How long has it been? I was sure that my parents are really worried sick about me right now.

It has been a few hours since I started to pet the cat; that was sitting on my lap now.

Because I have been petting the cat, it was now making purring sounds while nuzzling my arm. I was thinking about if I should give the cat a name. As long as the cat was going to accompany me, not giving it a proper name would be a hassle.

"Hmm.. what should I call you?"

"Meow"

I tried to think of several names that would fit, but there was nothing particular that came to mind.

"You have the color of brown, and black an interesting combination it seems."

"Alright I've decided. I'm going to name you Jasper."

Jasper was a stone with the combination of green with black and brown patterns, because Jasper has the color of brown and black combined, I think that name will suit him well

I gave Jasper a smile while he happily returned the smile by snudging as usual in my arm. It seems that he was happy with the name that I gave him.

I just found out that Jasper was a male, yet his colors look so feminine the moment that I saw him. I immediately assumed that he was female.

I looked at the window, and found out that dawn was finally breaking.

"It's finally time huh? shall we go Jasper?"

"meow"

Jasper gave his usual indifferent reply and quickly followed suit. As much as possible, I wanted to get out of this place quickly. There is still a chance that there might be someone who really kidnapped me.

I made my preparations quick, and started to walk towards the door. Jasper followed behind me and we made our way outside of the house.

I glanced at the surroundings outside of the house, and found that the place was totally abnormal to me, because it was different from the city that I was very familiar in.

"Where is this place?..... How in the world did I end up here?"

I found myself surrounded by a wide forest. It was stretched as far as the naked eye could see, I took a look back at the house that I was confined in for several hours. It seems that, the house is very small and rundown. There was a tinge of paints on the walls, but it was so dirty that I couldn't even discern the color if it was red or brown.

The ground is brimming with leaves I didn't particularly noticed it in the night because it was so dark, and vision was very limited.

I never found out that there was a dense forest behind the house, and it was because the house is at the base, meaning it was at the outer side where you couldn't really see if there was a thick forest. The trees grow thinner the more you move out of a forest after all.

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"Does that mean this is literally at the middle of nowhere?"

"Speaking of middle on nowhere, where did you come from Jasper?

"M-eow"

Of course, what could I expect from a cat? I glanced at the dense forest, and the road that leads to god knows where. From here on out the area is like a total wasteland in the middle of nowhere, scattered leaves are everywhere, since the house is at the base of the forest.

"I should probably take the road to go to a nearby town or city. If I am lucky, I should be able to go a town, city or any kinds of environment where civilization is present. I just wanted to go home from the bottom of my heart."

Before I could take a step further, Jasper ran to the opposite side of the road therefore, I could only see that Jasper was making his way into the forest.

"Jasper wait! where are you going!?"

Jasper didn't respond to me and proceeded to run at full speed, I quickly followed suit and ran towards him at full speed. I didn't like the eerie atmosphere of the forest even if it is the crack of dawn; it gave a similar atmosphere to that of a haunted house.

Jasper was still within my sight, however if I slow down even just a little bit, I will quickly lose sight of him. Before I could shout another time, Jasper jumped to the sides from the directions of the bushes.

I could not explain why Jasper suddenly took off, and let alone discover the reason why he came at an abrupt stop and jumped to the bushes.

"meow, meow, meow"

I was closing in on Jasper's location, and when I was just directly opposite of the bushes I catch my breath.

"haaah.... haaah--"

I was catching my breath, I never thought that I would need to run at full speed in order to catch up to Jasper. It was like a full 300km run, except that I don't even have a decent amount of stamina to begin with. I was not particularly bad at Physical Education in school, nor did I excel from it. In short I was totally average.

After I caught up with my breath, I made my way into the bushes. As soon as I saw Jasper behaving in a corner I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jasper there you are--"

before I could go near Jasper, I noticed that Jasper was sniffing sometime from the bushes. I glanced at the direction where he was poking his nose

"Is that-- a piece of paper?"

I saw that there was a worn down piece of paper with the tinge of a faded yellow. It's a color that a paper takes whenever the paper is considered old. I also noticed that the paper was rolled and was tied in a string so it looked liked a scroll more or less.

"What is this?"

Jasper moved away from the paper that he was sniffing, after that. I grabbed the paper and undid the string that was tying it; but the paper looks so worn down it looked like it was about to tear apart from the moment I touched it.

After untying it, I hesitantly opened the paper to prevent it from being teared apart. Jasper was looking curiously over my direction. What I saw was something I can't recognize

"Is this-- a map Jasper?"

"meoow"

"What is this map? I don't recognize any of the locations that is in here. Is this even at our country!?

The map showed an unfamiliar geography that I am unaware of. it was like this location was on the center. Across the dense forest there was a mountain that surrounded a city, it was directly north, so that means crossing this forest will get me to the north.

From the opposite direction, was the road outside of the dense forest. it leads to another city that I am unaware of.

"Anyway the road is a better choice for us, since the city from that direction is way closer than crossing through this dangerous forest."

I rolled the map and put it back in my pocket even though there is the risk of the map tearing apart, I did not pay it any mind since I already know the general direction of where we should be going, I just need to follow the road, and we should be able to get to a city to return back home.

"Alright Jasper let's go to the city, it should be fine if we go ask for help from the authorities in that city."

"Meow"

I was happy that there was someone who could accompany me in this dangerous situation, as long as I was with Jasper. I felt that we were going to make it home and so we made our destination to the city across the road that leads far south.