The second time Hannah woke up in this new world she was greeted by new scenery. Jumping awake she saw that she was in a tent, and she was laying on a matt, and holding a spear. Someone gave her a weapon. Even her blanket seemed to feel softer. And above her, where her cardigan was hanging, was a backpack. This was the second time her surroundings changed while she slept.

Hannah wasn't a heavy sleeper so it scared her that someone had done all this while she was sleeping, yet she hadn't seen signs of another person anywhere, and she was losing hope. Also, with her cramps, she didn't feel like continuing to hike though the wilderness was the best idea. For all she knew she could stumble into a nest of crabs or something. Maybe there were giants and ogres. She was doubtful but fearful. Maybe it was a ghost? Maybe they were fearful of how she would react to them? Or afraid of her? They gave her a weapon so they couldn't be afraid of her. She resolved to leave some food outside her tent tonight for the ghost/monster thing that's been following and helping her.

"Hello?" she tentatively called into the wilderness in search of her benefactor, but there was no response. "Hello? Is anyone there?" she tried a few more times to no avail. "Thank you again!" she said as she did a little kotow. Bowing and stuff seemed like universal body language. She felt a little silly doing it, but you never know.

Listening to her stomach growl, Hannah reached up and grabbed the bag that was hanging from the ceiling of tent. Inside were 4 jars of berries. Jars. She had jars now. A smile spread across her face as she began munching on berries. The one she ate last night didn't leave her with any side effects and if the ghost or whatever jarred them up, they must be good stuff! Finishing the jar of berries, she didn't feel full, but she felt satisfied. Eyeing the spear she thought about the crab she passed the day before and decided it was worth the risk. She hadn't seen any of the other wildlife and it would make a good dinner tonight. Before catching the terrifying bit of protein, she wanted to go check out that tree.

In the middle of the clearing there was a large tree with turquoise bark and black branches. The branches seemed to dance but not along with the wind. As Hannah approached the tree seemed to sway in her direction, like a head turning. Hannah smiled at the dancing tree. "Hello!" she said to it. It danced. Hannah got closer and touched the glossy bark, and cut her hand. Wincing she grabbed her hand back, ripped off a piece of her shirt sleeve and covered it but the cut stopped bleeding quickly. 'Look but don't touch I guess' she thought. The tree stopped dancing and seemed to be in a dormant state now. It was still beautiful. Hannah shrugged and went back to her tent to grab the spear. After psyching herself up and pretending that doing this wasn't making her skin crawl, she set out upriver back toward the crab she saw.

Whether it was the crab she had seen or not she wasn't sure but she soon stumbled upon a crab stupidly laying on its back kicking its legs in the air. The situation was pretty comical. Taking a deep breath Hannah crept toward the dumb protein slowly as it flailed on the shore. Seeing that it was gaining some rocking momentum, she jumped up and stabbed it with her spear. Although she pierced its shell it didn't die, but it definitely couldn't flip over anymore. Removing the spear at this point would possibly cause a loss of limb. She moved backward as she watched the crab pull the spear from its gut, while lying on its back and bleed out.

When the crab stopped moving she waited another 30 minutes before approaching it. After poking it with a branch, she realized she had no way to move this thing, and the weight of it was a problem for a pregnant woman to carry. But women have done battle while pregnant so she was determined to get this protein back to her camp. Hannah collected as many branches as she could and tied them together with vines she ripped off the trees so she could drag the meat behind her slowly.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

It took her an hour to get the dead crab back to her camp only to realize she had another problem. She had never made a fire. She wasn't even sure if she could do it. But she had to try. Two hours later she ate a jar of berries. Then she spent the next 3 hours trying to spark rocks, and even made a bowdrill. Soon she went to bed frustrated and crying. 'Maybe the ghost will eat it and I'll wake up to a cabin and a bed', she fantasized as she gave up and crashed on her matt.

***

Roger and Beth went to a lawyer the next morning to petition for custody but didn't get the answers they were expecting. Since he was the custodial father and they were the non custodial grandparents the most they could do is get a week a month. They couldn't prove that he was a danger and he hadn't been convicted of any crimes. If the father wanted the child back there was nothing the parents could do. Circumstantial evidence and a pending case doesn't give them the right to remove custody. They were going to have to hand their grandchild over to the man who was responsible for their daughters misery and the woman who had orchestrated the entire debacle. Hannah's parents felt so lost and abandoned but they couldn't leave their assigned city without forfeiting their grain allotment and without the support of the industrial farm their whole family would starve before they reestablished themselves. Even after selling Hannah's plants it was just enough to cover their lawyer. In fact the lawyer told them they could be looking at a lawsuit from their son in law if he noticed they had harvested those plants. He was baffled and skeptical that someone could make edible vegetables on wasteland soil but he responded to the information he was given and gave honest answers.

Even though removing custody would be difficult it was still a battle they could fight. Using all the circumstantial evidence they could testify that he was a danger to the child and remove custody before he was sentenced but even so, they would still have to hand over Caleb to his father because there was no history of abuse. Hannah's parents were gutted and the phone call they were dreading came in a few hours later.

"Hey can you bring Caleb home? Everything's cleaned up and he should be home with me."

"Everything's cleaned up?? You broke into the crime scene? You weren't supposed to go home yet! They haven't finished processing the scene yet!" yelled Roger. He was following his daughter's case very carefully. He may not be a fighter but he was a good man who loved his family and this man is somehow responsible for ruining that.

"Is he coming?" said Jennifer from the background, excitedly. She had a relationship with Caleb and he thought she was okay but she was always just Daddy's friend. Now she could be his new mommy. She was giddy with delight. She finally could be a mom. She began to unbutton Mike's pants.

"So can you bring Caleb home?" he said distractedly as Jennifer licked his neck.

"Caleb is napping and Beth just cooked his favorite dinner with him before he fell asleep. He spent the afternoon running around the yard while Beth has been calling friends and hospitals all day. What did you do today?" demanded Roger.

"So can you bring Caleb home or not?" Mike responded trying to get a straight answer from the annoying old man. He couldn't wait to shed these lousy in laws.

"Not tonight. No." Roger said resolutely.

"Ok I'll come get him tomorrow. Good night Mr. R." Mike rushed out as he hung up the call quickly. Jennifer popped his thing out of her mouth and asked "Is he coming?"

"I'm about to but he's not."

Jennifer frowned and got up. MIke dejectedly grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him. "I'm getting him tomorrow. He played too much today. Little guy is tuckered out and his grandma cooked him a big meal. Let him have his last meal with them, and then we will get him. After tomorrow he can meet your parents. How about that?"

Jennifer smiled and got back on her knees, finishing the job.