You take a few steps back, measuring the distance in your head and trying to decide exactly when you'll need to make the jump.
Then you throw yourself forward, going as fast as you can before leaping over the swamp. For one glorious, terrifying moment, you're airborne, seeing the dark marsh pass beneath you…and your feet skid over solid ground. You stumble, but you make it. You're on the other side.
After taking a moment to collect yourself, you look back behind you.
Look Back
There's nothing there: no wall, no thorns, and no swamp. In the handful of seconds that you had your back turned, they somehow melted into the ether.
If, you're forced to consider, they were ever really there to begin with.
You slide your schoolbag off your shoulder, checking inside to make sure its contents are still intact. There's not much in there, to tell the truth. Apart from some forms to hand over, plus some spare cash and a couple of novels, there's only a parting gift from your parents. They were nice enough to let you pick, and you chose: