*Pant... Pant... Pant... Pant... Pant... Pant... Pant...* "Why... It was going smoothly the past few days, but why now? What is this thing?" he cursed, his breath ragged as he sprinted through the dense forest. He didn't dare look back, just kept running. How many hours had it been since then? He didn't know, but he had to get away. That thing was beyond terrifying, and it smiled—it freakin' smiled. Did it find pleasure in this? "I don't want to die, noooo!"
A few months ago on Earth, Henry was making his way to a campsite, chatting with his father on the phone. "I know, I'll get along with Happiness, but I'm not making any promises," he said, ending the call. Every year, he went camping with his cousins, a tradition passed down from their grandparents. This year was different, though. Henry's business, which he ran with his little brother, had started booming, and he had the money to show it. His camping gear alone was different from last year's. He had a surprise for his family and wanted to arrive first at the camp to surprise them with the latest camping stuff. He had everything in the trailer hooked up to his car. As he drove, Henry hummed along to some music, taking a left turn as he entered the campsite. He parked his car, got out, and took a big gulp of air, savoring the feel of being outdoors. "This weekend is going to be fun," he said with a big smile, stretching his hands.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, his vision turned dark. He didn't understand what had just happened. He turned around but didn't see a thing. It didn't feel like he went blind—no, this was more like the lights were turned off. He tried to walk, feeling with his hands, and touched something cold and metallic. Could it be? No, he was certain this was his car. He reached for his pockets and felt his car keys. He took them out, holding them firmly because if he dropped them, he'd be too late. He used his fingers to feel out the buttons, then remembered—why not take out his phone instead? He reached into his other pocket, took out his phone, and unlocked it. The light from his phone only illuminated his face. As he turned on the flashlight, he was struck with even greater confusion. "Am I inside a cave?" he wondered. He looked around, and this feeling was further strengthened. This indeed felt like a cave. He unlocked his car, got inside, and turned on the lights to see ahead. Lo and behold, it was a dead end. A couple of feet from where the car was, was the end of this cave. "Huh," Henry noticed something odd. The top of this cave was pitch black. He stepped out of the car and used his phone's flashlight to scope the walls of the cave. There was this weird pitch-black thing on the ceiling of the cave. It was shrinking, Henry realized. Noticing this, he quickly checked as he stepped on his car to see at the far back, and his theory gained more weight. This thing was probably big enough to swallow him and his car, dropping him here. Already, this sounded crazy. Was he teleported by this? Anyway, if it was true, then it would make sense. He quickly climbed to the top of his car and tried to jump up through the pitch-black thing, but as he did so, he couldn't reach the other side. He jumped and got inside, where he was surrounded by pitch-black darkness. It felt like time itself was still until he suddenly fell back down. He did this a few more times, but it was hopeless. He wasn't able to jump high enough, or maybe that timeless feel when he was inside was a force preventing him from going back. "Damn it, at this rate it'll vanish, and I'll be stuck here, wherever this is," he said. He didn't care nor want to know where he was, but he wanted to go back home. He went in and took a rope, throwing one end of it inside the hole. The rope didn't come back. He then tugged on it until it fell back in. Although he wasn't certain, he thought of weighing the end of the rope he'd throw so he could climb out. But there was a problem—what would hold his weight, and yet he could throw to reach the other side? Screaming for help didn't do anything, and throwing random things to alert someone on the other either. Now Henry was at a loss. Why waste his resources if he wouldn't be able to escape anyway? These things could help him survive for a while. Maybe he could even be... A cold breeze came in, making Henry shiver. He quickly went inside the car, turned it off, and went into the trailer. Well, at least he brought a trailer with him. He'd sleep comfortably. As he jumped into the blankets, it was better now, accepting that he couldn't escape through that weird hole. He succumbed to the tiredness that overwhelmed him as he dozed off.
With a big yawn, Henry woke up, stretching his hands. He checked the time on his phone—it said six-thirty PM. He was surprised how well he slept, even though things weren't looking good. Anyway, as he got out of the trailer, it wasn't as dark now. There was a hint of sunlight coming in, enough for Henry to know where to find the exit of the cave. As he went out to take a peek, he was completely held back as his jaw dropped. What he saw was astonishingly beautiful, but for that moment only. The small vegetation on the ground glowed yellow, red, and orange. The shrubs had flowers that were glowing and, not to mention, looked beautiful. The trees were big. This wasn't his campsite, let alone his country. In fact, there was no place like this on Earth. "Wait a minute," he said, his face turning from admiration of the scene to worry. He just saw briefly up in the sky a bird—a giant bird, a giant unrecognizable blue bird wrapped with blue flames. The bird was of fire. Henry calmly turned back, went back inside the cave, entered his trailer, and hid in his blankets.
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