I opened my eyes delicatly, as an explosion of pain forced its way into my head, somewhere behind my ears.

I evaluated my surroundings. It was dark. And I was surrounded by – what? People? I jerked myself into a sitting position, pain blossoming behind my eyes in brightly-colored bursts. There was something wrong with my left arm, which was limp and unfeeling. As my eyes darted around in the darkness, I realized that I was surrounded not by people, but by trees.

I could feel my pulse beating wildly around my body. Something was happening… Something had happened…

I closed my eyes painfully and tried to remember what had occured. The effort produced nothing but painful tears and an empty memory bank.

My fingers ran nervously through the bed of pine needles that covered the forest floor. It was warm – hot, almost. And everything was permeated by the sharp smell of damp vegetation. It smelled like rain.

All I could remember was the running. Then nothing. Blackness.

Then the trees.