My vision was so blurry. I tried to open my mouth and scream, but a garbled sound just came out instead. I blinked a few times, trying to clear the dirt out of my eyes, and coughed and coughed to clear my throat.

To my right, I could see a bright orange pair of gym shoes. I finally regained the strength to sit up, and a boy my age was standing right next to me. "You okay there, buddy?" he asked, looking concerned.

Man, did I feel dumb. Thinking about monsters or kidnappers coming after me in the woods was silly – especially when the person following me just turned out to be a kid.

"I've been trying to catch up with you for ages, but I didn't want to scare you. My name's Tom," he said, holding out his hand to help me up.

"Th-th-thanks," I stuttered, still dying for a glass of water.

"You new here? I've never seen you out in the woods before."

I've never seen anyone out in the woods before, I thought to myself, but replied, "Yeah, we just moved in. I haven't really had a chance to meet anyone yet. It's me and my parents and my sister Cassie. Oh, and I'm Todd, by the way."

Tom smiled. "Want to walk with me for a bit? I hang out a little further past this place. There's a bunch of kids there that you could meet. What grade are you going into, sixth?"

"Yep."

"Me too. We're probably going to be in the same class then, not like the school's that big anyway. You should come with me, meet some new people."

I wanted to. I really, really wanted to. All summer long, I couldn't wait to meet people my own age. I almost couldn't believe it when I heard myself saying, "Thanks, Tom, but I really need to find my sister. She took off running and I haven't seen her since."

Tom smiled good-naturedly. "I know how that is. I had – have – a sister too. Well, we hang out here a lot. Why don't you stop by tomorrow night and I'll introduce you to everyone. Meet me out here again."

"Okay!" I agreed, not wanting to sound too eager. But this was great – I had finally met someone my own age. And there were other people around as well!

But for now, I had to focus on finding Cassie. "Hey Tom, can you tell me how to get back to the creek? I think my sister might be over there."

"Sure thing. Walk straight to that downed branch that you tripped over and make a right. Just follow that path along and you should be there in about five minutes. You can't miss it."

"Great, thanks Tom."

"Hey Todd? One more thing. How did you make it all the way out here? I mean, I usually never see people out this far."

"I don't know. I mean, I just started running and – "

"Cool. I'll see you tomorrow." Tom sauntered off quickly, and I finally began to make sense of where I was out in the woods. Next time, I'd bring a compass. As I walked to the branch and made a right, I realized I could already hear the sounds of the creek. How had I missed this before?

After I walked for a few minutes, I could hear Cassie talking. But she wasn't calling out for me. It sounded like she was speaking to a specific person. I walked faster, trying to find her.

"Todd!" Cassie called out as soon as she saw me. "Where've you been? I was just about to go back to the house and have mom and dad help me look for you."

"Where have I been? Where've you been?" I shot back at her. "I was lost in the middle of the woods and had no idea where I was or where you were. Come on, Cassie, that wasn't cool."

"But I waited right by the creek like we discussed. And I started talking to Robin over there," she said, pointing behind her.

"Robin?" I asked Cassie. "Robin who?"

"Robin. Don't be rude, Todd, she's sitting right there on the rock."

"Uh Cassie….no she's not."

Cassie whirled around and gasped. "Robin?" she called.

Her new friend had seemingly vanished into thin air.