One black raspberry ice cream cone for you” I say as I hand Arya her ice cream.

“This is the best way to start the summer break,” she says happily before saying, “Have you heard?”

“Heard what?” I ask confused.

“About all the people and places disappearing. Apparently, the government wants to keep it all hush-hush, so not many people know about it.” She says looking around like it's top secret.

I chuckle, “You really believe all that stuff?”

She sighs and says, “I would rather it not be true. I would hate to imagine what would happen if one of us were to disappear.”

“Where should we go next?” I ask Arya, smiling, wanting to change the topic. But when I look over, her face is pale as if she’s seen a ghost and she’s frozen in place with fear.

I furrow my eyebrows with worry as I say, “What’s wrong, Arya.”

Her hand shakily points behind me as she says, “B-behind you.”

I shake my head. “This isn’t the time to be playing jokes,” I say, but I’ve never seen her look this shaken. I try to turn my body, but I can’t? My body feels weird. It feels like it’s getting pulled into something. I keep struggling and Arya is still frozen in place. Finally, I’m able to at least able to turn my head, but all I see is a blinding light. In the corner of my eyes, I see Arya finally able to move again. She lurches forward and makes a mad grab for my hand. Tears are starting to fall down her face, but I still can’t grasp the situation. The last thing I hear is her calling my name.

I groan as I feel my body tossed onto the cold ground. My hands grab at the ground, picking up handfuls of dirt. I try to move my body, but it feels weak. I roll over to my back and open my eyes. This place doesn’t look familiar. Where am I? I was with Arya and then…And then, I don’t even know what happened. I slowly pull my body off the ground with difficulty. Coming back to my senses, I realize I smell smoke. I become alert, looking around for the fire.

“Argh” I scream with fright as someone appears suddenly.

He steps back and says, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He offers his hand to help me up.

I hesitantly grab it and say, “Thanks. Do you know where this is?”

He tilts his head and mumbles, “Oh, you must be new here.”

I didn’t quite catch what he said, so I say, “Sorry, what was that?”

He shakes his head, “Nothing important. You should probably know that wherever you came from, you probably won’t be able to go back. I mean I’ve been here for a while and I’ve never seen anyone make it back.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, eyeing him suspiciously.

He looks around nervously and then looks back at me. “You’re not going to move until I tell you, right?” I nod my head. He sighs, “Alright, I’m going to make this brief because we can’t stay here long. I’ll explain more later. Basically, we all came here through a portal, so it makes sense that the only way that we can leave is also through a portal. But it’s not that easy. The portals appear randomly and no one knows how long they will stay open.” He flinches and stops talking. “It’s dangerous to stay here, let’s move. I’ll take you back to our base. My name’s Alister.”

I watch him as he starts to walk and ask, “Why are you helping me?”

He pauses, “Honestly, I wasn’t going to, but you kind of remind me of myself when I first got here, I guess. Now come on let’s go. You can stay if you want, but I can’t guarantee your safety.”

I gulp nervously. I don’t fully trust him yet, but I feel like I have no other option but to follow him. As we’re walking, I look around and all the buildings look run down, crumbled, and dilapidated. The streets are empty and now Alister looks even more worried. I freeze, hearing a noise that sounds like a snarl, or maybe a growl?

“What’s that?” I ask with worry. Alister’s face pales as he grabs my arm to pull me and says, “Run! Don’t look back, just follow me.” As the hair on the back of my neck stands up, I stop hesitating and start running with him. It’s hard to keep up as he’s fast. Faster than me. And every time I get behind, he pulls my arm, and I have to keep myself from stumbling.

“We’re here!” Alister calls with relief. I see a shelter of sorts with people on guard by the gate, but the people are shouting at him. “Hurry! It’s almost here!” they yell. I begin to look back, letting curiosity get the best of me. My body freezes at the sight. A creature with a sort of shadowy figure, yet the most grotesque appearance. Sometimes I can see it and other times I can’t. Alister roughly pulls me by my shirt and practically tosses me into the shelter behind the gates as he yells, “I told you not to look back!” He tosses a dagger at the creature and runs to the gates as people hurry to close them. I hear the creature hiss as the gates snap shut.

“S-Sorry” I mumble.

His chest heaves up and down as he curtly says, “Don’t worry about it,” turning his attention to someone else. “Is this all the newbies?” he asks, his demeanor changing so much that I don’t even recognize him. The tone of his voice makes me wonder whether I made the right decision. I ignore that thought, thinking about the creature on the outside. What could be worse than that?