Chapter 1: Stuck

Stuck. When you feel as if you're trapped and can't do what you want to do. But stuck doesn't always mean physically does it? You can be mentally stuck and feel like there's no way out when in fact there is a door right in front of you. That was how she felt. Like she had to stay despite the fact that she could easily leave.

The sun crept in through the large glass windows creating a sauna-like affect in the room. Ira Wales stared out at the summer weather that she was currently missing out on. She sighed and glanced over at her great grandpa who was seemingly asleep, though honestly he could be dead for all she could tell. She stared at him for moment then saw the distinct movement of his chest rising and falling. She let out a sigh of relief, even if he was a pain sometimes, that didn't mean he deserved to die. She turned her attention back to the glass. All she longed to do was go outside, hang out, enjoy herself, it was summer break after all. But alas she had to look after her crazy old great grandpa who barely did anything other than sleep anyway, well that and tell ridiculous stories that made no sense.

"This sucks…" Ira muttered to herself as she rested her chin on her hand.

"Lila dear..." She jumped and turned to see her great grandpa had woken up.

"Eh it's Ira," She corrected him, Lila was her mother's name.

"Lila dear did I tell you about my father?" He continued.

"Yes... many times..." Ira let out a sigh.

"Well my father used to hunt evil beings, can you guess what they were?"

"Vampires?" She replied, knowing full well that was the answer.

"Yes, you're a very smart girl Lila." He smiled.

"Well go on then..." Ira leaned back in her chair, knowing that his story might take a while.

"Okay dearie, when I was just ten years old there was a big fight between the hunters and the vampires, my father was very brave and took out many of those horrible blood-thirsty creatures," he laughed slightly, "I still remember the blood splatters and the screams."

Ira shivered at the gruesome image that popped into her head.

"There were very few survivors on the other side and they had fled, we tried to find them for so long but they were too well hidden and..." He yawned, "Don't ever trust a vampire..." Ira heard the sounds of snores and looked over to see that he had fallen asleep again.

"Well that was fast," Ira muttered.

She turned her attention back outside and impatiently tapped her foot on the wood flooring. "What the hell am I waiting for?" She asked herself before standing up and pulling out her phone. She took a deep breath and gave her great grandpa a glance before stepping to the other room. She dialed a phone number and raised the phone to her ear.

After her phone call she peaked back in on her great grandpa where soft snores were still heard. She sighed in relief and took a seat once again. Why did her parents never take her with them? Why was she always the one that had to be left alone while they went on fun adventures to other continents doing who knows what. "I wonder where they are," she muttered to herself. Last she remembered they were in South Africa but for all she knew they could be in Asia by now. She leaned back in her chair and awaited as patiently as she could for her guest.

She heard knocking on the door which turned into vigorous knocking after a few seconds. She stood up out of her chair and walked over, turning the doorknob. She opened the door to a short blonde haired girl with a pair of glasses covering her annoyed expression.

"Hello Lana," Ira smiled.

"What do you want?" Lana asked irritably.

"What'd you mean 'what do I want'?" Ira questioned.

"You called me randomly telling me it was incredibly important and that I must come over immediately so," Lana took a deep breath. "What do you want?" She repeated, enunciating every syllable.

"I want to…" Ira paused, "Be free."

"Oh and that's an emergency? What? is a ninety year old man holding you hostage? You can't leave and you shall be forever forced to listen to none sense." Lana replied sarcastically.

"Wow, yeah that's exactly it I'm glad you're such a good friend and can read my mind," Ira stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "Now come on let's go," she wrapped an arm around Lana and lead her down the front steps.

"Ira… this is probably the tenth time you've called me saying it's an emergency when it really REALLY is not. So where are we going anyway?..."

Ira smiled, "To the woods we go."

"Oh hell no, I am not going in there let me go I'm going home, I have things to do, Books to read, and places to be where I don't die a horrible death." Lana pulled herself away and walked in the opposite direction.

