I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and singing. The sun shining bright in my face. I was surprised that its rays could reach me through the trees. High in the sky, those trees hovered. I did not want to get off the ground, it was so comfortable.

I stood up and looked around. Only trees and wild life were in my view. The forest was so peaceful, but it had the presence of evil, magic, and children within it. Outside the forest the ground was as blank as a piece of paper.

I did not belong to this land. I couldn’t remember were I was from, to tell you the truth, but It wasn’t here. I knew that I had another life. Someone, somewhere, was missing me. I didn’t know who but I knew that there was someone. I remembered some things, like how old I was or what color my eyes were, but I couldn’t tell exactly who I was.

I felt cartoonish; the trees looked as if they had been drawn by a five year old. I saw people walking by who had faces like Mickey Mouse, round and oddly shaped.

One man passing by said to me with a smile and a laugh“ Well you look like you’re not from around here. You must be new. ”

I nodded and smiled back. Pretending that I knew what he was talking about.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. After one corner I saw a monster with two teeth and three legs. The next corner I saw a stick figure person chatting with Mr. Potato Head. It seemed I had landed in some little girl’s coloring book.

All the corners stopped and I came to a lip in my path. The page must have came to an end. I couldn’t see anything but white blankness. Not knowing what to do, I just kept walking. Suddenly I felt a jolt of speed. It was a force pulling me into the next page. I was filled with joy at once. I went back and forth, page jumping like crazy. The only thing that stopped me was the dizziness in my head.

After searching the next page my fun disappeared just as suddenly as it had came. Far in the distance, I found the outline of a badly drawn house. When approaching I found the house to be door knob less. So I knocked on the rectangle of a door instead. No one answered. What a surprise!

I jumped 10 feet in the air when I heard a loud growl. Once I realized that the scary noise had come from my stomach the search for food began. After walking across a marker river, I came to a new page. It was a page full of desserts. Everything from cheesecake to brownies. Five ice cream cones were gone within minutes.

I walked back to the page full of monsters. Most of them were walking around talking to others about what they had for lunch, their new shoes, and the new hair cut the kid gave them.

“ Where are we?” I asked a friendly looking monster. It was a bear with two eyes and two teeth. The bear was three feet tall and was the most normal looking creature for miles.

“ You’re in a little girl’s head. We are her everything. We are her ideas, her thoughts, and her imagination book. We make her mind fun and enjoyable. This book keeps her sane. ”

“ Why am I here then? ”

“ Well it looks like you are a person she saw in a magazine, ” the monster said. “You must have caught her eye. It looks like she cut you out and pasted you in this scrap book .”

“ How do I get out? ”

“ You’re not going to want to after a couple days here. You just get used to it. ”

Angry at the situation that I was in, I started to run. I ran as fast as I could, and didn’t stop when the page came to an end. The joy I had felt from page jumping wasn’t there anymore. I went back to the forest to sleep until I could think of a way to leave. I shut my eyes. It felt like I had been here for hours. The birds were still chirping and the sun was still blinding me.

I started crying. I wanted to go to where I belong. To see my family and hug them. To not be scared of turning a corner and running into a monster. I wanted to go to the place that I called home.

I wiped my tears as I walked to the end of the page. I went from one page to another trying to feel something other than sorrow. I felt the force within me but it wasn’t alone. A tearing feeling started in my stomach and the world began to spin. I tried to stop, for the dizziness was too much for me to handle, but something made it impossible. Little by little the light disappeared until I couldn’t see anymore.

I felt like I was floating. I thought about how now all I wished for was to be in that scrapbook world. Just as suddenly as the light had disappeared it came back. Just small pieces came back at a time but that’s all I needed.

When my vision was fully restored I stood up. There, a couple of feet away, was a person. She looked like she was cut out of a magazine, just as the monster had described me earlier. She looked human. Millions of questions rushed through my head.

I looked around. The land had changed so much from the last page to this one. There was a real ground with grass and nothing was drawn on the page it all looked real. There were houses that had door knobs and people everywhere.

“ There you are, honey. Where have you been? ” a lady I didn’t recognize said to me as she gave me her hand. She had tears rolling down her face. I didn’t know what I had done wrong.

I got up off the ground. The lady reached for me and put her arms around me. I felt like I was home.

Light flashed before my eyes. I saw a child learning to walk. Images of people smiling and saying ‘I love you’. All kinds of delicious foods being served at the dinner table. I saw moments of when my brothers and sister had been born. Images of my family.

“ Mom! “ I said with a huge grin. I felt cold, wet water falling down my cheeks. I knew that I was home.

I remembered my family with my two brothers and my sister. I knew without a doubt that my family loved me and wasn’t ever going to stop loving me. Part of my memory had come back to me.

My mother took me home where I was reunited with my family. I hugged and kissed them all. Slowly bits and pieces of my life came back to me. The sun began to set and I went off to bed.

“ Good night, honey. I’m so glad you came home to me. I missed you so much, ’’ my mother said to me as she kissed my forehead.

“ I missed you too mom. Good night. I love you. ”

I felt drained of my energy. I closed my eyes just like I had in the forest. This time I feel asleep right away.

In the morning I felt re-energized. I went down stairs where I immediately hugged all of my family members. My mother gave me a plate with a delicious looking breakfast.

Once my stomach was full I sat with my mother in front of the fireplace. “ I had gone out to get groceries. When I came back home you were gone. I went to all the places that you’d spend your free time: the arcade, the playground, the toy store. I couldn’t find me. That night I cried myself to sleep.

The next day I called in sick to work and went all through town looking for you. I didn’t come home until the sun had set. Your brothers and I put up hundreds of posters of you, all over town, with a number to call if you were found. Four days had gone by and you still hadn’t been found.

After almost a week had gone by I pulled out one of your old coloring books. I looked at the crayon drawings and houses without doorknobs. I put a picture of you in the book; during the last summer we had together.

The next day I went out to buy the toilet paper that I had forgotten earlier in the week. When leaving the store I turner the corner and found you on the ground,’’ my mother said through a shower of tears.

As the day came to an end I felt relieved to know that I was home for good.

When I was tucked in bed and dozing off, my mother came in. She placed my old coloring book on my lap. She kissed my head and left my room. I flipped through the pages and looked at all of my old drawings. I fell asleep with my book open across my chest.


I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and singing. The sun shining bright in my face. I was surprised that its rays could reach me through the trees. High in the sky, those trees hovered. I did not want to get off the ground, it was so comfortable.

I stood up and looked around. Only trees and wild life were in my view. The forest was so peaceful, but it had the presence of evil, magic, and children within it. Outside the forest the ground was as blank as a piece of paper.

I did not belong to this land. I couldn’t remember were I was from but it wasn’t here. I knew that I had another life. Someone, somewhere, was missing me. I didn’t know who but I knew that there was someone. I remembered some things like how old I was or what color my eyes were but I couldn’t tell exactly who I was.