well, this was not one of those times.

I did not find myself slowly waking up, it was more like someone snapped their fingers, and I was in pain, a terrible pain.

The right side of my stomach felt like… I can’t describe the pain, it was like nothing I had experienced before. My eyes shot open and a blinding white light followed by a pain in my skull forced me to close them again, I grabbed for my stomach but could feel nothing wrong while moving my fingers over the painful area, I tried a few more times to open my eyes but the pain forced me to close them.

The pain in my stomach was so intense I screamed, or I tried to, the second sound came out of my mouth I started to cough, which in turn intensified the pain in my stomach.

I forced myself to try to stop the coughing and breathe slowly, trying to calm myself to stop the panic I was in, I tried for the 10th time to open my eyes and this time the pain was not so bad, that or the pain from my stomach dulled the pain I felt in my head.

Shapes started to appear in my vision, large long shadows, surrounded by light, the pain in my head got worse again, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing.

The pain in my side had started to subside, but my body started to shake like I was freezing, which made the pain grow, I tried to control the shaking but when I tried to stiffen my body to reduce the shaking, it worsened the pain in the side of my stomach, I was about to scream again but remembered the pain, so I tried to control myself, and endured the shaking, after what felt like an eternity and even with my body still shaking, the pain started to subside a little, it felt like I was stuck in a vice being squeezed while being burned at the same time.

I opened my eyes again, this time with barely any pain in my head, still unable to see clearly, but I was starting to see colors, yellow, white, green, and blue, but it was all blurred, I could not make out anything.

I moved my fingers across my side, trying to find any wounds, it seemed my shirt had been ripped, I could feel the cloth but it did not cover the side where the pain was, my shirt was just over my belly button, but then further to the right, there was only the feeling of skin under my fingers.

I moved my hand slowly trying to feel for a wound, I pressed down on a few locations and instantly regretted it as pain shot out from where I last pushed down.

As the pain started to subside more, I realized I should try to call for help, but the instant I tried to make a sound, I could feel my throat was dry and that I would start to cough again if I tried to talk.

I needed help, I remembered, my phone, it was in my right side pocket, I felt for it, and took it up, opened my eyes again to look at it, I could not see anything, everything was washed out a blur, I could not even see the phone or my hand, all I could tell was just something moving in front of my face.

I pressed the right side button and tried to speak and started to cough again. I tried again, and the words in a very hoarse voice finally came out.

“Call 911”

Nothing happened. I pressed the button again and said “Call 911”, still nothing happened.

I held the phone up in front of my eyes and pressed the button, I only saw black in front of me, and when I moved the phone away from my face, I could see lights, and trees, they were trees I could tell, my vision started to clear faster.

I was outside, in a forest…. I remember. I was walking home with Sam, then… I don’t remember, we were walking home from Dan’s store, then…. Wait, Sam, where is Sam?

“SAM” I managed to sorta yell out, but I started to cough again, the pain intensifying in my side again.

“Sam,” I said again a few times, but nothing, she did not come up to me.

My vision started to clear more, I held up my phone again and saw that it was dead, out of power. “Great,” I said out loud.

I felt my side again and dared to poke a bit at it, the pain was not so bad, I need to find help, I thought, so I tried to sit up, I barely got my shoulders off the ground before I was down again, muttering to myself about being stupid for trying that, while pain shot up and down my body.

Fortunately, the sharp pain only lasted a few seconds, so seeing no alternatives, I tried again, and again and again.

I managed to sit up, while at the same time feeling a powerful urge to both throw up and lie down again. I wonder which one I should do first, I thought while contemplating if my body would even give me a choice.

“Don’t throw up, don’t throw up,” I muttered to myself. I opened my eyes again and looked around.

I was in the forest, but I did not recognize where I was, I had walked much of the forest with Sam when taking her for a walk, but this area did not seem familiar.

Again I tried calling for her while looking around, but still, I did not see her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I spotted a bench a bit further ahead and my eyes focused enough to see water in front of it, “Oh.” I said to myself, realizing approximately where I was, I was near the lake, about a ten-minute walk from home.

I looked to my left and saw a large oak tree, and figured I should try and move myself to it, so I could sit up against it.

I leaned to my left to move to the tree and felt something behind me, on my back, moving across my back… fear crept into my mind, and I felt something on my left shoulder go down my left arm, as I saw my backpack land on my left side. My freaking backpack….. I mean what was I expecting, a giant spider that would make me its lunch? Well, I have worse problems at the moment than letting my imagination run away with me, so I asked my brain would you stop dreaming up crap like that for a little bit?

I grabbed the backpack dragging it to my side, wanting to get to the power bank in it, at the same time winching from the pain in my side from the movement, while also making grunting sounds like a pig. I pulled out the power bank and of course, it was empty, just my luck. I put it back and saw a hole in the side of the backpack, a large hand size hole in the left side of the backpack.

