The next morning, I woke up and did the usual routine. I showered, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, and made myself breakfast. I found a note on the table from my mom. It said, "Going to the grocery store. Text me if you need anything." So, she was still ticked at me about the day before. Fine. I didn't need her snooping around anyways. I packed my father's journal and a map of New York in my duffel bag.

I have only been to Central Park once. I was eight years old. I went with Alice and Marissa early on Christmas Eve. Alice decided I needed to get out of the house for once. I never actually felt snow before. It was amazing. My mom doesn't know I went out. She was doing some last minute shopping. If you're wondering how I know this, I realized Santa Claus doesn't exist at age six. Too many things in my life fell apart at a young age, so I figured Santa was one more thing that was going to go wrong anyways.

From that moment on, I decided Marissa was my only friend. So, I called her up. She met me in front of her apartment on the first floor of our building. She had two waters and some Chips Ahoy cookies in a blue grocery bag.

"Ready?" she asked with a grin.

"Let's do this."

"I brought the cookies in case you maybe want to take a break during this search."

"Thanks, but I don't know if we'll have time. A normal grocery trip for my mom takes about two hours on a Sunday because of all the people. From what I heard this morning, she left around nine, and it is ten now. We have an hour to find this rabbit hole or whatever."

"Well, let's go." I started to take out my map when Marissa interrupted. "Maddie, you can put that away. We'll get there faster if I just lead the way. I'll point out a few landmarks too that may help you find it in case you have to sneak out again."

"Thanks, girl." I don't know where I'd be without Marissa. She's my best friend. Actually, she's my only friend. It's hard to make friends when you're not allowed to leave the house. Sometimes, I feel this weird connection between us, like we're long lost sisters or something. It's crazy I know. If you think about how psychotic my life is, it definitely seems plausible. I trust Marissa more than I trust my own mother. I know she at least would never hide anything from me.

"We're almost there," she said as she pointed out another semi-distinguishable building so I can find my way back to Central Park. Five minutes later, we were searching for what my father described as "a rabbit hole where a rabbit hole shouldn't be." Thanks for the hint, Dad. We had forty-five minutes to find an oddly placed rabbit hole. No big deal.

"Find anything, Marissa?!"

"Not yet! You?!"

"No-wait, hold on! Come here!" She ran up to me. "That looks like a rabbit hole, right?" I was standing in a small clearing behind twenty or so large trees. A broken bench covered, or attempted to cover, a hole that could probably hold a refrigerator. I've never seen a rabbit hole, so I wasn't sure if I was looking at the right thing. It seemed a little too big, but Marissa agreed with my accusation.

"It's in a weird place though, don't you think?"

"That's the point." It took us thirty minutes, but I finally found my father's rabbit hole. Now, I just had to figure out its connection to finding my father. "I'm going down."

"Are you crazy?! What if you get stuck or hurt? Your mother will kill you and me. We'll never get to hang out again."

"Relax, I'm not going all the way down. I just want to get a general idea of how far it goes."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Be quick though. We're going to have to start heading back so your mom doesn't catch us."

"Alright. It'll just take a minute." I placed my duffle bag on the edge of the rabbit hole. I started to inch down the rabbit hole when suddenly…

"Maddison Heart Hattenson! What do you think you are doing?! And why are you out of the apartment?!" I was busted by a red-faced, grocery carrying drill sergeant with a look of worry, anger, and complete disappointment in her eyes.