Ellie lifted Skully into the air, staring right into his eye sockets, “You have not met me before. I am Ellie and I love adventure. I might be a kid, but I’m very capable. My dream is to discover why The Cataclysm happened all those years ago,” she exclaimed with a huge grin. 

“You’re still a kid. I’m not impressed,” Skully grunted as she skinned him around. 

“Well, you said you remember Dawn, right? We might have to go there then. It’s not so far, though my dad doesn’t like going there, and I can’t exactly go alone. I’ve been there once before and it’s so big, with so many people,” Ellie remarked with a more serious tone, “Maybe you’re right, I can’t do much since I’m a kid. But I do know that parts of these woods used to be a part of Dawn before The Cataclysm,” she added with enthusiasm as she fell back onto her bed. 

“I feel so confident right now,” Skully grumbled sarcastically. 

Ellie giggled excitedly, she couldn’t help but be excited. A vampire skull. Vampires were real. She squealed again, much to Skully’s annoyance. 

Abruptly there was a knock at the door. Ellie’s eyes widened and she stared at Skully and whispered, “That must be my dad, you better be quiet, don’t let him know anyone’s here.”

“Ellie, are you in there? Do you want pizza or pizza for dinner?” Her dad shouted through the door.

Ellie swiftly opened the door slightly, leaving only a small gap open, “Um, I’m not very hungry, it doesn’t matter,” she muttered. 

Her father was a tall man with dark, slightly unruly hair and deep blue eyes. He raised an eyebrow and looked at his daughter, she was usually very hungry at this point of the day. 

“I could go for pizza.” Ellie heard Skully yell out from the room. She froze, her eyes shifting to her father, did he hear? 

“You know what, actually I’m very hungry, you should go buy lots of pizza. Like right now,” Ellie said nervously, her lips trembled. She didn’t want her father to find out about Skully. 

He raised an eyebrow again, “Alright Ellie bear, I’ll buy the usuals, yes?” He asked her. 

Ellie nodded and closed the door. Her father smiled to himself as he started walking down the stairs, had she found him? 

She leaned against the door and breathed out, her heart was beating faster. Did he hear Skully? She wasn’t sure. Either way, she didn’t want him or anyone else to find out about the skull. He was her discovery. 

“I told you not to say anything,” Ellie sighed as she glanced at Skully. 

“Relax, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one that hears me. In all my years calling out, no one has ever heard me before,” Skully grunted. 

“So how come I can hear you? Is your body buried in the same place? “ She asked Skully. 

“I don’t think it’s buried in the same place, I can sort of feel it. But it’s not here. I have no idea why the fudge you can hear me, kid,” Skully grumbled. He truly didn’t know why she could hear him. He didn’t know anything. 

“So, we should find your body and your memories. I promise you, I will try my best to find them. I guess the forest is where we start, and then we go to Dawn,” Ellie proclaimed loudly before she fell back onto her bed. 

“If you must, then that is where we start,” Skully sighed. He felt a small tinge of excitement. Was he finally going to get out of this void? 

“To adventure!” Ellie beamed. She could not say no to all this adventure, to all the possibilities.