Wait, when it is on my back that would make it the right side of the backpack, yes.

I felt the side of the hole, it felt like the backpack had been burned, I looked down my right side and grabbed the shirt section that had a hole in it, and pulled it out so I could see it, it had an area missing, about the same size as the backpack area that was missing, and it too had what appeared to be burn marks.

Had I been struck by lightning? Was it raining when I was walking home? No, it was a clear sky, I could see the stars. My thought raced to what it could be, but all I could think of was I had been struck by something, maybe lightning I don’t know, I felt my stomach again, but could not feel any scars, I leaned forward, and looked down, I could see my skin through the hole in my shirt, it looked like there was a perfect half sphere hole in the right side of my shirt… wait, what, where is my jacket, I was wearing a jacket, I know I had a jacket on, it was below 10 degrees when I went to the store.

That ignited another spark in my slow brain, it was daylight, I looked up, it was day, and the sun was highish, so maybe around noon, that means I have been here for maybe 8, 10, 12 hours?

That thought scared me, how had no one found me, this part of the forest is regularly walked by others. Ok, I thought, these are questions for later, first things first, get out of here and get help if possible.

A few minutes later, I was standing up against the oak tree, looking down, wondering if this was the moment I would lose the fight and throw up, a few seconds passed, nope not yet I thought.

I looked to my side again, looking at the giant oak tree and wondering how old it was to be this big, while avoiding thinking about the pain in my stomach and the urge to throw up.

I took one step forward and stopped as pain shot down my right leg, I stopped until it subsided and then put weight on it. It was painful, but not as bad as I had thought it would be, I moved a few small steps more, trying to steady myself against the big oak, using it to keep me upright, until I could do it myself.

A few more steps and I was almost halfway around the big tree, I looked up from staring at my feet and saw my jacket a bit in front of me, away from the oak,

“How did it get there?” I mumbled to myself, I took another few steps and……

My world collapsed, I forgot everything else, just meters in front of me was Sam, lying on the ground, not moving.

“SAM” I yelled while walking towards her, no, not walking, running, I fell just as I got to her, face first into the dirt, pain shooting from the right side of my stomach, I did not care, I crawled the last few meters, stopping just as I could touch head, looking down her body, she was not moving, I licked the back of my fingers and placed them near her nose, and relief shot through me, when I felt her breath on my fingers.

I lay there for a while, waiting for the pain in my body to subside, while feeling her breathing. I moved my hand to her head, petting her. “Sam,” I said a few times but got no response. I moved my hand down her neck, then her shoulder and she shook.

She breathed and shook and whimpered, breathing heavily.

“Sam, easy, I am here,” I said while holding my hand over her head trying to comfort her. Her eyes kept opening and closing, and I did not know what to do, my hand went down her body and when touching her left shoulder she let out a screeching cry.

I moved my hand away from that area, had she too been hit by the lightning I thought, I put my hand on her head again while talking softly, being careful, after a minute her eyes focused on me, and she started to calm down. We both lay there for, I don’t know how long.

I must have passed out, cause I awoke to Sam laying next to me, licking my face. I sat up without thinking and was surprised not to feel too much pain in my stomach.

Sam got up on all four, I could see she was a bit shaky. Whatever had happened to us, she seemed to be getting over it.

Not wanting to crawl back to the oak tree, I tried getting up slowly and managed to do so on the first try, I took a few steps and did not feel much pain, if any, it was more of a soreness than pain now. I walked a few steps and picked up my jacket, looking at it, there was no hole in it, like my shirt and backpack.

I walked back to the backpack, ensuring Sam was by my side. She was limping on her left leg, I would need to take her to the vet and get her checked out, and maybe get myself checked out, not by the vet but by a real doctor, wait… that did not come out right, a vet is a doctor, just not a human doctor, oh man, I am going to get so much hate mail for saying that.

I bent down and carefully picked up the backpack, feeling a strain in my body, I looked around for the bench I had seen before, found it, and slowly walked over to it. As I was halfway toward the bench, I started to feel dizzy, for each extra step I took I felt dizzier, and after what felt like way too long a time, I sat down on the bench.

Sam came up to me, and I padded the side of the bench, she jumped up on it, lay down, and put her head on my lap.

I stroked her head while waiting for the dizziness to disappear, after a while I found myself staring out over the lake, wondering what had happened to us, and if we should stay here and wait for help, or try to walk home and call for help from there.

Lake…. This is not a lake, I looked around, there are leaves on the trees, flowers are blooming, and we are in April, not spring or summer.

That is not a lake but a pond,

“Where are we!!!” I said out loud while frantically looking around