Chapter 3: A Familiar Face

A sound. Somewhere, there was a sound. Slowly he opened his eyes and found he was lying on his back staring up into an infinity of rolling blue clouds. He stayed down, watching the sky above closely, and with defined interest.

Again, the sound was heard, a constant sound sounding not unlike what a bouncing ball would sound. However, upon further listening, he found that the sound wasn't a ball, but more or less a constant beat, more like a heart beat. He pushed himself slowly to sit, incase there was any underlying damage which he hadn't initially discovered, and found that aside from just awaking from a bout of unconsciousness, that he was in good health.

He gazed silently around, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise he was hearing, and found that the entire area that he was in, seemed much like the rolling sky above, aside from the ground. He looked down and saw clearly that the ground was solid, and covered in black sand.

He easily pushed himself to his feet and took a few steps forward.

"Hello?" He called. His voice echoed all around him.

"Jonas." Came a familiar voice, it wasn't so much greeting him as it was telling him who he was.

Jonas quickly spun around, and came face to face with a familiar figure. Granted, the figure only came to about his hip, but it was familiar nonetheless.

"Mollie?" He questioned, Mollie Lynch had been a childhood friend of his, it was funny she should show up now, not to mention it was impossible.

When they were young, he and Mollie spent every spare moment with each other. They were neighbors and lived only five minutes apart. They were the only children on Jonas's street and were the same age.

However, Mollie met an untimely end while she and Jonas were playing in the forest near her house. The day had started out as any other summer day. Jonas got up early, had his breakfast, got dressed and quickly ran the five minutes to Mollie's home, where she'd asked him to meet her that morning.

He knocked lightly on the door, and her mother greeted him happily. When Mollie had come to the front door, her mother told the children to be careful and sent them off.

Mollie knew the forest like the back of her hand, she knew what was dangerous and what was safe. However, today was different. Perhaps it was because of the storm they'd gotten the night before, with the rain had come the wind, a wind which was strong enough to uproot trees and topple them. That would be enough to make a forest look different from previously.

Mollie had claimed that she'd been in this particular area a hundred times before, and there was nothing to worry about. Jonas trusted her, he had no reason not to. She'd always been right about the woods before, why should now be any different? But it was different.

They'd began a game of hide and seek. Being children of only nine years old, it was one of their favorite games. They'd played it millions of times before in this same forest.

Jonas was counting, ended at fifty, and called to Mollie to see if he could convince her to possibly give her position away. When she didn't answer, he thought nothing of it. As he searched around the area of forest, he heard her scream.

"Nice try Mollie." Jonas had called, thinking that she was only trying to scare him a bit, after all, she used to tell him ghost stories about a screaming woman that haunted these woods.

Mollie screamed again.

"I know its you Mollie, and you're not scaring me." Jonas yelled back. She'd tried this attempt at scaring him before, and for some reason it always seemed to work, except this day.

Now, looking back, he'd wished that he had been frightened, and gone to see if she was okay.

"Jonas, help me!" Came another cry.

"Come on, you don't expect me to believe that the screaming woman has you, do you?" Jonas asked her.

"This isn't a joke! Please Jonas!" Mollie yelled again. Something in her voice, told Jonas that something was wrong, and with his heart beating wildly, he'd run to where her pleas had been coming from.

"Mollie?" He called, not able to find her at first.

"Jonas, down here!" She yelled back.

Her call was heard from only about three feet away and he ran forward. His footing faltered and he stopped up instantly, realizing that he had reached a drop off. He looked down and his eyes went wide as he saw Mollie clinging to a rocky outcrop about three feet down. Her pale blue eyes looked up at him desperately, and her blonde waves were being tossed in her face from the wind of a waterfall a fair distance below her.

"Mollie!" Jonas yelled and dropped to his stomach, reaching his hands out over the edge to grab her.

He managed to get a hold on her pink T-shirt and heisted her up about a foot, she grabbed at Jonas's hand and made contact. He wrapped his hand around hers, and pulled. As he got her almost to the top, his grip slipped. He tightened his hold and found that he was now only holding onto her by her fingers. He quickly reached his other hand down, to take hold of his other hand.

"Pull yourself up!" Jonas called to her.

"I can't. It's too far!" Mollie's voice was desperate.

"You have to!"

"I can't!"

Jonas shimmed further to the edge and reached down, getting a tighter grip on her hand.

"I've got you, pull yourself up!" Jonas called.

Mollie was crying by now, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't!" She said between sobs.

"Yes you can!"

Mollie slipped again, and screamed. Jonas still had her, but barely. He tried desperately to pull her up, but found he wasn't able to. It was at that moment, Mollie slipped completely from his grasp and plunged into the water below.

Jonas was pulled harshly from his thoughts and recollections as the figure in front of him walked toward him to take his hand.

"You've changed." Mollie replied, a smile coming to her face.

"You haven't." Jonas stated, a bit dumbfounded at how any of this was possible.

Mollie shook her head, a motion which told him that she knew she hadn't changed.

"Where am I?" Jonas questioned.

"This is your subconscious mind." Mollie replied, her pale eyes watching Jonas closely.

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to guide you."

"Guide me where?" Jonas questioned.

"Out."