I was pulled along after the old man. His grip was surprisingly firm for someone who looked to be in their 80s. I did not struggle as he took the lead and pulled me through a confusing mess of roads. It seemed like he knew where he was going, and that seemed to be a good thing considering how confused I was. I know my mom and grandma always warned me about following strange men, but they are not around anymore, and I don’t have anyone else to follow, so this grandpa seems like the best option right now.

  We kept working our way down streets at not quite a run, but more than a walk. The people alone our way either jumped out of our way or yelled at us for getting in their way. I couldn't figure out what they were trying to say, but their tone made it clear they weren't happy with us.

  We slowed down from our quick pace, which I really appreciated. I had been in Time Out for so long that any running seemed like an incredible thing. I loved it, but I could not do it for very long without getting super tired. I remember before when I would go to the park, I could run for hours, and would always be devastated when we had to go home.

  The strange old man who was leading me had a limp. I guess we were the same because I had a limp, since my bad foot couldn't support my weight when I put all my weight on it. We were walking along a river, on what seemed like a trail or a park. I really loved looking at all the green that was surrounding us. I had not seen green like this in years.

  I wanted to try climbing a tree, as I used to when I was smaller, but when I went to climb it, my arm was yanked. It seemed like an old man was holding my hand tightly as we walked through the park. I was not sure who this old man was, but I really wanted to climb a tree, so I tried to get him to let go of my arm. When I tried to pull my arm away, he started talking to me in some crazy language.

  “We are not out of danger yet. We need to find somewhere safe to hide for a while. The Falcons have way too much power in this town for you to act carelessly.”

  I had no idea why someone from a different country was holding onto my hand with some sort of death grip. Despite my struggles, I could not seem to get him to let me go.

  “What is wrong with you, kid? I am just trying to get you somewhere where not every eye in the world is tracking your every movement.”

  I still could not get him to let me go, and now he was starting to yell at me in his gibberish way.

  “Holy Shit. What has gotten into you? When did you turn into a feral raccoon? You look scared. Did I do something to scare you?”

  I finally broke free of his grip, and I did my best to run away from him. I made it to a tree and tried climbing it. I know my Grandma never climbed the trees after me, even if I got too scared to climb down. When that happened, she would send my Brother up after me to help me find the way out of the tree.

  I worked on climbing the tree for a bit. It was way harder than I remembered. It felt like I weighed ten times more than I did when I was littler. I finally hauled myself up onto the first branch and decided to look out and see everything from my higher location.

  I could see so much green. A river flowed along beside a bunch of huge trees. I could see there was a city on the other side of the river. There were a few people walking along a path that was not far from my tree. There was even an old man. He seemed to be looking right at me. I was confused because I did not know this man. Was he just really impressed with my climbing skills?

  He seemed like he was waiting for something, so I decided to wave at him. He looked at me with a weird look on his face. I was not sure what that meant. I wonder if I was not supposed to be in this tree or something. He did not seem angry, so I decided to keep climbing. I was only on the first branch, and I wanted to get even higher.

  I ended up getting a couple of branches higher in the tree. I looked out over what seemed like a huge park. I could see so much of the area around the park. It seemed like I was in a big patch of green with massive trees. Then, beyond the big trees, there were even larger buildings that towered over the park on all sides.

  My head started hurting like ants were chewing on the inside of my head as I looked around me. Did that blue screen make my head hurt? How do I make it turn off? I felt something detach from me and float off into the void. The pain seemed to be going along with that thing. I did not know what it was, but I thought it was important to make sure I got it back.

  I kept looking around me, the world I was now in, and I started feeling so small. I did not know how I got here. I did not want to miss Time Out, but I felt lost in a world too big for me. I wanted to get down from this tree and find a small place. The longer I spent in the open, the more expansive it felt. I did not know if it was possible, but it seemed like I might fall up into the sky and get lost forever. Maybe I was in Time Out for too long, maybe I am not meant for big open spaces anymore.

  I managed to get to the ground without falling. I lay down on the ground face-first and smelled the dirt. It was something that I had not smelled in a long time. It smelled like I was outside gardening with Grandma. It smelled like spring when I would get flowers for Mama for Mother’s Day. I just needed to smell it for a second to feel like everything was alright again.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  When I took my nose out of the soil, I ended up smelling something mouthwatering a few inches from my face. I dug down a few inches into the soil and ended up with a small pebble in my hand. It was small enough to fit in my mouth like a piece of gum. I started sucking on it, but that did not seem like enough, so I ended up swallowing it whole.

  “What did they do to you, kid? You are digging around in the dirt, eating rocks like it is the tastiest treat in the whole world.”

