I saw the dust explode from the quilts. When it cleared, I saw everyone staring at me, except Jake. Then he turned, and began shouting at me, along with everyone else. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then I noticed: they weren’t yelling at me, they were yelling for me.
“Maybe this is some sort of joke they came up with,” I thought. Aloud, I yelled, “Okay, you got me!” as I put my hands in the air to show my surrender. None of them stopped. They were still frantically searching the tiny room.
“But I’m here!” I exclaimed. I walked over to Kris and reached for her shoulder.
My hand never touched her. Instead, it ran into a tree trunk. Now, I knew for a fact there was no tree in my grandparents’ attic, not to mention the other plants surrounding me. I scanned all the nearby foliage, and found myself standing in the middle of a forest! Not only that, but this forest seemed to be completely symmetrical, unlike any forest I’d ever seen. About every four feet was a pine tree, and directly between those was a stump. Each tree and stump looked identical, and formed a grid that went on in every direction for as far as I could see. I was standing on grass that looked as though it had just been mowed to be one inch tall. There were tiny pink flowers with a likeliness to daisies surrounding the trees, still in an exact pattern.
None of this was normal; this much I knew. I didn’t think it was even possible! All of the forests near the cabin that I had ever seen had no order, and the trails wound aimlessly through the clumps of trees. This whole setup was just too neat and orderly.
I was just about to sit on one of the nearby stumps when I heard a very loud, very high-pitched SQUEEEEAAAK!!
I jumped at least a foot in the air. “Who’s there?” I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt.
“I don’t think it’s so much who as what,” a voice replied. It seemed to be coming from the tree behind me, so I turned and asked, “Okay then, what’s there?”
“Me!” replied the voice gleefully, from the other direction.
Now I was getting a little impatient. “But that doesn’t answer my question!” I retorted turning once again.
“Yeah it does!” the voice taunted. “And instead of trying to find me by yourself – which you’ll never be able to do, by the way – you could just ask me to come out.”
“Fine,” I told it impatiently. “Will you come out?”
“What’s the magic word?” the mystery creature sang, obviously enjoying teasing me.
“Please!” I shouted, loosing all patience. Just then, I heard the tree behind me creak, and the voice asked:
“Okay then, who are you?”
I turned and gasped, not believing my eyes.
“You’re… you’re… you’re…” I stammered.
“I’m… I’m… I’m… a chipmunk!” the creature cried, jumping up and down on the grass. “But you’re not answering my question now. I already know what I am!”
I was at a loss for words for a few seconds. Then, I managed to say:
“But chipmunks… chipmunks don’t talk!” The creature put its hands – paws – on its hips and replied defiantly:
“”Oh yeah? Says who? I only know one chipmunk who doesn’t talk, and that’s because she’s still a baby!” Now it was just staring at me, it’s tail twitching every few seconds. When I still didn’t say anything, it added, “Okay, for the last time, who are you? After all you’re the one in my forest!” It began tapping its foot impatiently, and I stifled a giggle. This chipmunk wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen (or heard). Nothing else here was normal by my standards either, so I guessed I might as well get used to strange things in this strange place.
“I’m Liz Moore, and I didn’t mean to intrude in you forest; it was an accident, really!” I looked at the creature apologetically and held out my hand to shake. The chipmunk hesitated, glancing questionably at my hand, then hopped into it. I jumped slightly, but recovered as quickly as I could.
“Okay, Liz Moore from… Where did you say you were from?”
“I didn’t, but I’m from California. Well, just now I was actually in Colorado, but I live…”
“Never heard of those places, anyway,” the chipmunk told me, shaking its head.
“Well, they’re part of the United States of America,” I began, although I didn’t really expect this creature to know its geography.
“Hold up!” the chipmunk interrupted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! Do you know where this is?” it asked, motioning to the forest around us.
“No…” I replied, suddenly feeling very young and lost.
“Well I do. But I don’t know where these places are that you know about. So we’re even, okay? But what are you gonna do now that you’re here?”
“I… I don’t know. Where is here?”
The chipmunk laughed, and replied, “Well, certainly not there!” It must have thought that was hilarious, because the creature began to loose its breath from laughing so hard, and was forced to sit down. I didn’t think it was funny at all; I had had it with this chipmunk.
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you? Well, I don’t think so! I think you’re annoying!” Stunned, the chipmunk just stared at me, and we were both silent for a moment. Then, another voice came out of nowhere.
“You are in the Sacred Forest of the Shandery. And neither of you should be here. It wouldn’t be called “sacred” if anyone were allowed in, don’t you agree Chester?”
The chipmunk – Chester – cowered and moved my thumb to hide behind it. I didn’t know whether or not to be afraid of this new mystery creature, so I stayed where I was.
“About that…” Chester stammered. “Please don’t tell mom! I just wanted to explore! And… and look what I found! An intruder! I shouldn’t get in trouble for that!”
“But you’re not supposed to be here, Ches. I’m going to have to report you, even if you are my little brother.” My eyes widened. Little brother? Then the creature speaking was just another chipmunk?
“So, Liz, I don’t know how you got here, but that’s not my job to find out. Come on with me, and I’ll introduce you to the people who actually care. Chester, you go home. Now!” The chipmunk jumped down from a nearby tree and landed on a stump. It glared at Chester, who quickly hopped off my hand and scurried up a trunk and out of sight as fast as his little legs could carry him. Then, the new creature turned to face me.
“Listen, I have to report you. It’s my job. So if you could make this easy on us both, that would be great. I’m Susie, by the way.”
I just nodded in response, and followed her as she began walking through the trees.
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