Hello everyone, I wrote this story almost six years ago, and over the past two years, I have been completely overhauling it. I know the first chapter is a little much, but the rest of it is good, honest, just give it your best shot. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

"Stupid locker! Open!"

The annoyed voice of a young teenage girl rang out angrily as she banged her fist against the metal. Muttering something fierce under her breath, the girl reared her foot against the metal locker, and was rewarded when it finally opened.

Ignoring the hustle and bustle, she focused on her own problems. Quickly dropping to her knees, she started to load her bag with heavy textbooks. While she was doing this, without any prior warning, she was literally shoved into the locker by someone's knee. She winced in pain, but used to it by now, she didn't make a scene.

Instead, the girl took a deep, gasping breath, trying to center her thoughts. Nearly suffocating, she grabbed her last book, pushed her glasses up her nose again, and devised a plan. With all the strength she could muster, she pushed hard backwards against his knee, finally freeing herself.

Unfortunately, the same could be said for her papers and books.

"No, not now!" Marcie moaned, seeing all things scattered across the floor.

With a sigh, she grabbed her backpack and scrambled after whatever she could find.

She crawled through the throng of students, carefully, but quickly, trying to make her way through them. She gathered as many as she could, filling her arms, but she was no match for the dozens of feet that kept stepping, and consequently, kicking, everything away from her.

Finally, when she had at least half picked up, she came to the realization that this was as good as it was going to get. Shoving what she could into her bag, the girl, who was still on her knees in the middle of the hallway, looked longingly towards her still open locker, before sighing and getting up. Some things would just have to wait.

Weaving her way through the crowd of students was tough, but finally she managed to push her way through and made it outside. More determined now, she pushed her glasses back up her nose, and confidently surveyed her surroundings. It looked like everything would be fine after all.

Her self-assurance lasted only a few seconds. Due to weather concerns, football practice had been canceled today, which meant that she had to catch the bus back home. And right now, said bus was leaving.

For almost a minute, her jaw hung open. Then, when the rationality that she was being left behind kicked in, she quickly changed her tune.

"No! Wait, please!" Desperately, Marcie started to run after the vehicle, though she was weighed down significantly by her bag. "I'm right here! C'mon, wait up!"

Her pleas were, apparently, unheard or uncared for, because the bus sped forward. In all, the girl was left on the sidewalk, hope dashed in her eyes. She shook her head at the entire situation.

"Today is just not my day," she groaned.

With a heavy sigh, she started to make her way, on foot, towards home. The walk wouldn't be long, at the very least. Besides, she reasoned, being alone for awhile wasn't so bad.

As was usual of a Tuesday afternoon, the only cars that whizzed by her were those of the upperclassmen. No one stopped to offer a ride because, like all freshmen, her place was on the bus. That was made expressively clear. It was these types of high school social-laws that governed what seemed like the tiniest town in all of America.

"It could be worse," Marcie mused, shoving her cold hands into her jacket pockets. The fall weather this year had been particularly brutal. "I mean, it ain't perfect, but it's good 'nough."

She kept walking, filling her mind with what she would need to do once she got home. She had to start on the laundry, vacuum and mop up, throw out some bottles…she sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"I hope Adam isn't messin' around. Ever since he got with Caity he's been so weird," she mumbled, rolling her eyes at the thought. "I swear, when I'm a senior, I won't act like that."

She sighed again, shaking her head. Her brother in love was just gross. And right now, since another pair of hands was out of the question, she would have to focus on cleaning up before anyone got home.

Unless…he was already there.

In an unclean house.

Waiting for her.

Angry.

"Oh, God," she mumbled to herself, stopping for a moment. She felt nausea start to rise in her throat, and pressed her fingers to her temples as she closed her eyes tightly. "Oh, no, no—"

A strong gust of unseasonable wind whipped around, making the girl's blue eyes fly open. Stumbling, she tried to regain her balance, but the wind was still swirling around her, harder and harder. She tried to take a step forward but she was immediately pushed back, almost falling again.

"Whoa!" She cried out, struggling to keep her balance against the harsh breeze.

She wrapped her arms around herself tighter, trying to see through the short red hair whipping at her eyes. Heart pumping in fear, Marcie fought desperately to run, to walk, to do anything but just stand there.

"What's going on?!" She yelled, hardly able to even get the words out of her mouth.

