Chapter 2

Bee awoke slightly disoriented, her vision blurred by the light of the morning sun. She groggily sat up, wiped her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was surrounded by flowers, a blend of creamy white and soft pink. The wind blew gently across the open field, carrying the scent of spring. Bee noticed that she wasn't wearing the same clothes she slept in. Instead there was a bright yellow dress with crescent moons and stars patterned in different colors. To her it looked beautiful, like something that would catch her eye in the endless racks of clothes in a flee market. She remembered the days when she had just moved into her apartment, and tried to start living by herself. She remembered going to the cheapest places possible to buy her clothes and home décor, and in a way she missed those days where she had something to do, something to work towards. Bee snapped out of her train of thought, and looked around for anyone else in the area, but she was alone. Questioned by this change of scenery, she tried to recall how she got here. The last thing she could remember was exiting the store, and not being able to find Puppycat. That was all she could dig up from her memory. Bee then saw that she was surrounded by a forest, so once finished with this field she spun around to pick a random direction and started walking into the forest.

The scent of autumn wafted through the air as Bee strolled down the forest path, head tilted slightly upwards to see the peeks of sky through the trees. The sound of crunching leaves, the beams of sunlight peering through the forest, and the brisk autumn air blowing through her hair made Bee feel at peace. She didn't know where she was nor was she concerned with it. It had always been of her to experience life without looking back, eager for everything that may come. After a while of walking the sun had started to set quicker than usual, and in a matter of minutes twilight fell upon the forest. This was a surreal and unnerving feeling for Bee, but she tried to brush her worries aside.

"Bee!" She heard a voice behind her, and turned around in a swift motion. There was no one there. "Bee…" She heard it again, this time frantically looking in all directions for the sound. "Stop!" The voice called out. Bee stopped in her tracks immediately. "There you go. Now look a little bit up." Bee found herself standing in front of a large maple tree. She tilted her head upward to the middle of the tree and was able to make out a face among the bark, and to her astonishment saw that it was moving in expression. "How do you know my name?" Bee asked the tree.

"Why wouldn't I? But that's not important."

"Can you tell me exactly where I am? It's nice, but I kind of want to go home."

"You're exactly where you need to be."

"What?"

"If you just listen for a sec, I'll tell you. Okay, so I don't know where this place is either. But that doesn't matter, because this place is important for you."

"I'm confused."

"In this place, you have to do something. You have to find something. Something that's missing from your life."

"What do you mean? And why are you talking like that?" The tree did not reply. "…So I have to find something missing? Like a life purpose? A love interest? Maybe a job? I work I guess, but it's not exactly a career." Bee found herself yammering on without a point, at which she stopped.

"I don't know. You have to find that yourself." The tree said in a hurry. "Okay, good luck. I'm going to die now."

"Wait, I need to ask— "Suddenly the face morphed back into the surrounding pattern of bark, the face had disappeared. "Weird…" Bee shuffled along the ground, and look up at the sky. "I wonder what I have to find." With all of this strange and questionable information she had taken in, Bee was lost for words. It all felt like a dream, she had nowhere to start and her thoughts drifted for what seemed like an eternity. Snapping her mind back to reality, Bee decided to keep walking along the forest. Perhaps eventually she would reach her answer.

It had gotten quite dark at this point; Bee could barely see where she was going. Suddenly that same feeling from before came to her, the one right before she awoke in the field. She wobbled to the nearest tree, disoriented and trying to keep her balance. Soon she collapsed once more and her vision blurred away.