"Nope not this time," Ira grabbed the back of Lana's shirt to stop her.

"Let me go," Lana growled.

"Please?" Ira begged.

"Nope," Lana said firmly, crossing her arms.

"Oh come on Lana you can't spend your whole life being scared of everything."

There was a moment of silence and Ira gave Lana a pleading face.

"Fine I'll go into your-" Lana paused as to think of a good word, "Stupid woods."

"Yay!" Ira celebrated and held Lana's arm leading her into the woods.

"This is the absolute dumbest idea you've ever come up with and that's saying a lot," Lana grumbled, but kept walking in the direction of the dense woods that seemed to forever have a dark cloud hanging over them.

As they stepped over the first tree root the air suddenly was filled with an ominous chill. Ira felt a shiver run through her but kept her mind optimistic as she was finally out of that dreadful situation. After all, who wanted to spend their entire summer looking after their crazy great grandpa while their parents went out on adventures who knows where and probably were having the times of their lives.

"Why is it so cold?... it was literally just hot and sunny two seconds ago," Lana rubbed her hands on her arms to ease the chill.

"No clue," Ira replied but kept marching through the dense trees, hopping over roots as she went.

"Wait up!" Lana exclaimed.

Ira heard a thud and looked over to see that Lana had tripped over a particularly large tree root, "That looks like it hurt," She remarked and walked over to help Lana up.

"Thanks…" Lana replied as Ira pulled her to her feet.

"Ew what's that?" Ira asked as she felt a green gook on Lana's palms. She pulled her hands away and examined them. She raised a hand to her face and smelled it. It gave off the smell of damp. Was damp a smell? No it smelled like wet dirt. Mud? Yeah it smelled like mud but mix some smell of green into that.

"It's moss… but wet and it's everywhere," Lana tried her best to wipe the green sludge off of her hands onto a tree.

Ira wiped the moss onto her pants and kept walking. Though her foot got stuck after approximately three steps. She yanked her foot but the best it did was give off a glob sound. "Crap, Lana help me my foot is stuck," She proclaimed once again attempting to yank her foot out.

"Try taking your shoe off," Lana suggested.

"What? No way! These are authentic Timberland boots!" Ira blurted out.

"We can get it out after, now just take your shoe out of the boot," Lana repeated.

Ira took a deep breath before reaching down and unlacing the boot. She eased her foot out of the boot successfully. "What do I put my foot on?..." Ira asked as she looked around for anything that wasn't dirty or covered in bugs to put her foot down on.

"Just hold tight for a second," Lana stepped around her and leaned down and yanked Ira's boot out with a bit of effort before finally freeing the yellow boot that now looked dark brown. She sat it down next to Ira's other foot.

"Oh thank god," Ira remarked as she slipped her socked foot into the muddy shoe.

"I'm starting to think you care about your boots more than your own wellbeing…" Lana muttered.

Ira spun around to face Lana, "So~ speaking of shoes… how are you surviving in old worn out sneakers?" she asked turning her gaze down to Lana's shoes which were rugged and colored a dusty pink that was mostly hidden by the mud coating the bottoms.

"Oh sorry I didn't wear two hundred dollar boots into a disgusting forest that we'll probably die in," Lana rolled her eyes before turning to keep moving forward.

"Okay then sorry for asking," Ira followed behind her and kept quiet as they continued walking along the path. Well that is if it was a path or if it was just an area that was slightly less cluttered with deadly bushes and enormous trees.

Lana froze causing Ira to bump into the back of her, "What?" Ira questioned, glancing over Lana's shoulder.

"I thought I heard-" Lana began to say before shaking her head. "Never mind let's just keep walking." She grabbed Ira's hand and kept moving, maybe a little bit slower than before.

The trees swayed and the wind picked up yet they kept marching on. Or- In Lana's case, begrudgingly hiking along.