My mind was in a blur as I stumbled through the woods. I think George lied to me about not putting anything in the punch otherwise I wouldn’t feel like shit. I should have not come to this party, but no I just had to cave to the speckled-eyed bastard.

 Now I’m wandering in the middle of the woods during the middle of the night most likely bordering on pass-out drunk, with no phone and no sense of direction of how to get back to the party. Not that would likely be missed, you see I’m not exactly what you consider unpopular but I’m not Mr. Varsity either. With how I looked one might think I play sports with my stocky frame and my squarish jaw, but I prefer to read or go hunting.

I weaved my way throughout the oak forest hoping to at least get back to the main road and call someone to drive me back to campus, and I know for sure it is not going to be George.

The whole forest seemed to blur together as time went by; I kept walking, almost stumbling over a tree root, then something caught my eye, a clear patch of the forest! I felt myself lurch forward as the dizziness in my head got more intense, but out of desperation, I went a little bit faster, and then I saw light at the end of the clearing.

“Hey! Anybody out there!” I slurred whilst raising my hands above my head to show I meant no harm.

No one responded so I approached carefully trying to say I needed directions to the main road, but because my head was so muddled it came out as incoherent gibberish. ‘Man I don’t feel so good’ ran through my head before I leaned on something and threw up in it, I shook my head and realized it was one of those old-fashioned hand-cranked wells.

Before I could process this the decaying clay brick crumbled underneath my weight and I tumbled headfirst into the well, then everything went black.

Then everything hit me all at once I couldn’t breathe and I was soaked flailing around as I rapidly opened my eyes. Panic surged throughout my body as I saw distorted light above my head momentarily when my head peaked out of the water, the current dragged me back under as I gasped for air.

Water filled my lungs as I struggled toward the surface screaming at the top of my lungs, “ HELP!” I once again was dragged underneath by the current until I flipped around some more and slammed back into something hard. I let out a pained grunt as I latched onto whatever I hit, pulling myself up through the adrenaline rush crawling up on what felt like a small cliffside.

To round off my amazing display of athleticism I proceeded to throw up river water. As I came to my senses I looked around and saw I was in a cave of some sort that had crystal clear water flowing out of it that led to… somewhere. Speaking of crystals I was surrounded by them whether it was from the walls or the ceiling and some even spirated up from the floor. Oh and they glowed like fireflies, yep I am convinced that I am hallucinating, after all, what type of well leads to a cave.

I looked at the cliffside I was laying on, it was about as wide as a school bus was long and was man-made with how smooth the ground was excluding a strange number of deep grooves that lined the cave wall and floor. The path seemed to follow the river as well. I looked down at the rapidly moving water that almost killed me with the crystal’s light flashing. It looked like a ten-foot drop from where I now stood, guess adrenaline is one hell of a drug, huh.

I got close to the end of the wall part of the cliffside as I walked toward where the river followed, taking in the strange beauty of the cave. It didn’t take me long to reach the cave mouth and I reached outside to see dawn barely peeking out from a heavy cloud cover and to see the once-mighty river become something more of creak as it split into multiple parts cutting through a forest, I then gazed into the forest to see if there were any other options besides going into the forest.

Nope of course not why would there be, this is just great. I proceeded into the forest just to realize how bad I was shivering the farther I got away from the cave and how soaked my clothes were. I need to get out of this forest and find out where I am, preferably a place with warmth so I don’t catch hypothermia. Thank God it looks like the sun will fully rise in about an hour.

After I trudged through the forest for about half an hour I heard something behind me as nearby bushes were rustling, probably just a deer or something… I just had to think that I didn't. Nope, what rose out from those bushes was a goddamn bear. It towered over me on its haunches, virtually most likely about no more than three yards away standing about eight feet tall. It glared at me so I raised my hands backing away from the grizzly to make it seem I was a bigger threat than I was and kept on backing up from the thing. 

. The bear got on all fours and made a grunting noise as it started to pick up speed toward me. I started to run as I felt like the bear was not going back down.  It was a spur of the moment decision that seemed correct during the time, but it caught up and smacked me to the ground with a swipe of its paw knocking all of the air out of me as its head hovered over my face about to clamp down on my throat until something flashed above my head and then suddenly a foot and half spine -- like from a porcupine -- was lodged into the bear skull as it toppled onto me. 

I squirmed my way out from underneath the bear corpse as I ran in the opposite direction from the thing that might have done it and my spine quivered as its victory cry echoed from behind like a horrid mixture between a lion roar and an eagle screech.

I couldn’t stop as my legs refused to stop as a primal sort of fear powered me back to the mouth of the cave I came out from which looked like a haven from whatever that thing behind me was. I wouldn’t even stop as I went past those strange markings again as I continued to haul it to a large opening in the wall and decide to hide in there.

As I caught my breath I realized how large the area was; it was slightly bigger than a football stadium with a small oval-shaped rock peeking out of the middle of the area, with the illuminating crystals surrounding the cave made the rock seem like some sort of centerpiece.

 I walked over to it and sat against it and breathed deeply trying to catch my bearings, then a ludicrous idea came to my head. It sort of made sense. At least it would have to, otherwise, I’m crazy. So the conclusion I came to is that I have been isekai-ed.

It sounds so stupid but there is no rational way I can explain it even if I exclude the whole falling into a well and ending up in a river that runs through a cave. I'm pretty sure that grizzly bears do not live in the Midwest of The United States and I’m certain that whatever killed the bear is not something from planet earth. My hair stood on end as I realized I would need to try it at least once to see if it happened. So I stood up and held out my right arm with my palm facing outward and said, “ Status!” Nothing happened except for my voice echoing across the cave. Welp that was dumb, luckily nobody saw that.

Means that I don’t have an ungodly cheat that kick-starts an adventure that makes my character seem bland and one-dimensional like every generic isekai protagonist. I was pretty certain I also wasn’t summoned by some sort of kingdom or theocracy to slay *insert generic demon lord name here*.

I leaned back against the rock and calmed myself down, and then it hit me. If I’ve been sent to another world does that mean I’ll never go back? My mom and dad might get worried and I might never get to see them again. My chest suddenly felt very tight and yet very empty all of the sudden in a way that was hard to explain. I felt so many things at once like guilt, sadness, anger, and frustration. All of these things hit and my head felt dizzy.

I think I need to get some fresh air, so I took a step outside the cavern and out of the cave; knelt by the creek and scooped up some water, and washed the grime off my face. I took a deep breath and noticed that the cloud cover was gone and the sun was finally high enough in the sky where I could sit in the sunshine and get warm, so I took off my shoes, shirt, and socks to let them dry off.