  I was surprised to find an old man sitting on the ground near me, mumbling comforting nonsense to me as I tried to sit up. I did not know what he wanted, but his voice seemed kind. It had been a long time since I had heard a kind voice. I tried to think back, and I could only remember being in Time Out … how did I get here? My brother had been kind to us for a while while we were in Time Out.

  I wanted to see my brother, but he was somewhere I could not find him. I wonder if Carlos was thinking of me, too?

  I wonder what this old man wants. I should ask him.

  “Partes drogonder for satty blargs?”

  The old man looked at me for a second, like he could not understand me. I was guessing he might be confused about what I was asking. Following up on my last question, I tried to clarify the context so he knew why I was asking.

  “Flargen stomps, borky larn slipens fargod silian forkes”

  “Child, I think you have some pretty serious brain damage. This is not something that I can fix, but I can at least show you somewhere safe to stay the night.”

  I finally understood why he was not understanding me. We did not even speak the same language. I could try drawing something on the ground to help him understand what I wanted from him.

  I found a stick and drew an arrow towards him so that he knew that I was asking him the question. I was not sure how to draw “want”, so I just drew a heart because it seemed the closest to anything that I could come up with, then finally I drew an arrow at me, then shrugged so that he knew it was a question.

  He looked down at my drawing and nodded. I knew it wasn't a yes-or-no question, so I gave him the stick and pointed to the ground so he could show me what he wanted.

  He drew a picture of a house, then 2 people outside the house, and then drew arrows from me and him pointing at the people. After he drew the arrows, he took the stick and drew smiling faces on both people's faces.

  “I want to take you somewhere safe so that you can be happy.”

  I had no idea why he was talking so slowly. It was not like I could ever understand a different language, no matter how slow he spoke.

  I tried to understand what he meant based on the picture. I was guessing that he wanted to take me to my house, so we could be happy. Did I have a house? … I guess if he knew where it was, that would be okay. I nodded to him.

  “Great, we are almost there anyway. I am not sure what made you panic in the first place. All I know is that anything that fucks with the Falcon’s is something that I want to do. I know they want you real bad for some reason.”

  He was talking to himself, I guess, while he led me along after him. I am not sure why he thought it necessary to hold my hand the whole time he was bringing me to my house. I did like watching the river. It reminded me of when I went fishing. Carlos was going to play at a friend's house who had a house on the river. Mama told him that he could not go unless I was allowed to go too. I got to go, and they showed us how to fish on the river. I spent hours out there hoping to catch something as the other two boys did, but I never could get the fish on the hook.

  This was a much larger river I was walking along. Who was with me walking here, though? I did not recognize this old man. I should probably stop following him. I did not know him, and he might be mean. I planted my feet and stopped us in place on the trail that we were walking on.

  “What is it now? I don’t have time for you to go and climb another fucking tree.”

  Oh, great, he was speaking in gibberish. I guess it made sense given the clothes he was wearing. It looked like he had 5 layers on, and each was dirtier than the last.

  “Tesned borgendop ringers andreswap?”

  He handed me a stick and pointed at the ground. I was just asking him where he was taking me, and now he wanted me to draw in the dirt. I guess if I wanted to get anything across to this lunatic, that might be the best way.

  I tried drawing our hands holding, put in an arrow, and then shrugging afterward to make it clear I was asking where he was dragging me to.

  “Why are we holding hands? Do you remember anything about what we already talked about? Holy Shit, you don’t. Do you? Not only do you have Wernicke's aphasia, but you also have Anterograde amnesia. I don’t know why I am even trying. Fuck it, my years as a psychologist were not for nothing.”

  It seemed like he might have made up his own language. I guess if you get crazy enough, you might be capable of anything. I tried walking away, and he let me.

  I watched him for a bit to make sure he was actually leaving. Once he went around the bend, I figured I was safe. I was not sure what I was scared of, though. I am not sure where I am. I was in a park near the base of a bridge going over the river that was right next to me. I did smell something tasty nearby, though. I got on my hands and knees and started sniffing around for what smelled so good.

  It turned out to be a few rusty nuts that had ended up buried nearby. I was able to dig them up. Not knowing why, I decided I needed to put them in my mouth. They were a bit too big and rough to swallow, but I just decided to suck on them for a while.

  I was sitting near the place I had just found the nuts when an odd old man came around the bend in the path. He had a smile on his face, and he waved me over to him. The man took out a piece of paper and showed me a simple picture that he had drawn. There was a young boy with a hole where one of his eyes used to be. I guess that was me. Then there was another person who looked like the old man. The picture showed them walking under the bridge to a hole in the wall.

  The meaning was clear: the old man wanted to go somewhere under the bridge with me, but I was not sure if I wanted to go with him. He took out a second picture. This time, the two same people were in the hole, but there were lots of people with guns shooting each other outside the hole.

  I decided to follow the man to this hole; it looked like a safe place to go.