A World of Another Kind

Chapter 23 Welcome to Storybrooke

Narrated by Aubrey

     I woke up, very discombobulated, and my head throbbed terribly. I was on a ground filled with pine needles and realized I was in the middle of the woods. Very confused and panicked, I stood up, my heart racing rapidly. I turned around and Kaylee was lying there, unconscious, like I was. I shook her and was so glad and relieved to see that she opened her eyes.

     "Aubrey?" she questioned, looking around very mystified just as I felt. "Where are we? Why was I just on the ground?" she added, standing up.

     I swallowed hard, feeling scared, and I was filled with anxiety. "I... I don't know where we are," I stammered anxiously. "It looks like we are in the middle of the woods. How on Earth did we get here?" I trembled, feeling very mind-boggled.

     Kaylee looked like she was about to have a panic attack, and she said in a quavering voice, "Aubrey, weren't we literally just at home in our backyard, playing with our rabbits?"

     "Yeah, I know!" I exclaimed, very perplexed. "This doesn't make any sense how we ended up here unconscious in the middle of the woods! I don't remember ever coming here or how we ended up being unconscious. This is so crazy! Okay, I'm freaking out right now!"

     Kaylee and I began to call out for Mom and Dad, wondering if we had gone on a hike in these woods with them without remembering and ended up getting separated from them. After running around the place calling until our voices grew hoarse, we gave up then had a panic attack. "I don't understand!" Kaylee wailed. "Mom and Dad wouldn't just leave us here! I hope they are looking for us." She sobbed.

     "Hopefully we will find someone so we can borrow their phone to call Mom and Dad if they have a phone with them," I said, sniffling. "Come on, let's start walking to find someone to help us."

    We headed a random direction and soon arrived at a roadside outside where the woods ended. I saw a sign at the opposite side of the road that said, Welcome to Storybrooke.

     "We must be near a town," I concluded. "What a funny name. Sounds like story book. I don't recall hearing of any town named Storybrooke near where we live."

     We walked along the road, then a town soon came into view. It was a quaint, little town that was very quiet, and we hardly saw anyone around. It was like a ghost town. Luckily, we saw a payphone, but unfortunately, we had no quarters with us, so we knew we had to go up to a stranger and either ask for quarters or borrow their phone. But it didn't take long to find a person. He was walking a dalmatian. This man was a tall, middle-aged man with red, thin, curly hair, and glasses. He looked friendly, so I was not very timid to ask if he had any quarters with him. The dog barked, pulling hard at its leash and wagged its tail, trying to run and greet us. "Woah, Pongo!" said the man, trying to resist the dog's pull. "Settle down, Boy. You want to go greet them?" Once we approached them, the dog jumped up on us excitingly. "Down, Pongo," the man scolded his dog, tugging at the leash. "Sorry, he's friendly. He just likes new strangers." We knelt down and petted the friendly dalmatian, and it licked our faces, making us giggle. "He likes you both," the man added with a grin. "Anyway, you two must be new to town. I'm Dr. Hopper, but you can call me Archie. Can I catch your names?"

     "I'm Aubrey and this is my twin sister, Kaylee," I replied. "And actually, we just happened to come across this town when we suddenly woke up lost in the woods, and we came here only for help; we need to call our parents."

     "Hold on, so you are lost?" he questioned, looking very concerned, then we nodded. "Dear me, let me help. I have some quarters, so here, use them to call your parents."