CHAPTER ONE
The 13-year-old girl ran as fast as she could in the forest. She had always been told by her father that if strangers came to try to take her away that she was to run deep in the woods. She just never really thought that it would happen. Not now.
She wondered if her father was okay, and she wanted to look back, just to see if he was alive, but she suddenly heard him speaking to her in her head.
"I told you earlier, don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back!"
The girl's vision started to blur with tears. "Daddy," she thought-spoke. "Please...don't."
"Go." The soft thought-word hurt. She couldn't leave him. "I'll come and find you, l promise." The words soon faded as the girl got farther away from its source. The girl kept on running until she could run no more, and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
When she awoke, she was in a rather large pumpkin patch, and ahead was a strange hill that was in a spiral. The moon was bright and full, and in the distance, she could see a town.
"Oh-no!" She cried, and quickly hid under the hill. "I can't go out to the town; what if that's where those men came from?" She thought aloud. "Or what if they start asking questions about me, or what if..." She begin to wonder what they would do to him, and for a moment, she felt very alone, and her tears finally came out, and they ran down her white cheeks.
As she was crying, she didn't realize that something was peering at her, until she heard a bark and looked up in surprise. It was a funny looking ghost dog with a small, Jack-o-lantern nose that glowed. The dog sniffed the girl's face, and tried to lick away her tears. She laughed at the kindhearted little dog, but froze and quickly held him close when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Zero? Where are you?" It sounded like a male voice, and it seemed very close. The footsteps got closer and closer, until they sounded like they were right over her head. Then they stopped. "Zero?" The voice was right above her. She held her breath, but the dog, however, was squirming at the sound of his name. The girl wouldn't let him go, so instead of trying to break free, he let out a loud bark. The girl gasped, and then squeezed her eyes shut, still holding the dog as the stranger jumped down from the hill and slowly approached her.