The wind was carrying away the sound of her voice! Feeling herself being pushed further back by this freak storm, she came to the split second decision to do what came naturally. Opening her mouth, she reared up to let out an ear-shattering scream that would certainly be heard—!

"Oomph!"

Marcie felt herself suddenly pushed over, her breath momentarily knocked out. Eyes wide open, the girl felt the acute awareness of ground beneath her, and really high foliage above her.

Numb with shock, she tried to understand what on earth had just happened.

One minute, there's this…all this rough wind surrounding her, and the next …where was she? Propping her body up on her elbows, the girl pushed her glasses (which were miraculously unharmed) back up her nose and stared slack-jawed at her surroundings.

She was in some type of…forest? All around her were plants, and it was dotted every now and then by small, colorful wild flowers. The trees were tall, and moss grew on almost every rock.

How did she end up here? Just a second ago she'd been walking back home, hadn't she? How did she go from a sidewalk to the woods, without driving anywhere? She'd walked back home at least a thousand times with no problem, and then suddenly this happens? Was she going insane?

Well, she wouldn't find out if she was lying down, she reasoned.

Sitting up all the way, the girl brushed herself off and stood up quickly. Leaning down, she grabbed her book bag and quickly put one arm through a strap, while trying to ignore her rumbling stomach. Finally, she took in a deep, calming breath and spoke up.

"H-Hello? Is—Can anyone hear me? Hello?"

Her answer was silence.

There was just…nothing.

"That's weird…" Marcie muttered to herself, unnerved by everything so far.

She reached into her pocket then and took out her cell phone, determined to find something that would help her, like a map. However, there was one problem she encountered almost immediately.

She had no service.

Sighing in frustration, Marcie shoved her phone back into her jacket pocket. She looked around for a second, before she locked her sights on what seemed like a trail. Maybe it would lead to a Ranger's station, or at least someone who had phone service.

"I got lost and need to use your phone, sir," she started to practice what she'd say when she came across a Ranger, figuring it was a way to keep her mind out of this craziness. "I was on my way back from school, but I somehow ended up here, and I need to call my brother."

She nodded to herself, liking how'd she'd handle the situation. "Could be worse though; it's kinda like camping," she mused, admiring the red and orange fall hues, before squinting her eyes to look in the distance. She was just able make out something with shingles, like a rooftop.

"A…house?" she breathed, relief evident in her tone. That meant she was somewhere in the city, in Kearney, right?

"Either way," she muttered, "If it's out of this park, I'll be good."

Trudging along, the teenager tried to keep herself entertained by continuing one-sided conversations on how she'd greet the Rangers. She made good time, but despite that, it still took her a good twenty minutes to get to where the house was. But what puzzled her was that this looked like an entire town.

With people.

Who were all dressed weird.

"What the…!" Marcie cried out, lunging for safety as she was almost run over by…"Is that a horse?!"

She looked around wildly then, confusion taking hold as she couldn't see any cars, or stop signs, or gray asphalt. There were shops with names she didn't understand, like cobbler, and blacksmith, and what the heck was an apothecary store? And was that a…was that another horse?

Feeling nauseous and dizzy all of a sudden, Marcie wrapped her arms tightly around her middle. She stumbled through the uneven ground of the cobblestone streets, barely managing not to bump into someone. Everyone brushed passed quickly, too fast to ask anything. After dodging a group of running kids, she saw a woman standing outside of what looked like a store, not too far ahead. Was this some sort of old-time outdoor mall then?

"Ma'am?" She asked, slightly out of breath as she reached the woman. She looked middle-aged, her face plain, and she was a few inches taller than Marcie.

"…yes?" The woman made a point to answer, hesitantly, as her eyes raked over the girl.

The teen fidgeted under her gaze, her eyes falling to the ground in a hopefully less embarrassed way. Suddenly everything she'd practiced fell through, and she swallowed hard. "Uh…do you have a phone I could borrow? Mine's not getting any reception."

"A phone." The woman repeated, almost in a deadpan voice.

Marcie scuffed her shoe against one of the stones that made up the street, nodding slightly. "Yeah, you know, like a cell phone? Or like, an office phone? I'll only be a sec, I promise."

"Alright, who put you up to this?" The woman asked, and the teen looked up in confusion, just to see the woman's narrowed eyes at her. "What kind of dare is that? To dress up like you are, and poke fun at a poor woman trying to make a living?"

"But I'm not—"

"Go on now, shoo, before I call my husband out and he gives you the business." When the teen didn't move, still stuck in a disoriented state, the woman pushed her away. "Shoo!"

