“Come on, come on, come on, I’m cooooold!” I cry to my sister, wrapping my scarf around me tighter. It’s another fall day, bordering on chilly… who am I kidding? I’m freezing! I’ve always been cold, so I’m most comfortable in summer. My sister runs up, having finally gotten her heavy backpack back on her shoulders.

“Race you!” She calls, her backpack bouncing as she runs past me.

“Hey, no fair!” I yell back, racing to catch up with her.

Breathless minutes later, Autumn beats me to the door. We burst through the door, discarding our scarves and mittens, peeling our coats off as we mount the stairs, heading for the warm kitchen. We smell the food cooking on the stove, and my bright blonde hair fuzzes out from my hat, making Autumn and I giggle. Hot cocoa is waiting for us on the counter, so we grab it gratefully and call out to Gran.

“Thanks for the cocoa, Gran!” I yell, heading towards the living room where she usually sits. Autumn reaches the room first, and walks in ahead of me, glancing towards her favorite chair.

“Um… Lily… Where’s Gran?” She asks, turning to face me. I shake my head, peeking into her room. Her bed is perfectly made, and the curtains are drawn, as usual.

“Gran? We’re ho-ome!” I call again, glancing back at Autumn worriedly. She shakes her head at me, setting a foot on the stairs. As we climb up, I see a shadow stretching out from a doorway.

“Gran?”

_____________

I flipped through channels, bored out of my mind.

“Wren honey, could you turn to the news?” My mom calls, and I flip to our local news channel.

“This just in, parents arrive home to a grandma in a closet and children missing, despite their belongings being already in the house. More on this, after the break.” I stare at the TV in dismay. No way.

“Mom!!” I yell, and my little brother walks in.

“Shut up Wren, I’m trying to do homework,” He says, going back into his room. I roll my eyes, and my mom comes in from the kitchen.

“What is it?” She asks, hand on her hip.

“I think I just saw Lily’s house and they said there were missing children!” I say, leaping to my feet.

“Wren. Calm down. It wasn’t Lily’s house, okay?” She says, sitting on the couch and patting next to her. “Sit down”

I wait through a dumb commercial (Hair gained in just 3 easy steps!) and another (the kitchen slicer is the number one blender!) and yet another (Arby’s, we have the meats)... and finally the news comes back on.

“Now Sharyl, we were told that two children are missing, where are they missing from?”

“Two kids from the Cherrydale neighborhood, sisters Lily and Autumn Andrews, are missing, and their grandmother, Beatrice Andrews, was found tied up in a closet. The two children usually arrive home around 3:30 pm, and their grandmother is there to greet them. Beatrice states that she was tied up before then, meaning the children arrived to a seemingly empty house. Their parents, Millicent and Sam Andrews, came home around 6:30, to discover their children’s belongings, but the children themselves gone. Beatrice was found tied in their second floor closet, and they immediately reported this to the police.”

“M-mom?” I say, looking over at her desperately.

“Oh honey… I’m so sorry…” She says, and reaches out to hug me. I lay there in her arms, crying softly.

“W-what if I never see them again?” I ask.

“You will, baby, you will.” She says, hugging me tighter.

A loud sound interrupts us, and I turn my head towards the door. “It’s probably your dad sweetheart, go ahead and open the door,” mom says. But just in case, I look through the window. Yup, that’s my dad alright. I open the door, and run into his arms.

“Daddy, Lily and Autumn are missing!” I cry, feeling him hug me back. And suddenly… the coat is wrong. His arms seem to lengthen and thin, and when I look up, his face is all wrong.

“The Queen requires your presence.” He says, and the voice that is at first my fathers, then changes into something totally alien. I drew in a breath, staring, unable to look away. And suddenly everything went black.

_________________

So… I’m here. Not exactly sure where here is. But I know that… it’s not Earth. I’m from Earth. I think I would recognize Earth. This is not Earth. For one, does Earth have giant metal cages and forests that glow and people with animal parts? No. No, Earth does not.

That’s not to say this isn’t… Earth-like? It’s not fall here, it’s warm like it is in summer, but I’m not burning to death. And I can breathe, so it’s got oxygen or something, right? And it’s not pressing me to the ground, and I’m not floating, so the gravity’s the same, right? See, I did learn things from science class.

But this is definitely not earth. There are beings everywhere… and they’re not human. They’ve got wings… horns… fangs… I think I even saw one shift her shape… their eyes glow… I saw some eat an entire deer, and throw the bones to another. I’m not crazy. I know I’m not. I’m a normal person, my best friend is Wren, I have a family, I have a life for goodness sake!!

And I’ve looked at where I’m being held. I said it’s a cage, didn’t I? It’s like… a bird cage. But there aren’t bars, they’re trees… trees made of gold. I’ve already tried to bend some of the smaller branches, cause again, science class! Gold is the softest metal, right? Well I tried to bend it, and it didn’t work… I think they’re actually made of another, stronger metal and they’re coated in gold, because, I mean, who has enough gold to make a huge cage of trees out of gold? The crazy thing about this tree though, there are actual leaves! They’re gold too, but some of them are on the ground. I mean, the floor of the cage.

There’s furniture here too, but there’s more above me than there is on this level. I don’t see any way to climb up though, so I don’t know what it’s for. Around me, there’s a forest in vibrant greens, showing absolutely no sign of the autumn back home. And if I squint, to my left, I can see trees in vibrant reds and oranges, showing every sign of fall. I’m not really sure why only that side is fall colored… but I mean, it’s not that weird, right? The sun starts to set, and I glance at the bed. The headboard is gold too, and the sheets are a vibrant blue. I climb in reluctantly, feeling the chain around my ankle drag along behind me. I close my eyes and whisper one last thing before I sleep.

“Autumn, I hope you’re not here.”