People love this. A lot. For reasons beyond me.

xxx0xxx

It was dark, cold, and overall chaotic inside that black orb, which I later learned was a portal of sorts. There was no sign of the mysterious cloaked person anywhere; I was alone, shivering in my shorts and T-shirt.

And I was utterly miserable because of it.

"This is all your fault!" I called out in the void. "You led me here, you led me to this weird...weird...thing! My parents are going to flip their lids when they get home!"

No answer. I was now utterly positive I was alone.

Kicking the ground, I started forward towards the direction I offhandedly assumed was the way to go. Despite all the nothing around me, there seemed to be a one-way, clear path towards somewhere.

Where did that somewhere go?

It would sound stupid to anyone I would tell, but I think I was still in the town for some reason. Sure, there wasn't a building in sight when I walked into the portal, but maybe it was camoflauged? It was plausible; after all, there's no telling with what someone can do with some paint and a video screen these days. What if I was in some creepy child molestor's house?

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Oh, shit. I had never thought of that.

Quickly, I turned around to just go back home when there was a sound behind me. I turned to see, again, nothing, but my heart was beating a tad faster this time. My sneakers squeaked against the soft, transparent floor as I rotated myself, taking a slow, clear look around.

"Hello?" I tried tentavily, looking in the direction from which I heard the sound. At first, I just saw the same blackness, but as my eyes finally adjusted to the gloom, I made out another dark orb standing a few feet away. It looked just like the one that had piqued my curiosity and yanked me in, but there was no smoke this time, making it almost invisible.

Was that the way out? I was blindly hoping so as I took a few leaping steps forward, clearing the distance between me and the portal. I stuck my hands in, but didn't feel cold; the space beyond the orb actually felt like the air was room temperature. I stepped through every bit as carefully as before.

I found myself in a place much brighter than the void I had been in; the walls looked absolutely white after being in the darkness for even a short time, but as my eyes adjusted again, I noticed they were actually a pale silver.

And there was the same cloaked person, standing in front of me with his (or her?) arms crossed defensively.

Without waiting for me to regain my bearings, they demanded stiffly, "Who are you?"

It was definitely a man; the voice gave it away easily. It was calm, uncaring. I gave him a disbelieving look, refusing to answer his question.

He took a warning step towards me, and I took a step back from instinct. "I repeat, who are you?" he asked again, voice becoming almost unnoticably more irritated.

I crossed my own arms, voice every bit as stiff as his own. "Why should I tell you? I don't even know who you are."

"Answer me." He was gritting his teeth a little now.

I paused. "Show me your face first. I prefer to see who I'm talking to."

"If I show you, will you answer my question?"

"...yeah." Smart, Liz, smart. I wasn't supposed to know what a child molestor or a rapist looked like. Who did?

The man's posture slackened, and he pulled down the hood quickly. Giving me an icy glare was a pale faced, blue haired man. I raised an eyebrow at his unusually colored hair and eyes, especially taking a second glance at the scar in the middle of his face.

Something told me this guy wouldn't give me much leeway. I had to think fast; I couldn't give this guy my real name. Still in the same town or not, I couldn't let a total stranger know who I was. Giving a fake name was certainly a good diversion, but would he come after me if he found out I had lied?

That was a silly thought. Think of something, stupid!

I blurted out the first name I could think of. "Amanda." It was the name of my friend's sister; she was six, quiet, and overly obsessed with flowers.

Now it was the man's turn to raise one of his (blue?!) eyebrows. "I did not mean your name, girl."

Oops.

"Do you live on Earth?" He was quieter now, more curious that he had gotten me to talk. The glare was still there, still sending shivers up my spine when combined with the overly calm voice.

"Earth?!" I gave the man a strange look. Had he lost his marbles? "Of course. We all live on the same planet, mister."

"I'm afraid we don't. Look around you."