I saw an old man; he looked like he was about 97 years old. He was swinging through the branches like he was a little kid anyway, despite his old age. He jumped down. He looked like one of those crazy hermit guys who lives in his house and never leaves or talks to anyone. His white beard was tangled with twigs and leaves. His hands were tough like a catcher's mitt, hardened by years of hard work, or swinging.
"I asked, if you were enjoying your muffins," he repeated.
I looked into his tired wrinkled eyes. He looked like the just needed someone to talk to.
"Yes," I said cautiously, "I did enjoy the muffins."
"Good!" He said happily.
"Would you mind telling me where I am?" I asked him, sweeping the horizon with my eyes.
"You are in acre 1,795 of sector F, Marlovia." He recited.
"Come again?" I asked.
"Acre 1,795 of sector F, Marlovia." He repeated.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, a little bit frustrated.
"By the way, what's your name?" he asked me.
"Only if you tell me yours," I replied.
"I'm Elijah Martell the Third" He said
"Um, I'm, Apryl Anderson. The first, and only," I said, giggling at the joke I made.
"Well Apryl, you don't know what you have gotten yourself into, do you?" he asked. I gave him a strange look.
"When you first touched the orb of wishes, it permanently connected with you. You must have it with you at all times, or you will experience a pain like no other." Elijah explained.
"I know, I've been there," I said
"I saw you from the tree," he said.
"You just explained so much," I whispered under my breath.
"What? What did you say? My ears aren't so good anymore," he said
"Nothing," I said, "It was nothing important," I said.
"Okay then," he replied.
"Do you know how to get out of here?" I asked him. He took out an old map.
"Well," he said, "We are here."
He was pointing at the waterfall. I looked at the map. It was poorly drawn, like the doing of a five-year-old. It was still clear where some of the paths were.
"Well, we want to avoid anywhere in sector G, because they have quite ferocious guards. I had a friend who lost all of his toes because one guard accidentally stepped on his foot," he said. I made a very nervous grimace. My hands started to sweat. If one of those guys could break all of your toes by accident, I was afraid of what they would do to your head on purpose.
"Do they really weigh that much?" I asked, getting really scared. I wiped my hands on my pajama pants. "I wish I had some normal clothes please," I said to the orb. It vibrated and became warm. POP! My favorite outfit was lying on top of the grass.
"Do you mind?" I asked Elijah.
"Not at all, I'll just go… over there," he said. He walked over to the edge of the clearing. I still didn't feel comfortable changing my clothes out tin the middle of the open clearing. So I walked over to the waterfall. I found a cave behind it.
"Perfect!" I exclaimed. "That would be a great place to change," I added softly. It was very cold in the cave. Drip! Drip! Drip! Went the moisture from the stalagmites. I quickly changed and walked back out to the clearing.
"Elijah!" I called, "Where are you?"
There was no response.
"Wonderful," I said sarcastically. I walked towards the edge of the clearing. I searched the whole border. I still didn't find him. I slowly walked back to where I last saw Elijah. I took a deep breath, and walked into the forest.
The first thing I did was trip over a vine. The orb slipped out of my hand and rolled about four feet away.
"Oh shoot!" I said right before the pain hit me like a sixteen-wheeled truck. I clenched my teeth and army-crawled closer to the orb. My whole body hurt so badly, I couldn't think. When I got to the orb, I was still shaking.
"I wish I had a backpack," I said to the orb. POP! I put the orb in the backpack and swung it over my shoulders. I stood there for a few moments to find that I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going.
"I wish I had a copy of Elijah's map," I said. I didn't think it would help me much considering that it was difficult to even tell what it was, more or less read it. Not long after I made the wish, did the getting familiar sound of an object coming out of thin air happen. POP! The map was lying lightly on the dirt. I picked it up. I turned it sideways, upside-down, and to the other side, tilting my head as I went.
"This makes no sense!" I yelled. I looked at it for a few minutes more.
When I looked up, a man in a black mask was standing in front of me.
"Be quiet and don't move," he said. His voice sounded like he swallowed a cup of gravel. He was wearing all black; black gloves, black shoes, black socks. None of his skin was visible. He was carrying a long piece of rope and a knife. I dropped the map in fright. I was petrified. It was a good thing he didn't want me to move, because I couldn't if I tried. He charged at me and wrapped the rope around my waist. He knocked me down and tied my hands behind my back.
"What are you doing?" I screamed, gasping for breath from being knocked down.
"Shut up!" he yelled back. He started to drag me until we got to a wagon. It was a plain, red wagon, just like one my brother had at home. He pulled me up and threw me down into the wagon.
It was rusty, so it hurt my bare arms. My head hit hard also. He attached the wagon to a strange vehicle. It was like a bicycle, with a huge propeller on the back. It was also making a weird sound. It was so hard to describe the sound. Suddenly, my head started to throb.
It was probably from hitting the back of the wagon, I thought. I also felt a tingling in my fingers. In about twenty seconds, I passed out.