Alice ran as fast as she could, laughing and giggling, her cheeks and nose flushed a light pink. Her chocolate brown hair blowing behind her in the wind as she ran, cutting through the cool October breeze.

The crunching of leaves sounded every step she took, exposing her whereabouts to her brother, who was closely behind, chasing after her, and laughing as well.

All she had to do was reach the tree and she’d win this game of tag. Normal tag wasn’t fun to play with two people, so they changed it up a bit. If she could touch the tree after 2 minutes of being chased, then she won. But if he caught her before the two minutes ended, he won.

“Just one more step…” Alice thought to herself, reaching out for the tree with a smile on her face. The tree seemed to flicker out of existence, but only for a split second. Not nearly enough time for Alice’s young mind to notice.

And then she was back at the beginning. Older now, but in the same spot. The breeze felt cool and crisp, but suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine.

Behind her, a few feet away, she heard counting. It was the same thing she heard everyday as a child, just before her brother would chase after her, trying to tag her.

Only it wasn’t her brother. It couldn’t be. It sounded nothing like his voice.

He counted, and counted, counting down from ten.

Alice felt the eyes of the other person burn into the back of her head. Her heart raced, her breathing growing a bit irregular. Panicked.

“3… 2… 1.”

As if the counting hadn’t scared her, the next words chilled Alice to the bone.

“Your time is up, better run.”

Her eyes darted forward, only there was no tree. An endless field was ahead of her, no trees in sight.

She heard footsteps approaching behind her.

She ran.

There was nothing else to do.

Nothing else to do, other than run.

Run for forever, it seemed.