Marcie stumbled a few steps, before looking back in confusion. The woman had already moved on, talking to someone else, who had a basket slung over their arm. The girl, bewildered at the turn of events, straightened her shoulders, before looking up.

In the not too far distance, she could see a spire. She ignored the odd looks she was given when she declared, a bit too loudly in relief, "A skyscraper!"

More determined now, Marcie headed towards the tall building. It took her a good half hour, and she received more weird looks than she should have, but she didn't mind it. After all, she reasoned this place was probably some type of business, where they'd be normal and explain to her that this was some type of elaborate game of dress-up.

"Finally," she breathed, as she made it to a large archway. Directly ahead was a large gate, but as her eyes travelled along it, she could see people dressed in uniform right above it.

"Security," she muttered, as she looked down at herself. She had a sloppily sown hole in her jeans, a thoroughly worn jacket, dirty sneakers, and grimaced.

"There ain't no way they'll lemme in like this," she sighed, shaking her head. She had to get to a phone, but doubted the probability of her entering to do so. However, something caught the corner of her eye, and she perked up. "But if I follow the leader..."

A group of people were entering through without any problem, most of them carrying things. Thinking quickly, she took her book-bag off of her shoulders, and into her hands. She grunted at the shifting of weight, before keeping low enough to just duck behind the crowd.

She was in the gates within a minute, and inside the business not a second later. While the people kept talking to each other, focusing on their task at hand, Marcie looked around, before turning a sharp corner.

"Well, that was easy," she grinned to herself, struggling with the stuck and half-open zipper of her back pack, before giving up and slinging it back onto her shoulders. "Now to find someone normal with a phone."

Always cautious, Marcie tried not to make any more noise than she may have already done. The last thing she needed was for security to find her trail. Her Converse tapped softly on the floor, and even her breathing had lowered considerably. She was better safe than sorry.

Besides, she didn't have time to fool around here. She had to find someone, or find a phone, whichever was first, and then make sure—

"Oomph!" Marcie made an instinctive noise again at being knocked clean off her feet.

"Sorry!" A hurried voice quickly apologized. "I'm so sorry! I was going so fast, and I wasn't paying any attention to where I was—oh! I'm sorry, I should have asked this before—you're not hurt, are you?"

Marcie looked up, squinting without her glasses, and unable to recognize the blurry form in front of her. From the voice, the teen could tell that this was a woman. Other than that, everything was a haze.

"No ma'am, I'm fine," she mumbled quickly, getting to knees.

She started to search for her glasses, which she assumed had fallen off when she fell, while her heart pounded in her ears. She tried very hard to ignore the person near her. She pushed aside papers—were they hers?—but it was to no avail.

"What are you looking for?" The voice asked again, this time with a curious tone behind it instead of a hurried one.

"My glasses," Marcie sighed, "I'm practically blind without 'em."

"Oh! I'll help you find them!" Before the girl even had a chance to respond, the voice again cried out, "Here they are!" and her glasses were suddenly thrust in front of her.

Hesitantly, the girl reached out and took back her lenses. "Thank you, ma'am."

"It's the least I can do…ah…" The person trailed off for a moment, before looking down at the papers she'd gathered and acquiring a name. "Marcie, is it?"

"Yes ma'am, it is," the teen acknowledged, before quickly grabbing her much lighter school bag.

Surprised, her eyes flickered towards it, and she realized her papers text books had slid out. She sighed. Her day was going from bad to worse really fast.

"Here, these are yours," something was thrust towards Marcie again, something coming from the woman.

Realizing that she'd have to look up to accept whatever it is that was hers from the woman, the girl prepared herself mentally. Brushing hair out of her eyes, Marcie let her eyes connect with the woman's as she grabbed her school things.

The result was mind blowing.

Both people in the hallway took an automatic step backwards, their eyes startled.

The woman standing in front of Marcie looked like she could be related. A younger woman, she had the same bright red hair that Marcie possessed, and similar large blue eyes. Those two shared features, were simply…uncanny.

Blushing slightly at the thought, Marcie lowered her gaze. All her papers and her heavy textbooks were shoved back into her bag without much care. Then she stared at her worn-down shoes and waited for the woman to say something.

"Mel-Melody?"

The teenager standing in front of the woman looked up a moment, her brows pulling together in confusion. "No, ma'am; I'm Marcie."

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