2 A New Life

In a forest, slumped against a tree, lay the body of a young boy seemingly between the age of thirteen to fourteen years old.

His eyes were closed, as he seemed to be in a peaceful slumber. The first rays of sunshine breached the treetops, cascading down, highlighting the boys youthful features.

His eyes trembled and gradually opened. With a confused look on his face, the boy hurriedly used his hands to feel his legs, arms, and finally his face.

'I'm alive? How is this possible?' Thought Daniel Gray.

The last thing he remembered was the pain and agony of losing his body piece by piece. Just recalling the memory caused him to shake in fear.

As he tried to organize his thoughts, he looked down at his hands, and gasped in surprise. His hands were small and thin, like the hands of a young boy. Feeling confused, he quickly got onto his feet, and realized that his vision of the world was different as well. Everything seemed slightly larger, such as the tree's and even the bushes. Recognizing that the things around him weren't actually larger, meant that he was now shorter than he used to be.

Daniel was able to put the clues together, and realized that his body had become young or he now somehow possessed the body of a young boy. He would not be able to figure this out, until he could find a reflective surface and see his appearance.

Not fretting on something he was unable to control, he decided that the best thing he can do now, is figure out where he is, and search for some food and water. After he managed to ensure his basic needs of survival, he could question the impossible situation he finds himself in.

Looking around, Daniel could only see green trees. On one such tree he found some moss growing on the bark. He recalled how moss had a tendency to grow facing north away from direct sunlight. With this, Daniel decided that he would head north.

Daniel walked while paying close attention to his surroundings. He was alone in an unknown forest. He did not know which animals made this ecosystem their home. One misstep could bring disaster down upon himself.

He walked at a slow but steady pace for about fifteen minutes, until he noticed the trees and bushes thinning out ahead.

As he got close to the last bush in the forest, he was able to make out some voices carried along the wind.

Daniel slowly moved the leaves of the bush so that he could see what was happening. About fifty meters away were three teenagers talking and laughing while occasionally tapping the air in front of their eyes.

The three girls seemed to be around the same age and were wearing school uniforms. Each girl was rather unique in appearance. One was quite tall at around 5ft 8inches and had dark blood colored hair. The girl next to her was very petite looking rather young compared to her friends. She had light green hair and barely passes 5 feet in height. The last girl seemed normal as he had long black hair, was neither tall nor short. If you didn't see her eyes you would assume she was a normal, but very beautiful, teenage girl. Her eyes were completely black without any white whatsoever.

The tall red head grumbled to her two friends, "Why do we have to be here? This simulation is so gross. I hate the woods."

The petite girl with green hair continued tapping the air in front of her while replying, "Sarah stop complaining. You're so annoying. Why can't you be more like Julie and not talk."

Sarah flicked her long red hair behind her back and said, "Lily don't be so harsh, If I was a big moper like Julie you would never get to hear my amazing singing voice."

Sarah then went on to show her "talent" in singing, causing Lily to put her hands over her ears and run and hide behind Julie.

While the three friends were playing around, Daniel was spying on them trying to piece together some useful information.

'Three girls, all with unique physical characteristics. Each wearing matching clothing. A school or academy of some kind? All speaking English. The one named Sarah used the word simulation, meaning artificially created environment? Lastly, these girls are constantly tapping on the air. This could be personal virtual device functioning as a cell phone? It seems that I can conclude that the technology is far ahead of Earth. It seems I need to learn more information. Interesting!'

As Lily was using Julies body as a human shield to protect her from Sarah's ultimate singing attack, a bush in the distance was pushed aside stopping their playing. All three girls turned to see a teenage boy step out from the bush.

Daniel decided that to know more about his situation he would have to take a slight risk and talk to these girls. He slowly walked out of the bush while making enough noise so that it would draw their attention.

He walked towards them until he was about fifteen feet away, raised his hand and waved at them, "Hello".

The three girls all looked at the teenage boy with weird looks on their faces. Sarah was the first to break the silence and said, "Do you think he's apart of the simulation? Maybe we will get bonus points if we capture him!"

Lily shook her head and replied, "No, this is just a basic wilderness survival course. There should only be small animals in the program."

"Yeah true. But he doesn't have our academy uniform and i've never seen him in class before. I think we should capture him. Plus he's kind of cute. Look he's making Julie blush!" Said Sarah as she pointed towards the pale girl with black eyes, who was definitely not blushing.

Lily touched her finger to her chin and stuck out a thinking poise. "Hmm You're right. Julie clearly has a huge crush on him. For her future happiness we need to capture him even if it costs us your life."

As Sarah and Lily were about to start another epic fight between themselves, Daniel cleared his throat to regain their attention. "Ladies, I seemed to somehow gotten myself stuck in this simulation. Do you know the way out?"

The three girls calmed down and finally started to take the situation seriously. Sarah gave Daniel a stern look and said, "Who are you?"

Daniel smiled, trying to make himself seem harmless, "My name is Daniel. Do you mind answering my question?"

"Well Daniel, my name is Sarah, that's Lily, and the loud obnoxious girl is Julie" Said Sarah as she pointed at the two girls next to her.

"This forest that we are currently in is a holographic computer simulation for a wilderness survival course. You can leave in about fifteen minutes, that's when the simulation ends." Explained Sarah as she walked towards Daniel. "So Daniel how did a cute little boy like you get to a place like this?" Asked Sarah.

Daniel didn't want explain the weird circumstances that led him to come to this place so he said, "I'm not really sure how I got here. One moment I just woke up in this forest."

Sarah gave Daniel a doubtful look and seemed about to question him further, when Lily interjected, "Stop grilling him Sarah. He looks scared. You might make him cry." Lily pushed Sarah out of the way and took Daniel's hands into hers, "Come with me. I'll protect you from that bully. You can sit with me until the end of the simulation, then we can find your parents."

Sarah made a sound of annoyance and mumbled, "If you have a crush on him you don't have to make it so obvious. It's pretty rude since Julie called dibs first."

While Sarah was brooding, Lily took Daniel towards a log and had him sit down next to her. Daniel felt a little awkward being treated like a little boy by a girl who was mentally younger than him and shorter than him by a good margin. However, he quickly pushed those feelings away and asked, "Why are you all taking a wilderness survival class?"

Daniel was curious about this because even back on earth in his time, few people would do wilderness activities, let alone in this place that has higher technology.

Lily got a look of longing on her face as she said, "Of course to train before entering the Tower. Us three are going to enter soon! I can't wait to see what my innate talent will be? Maybe I'll control the rain or read minds!" As Lily spoke you could tell she was super excited.

Daniel was very confused. He thought that this was perhaps a high technological world, but now this girl was talking about supernatural powers. Waving his hand in front of Lily's face, Daniel regained her attention and asked, "What's this Tower?"

Lily's face showed a look of shock at his question. Before she could answer, Sarah plopped down next to him and said, "Where are you from exactly? Were you born under a rock? Or maybe you're mentally disabled?"

Daniel was getting annoyed by Sarah's snarky behavior so he ignored her and looked towards Lily for an answer.

Lily was able to calm herself and replied, "I don't want to be mean Daniel, but how have you not heard of the Tower? It's like saying you have never seen water. The Tower is of the greatest importance to our very existence!"

Not wanting to make himself seem so suspicious for not understanding the basics of the world he said, "I don't really remember anything about myself or where I am. I just know that my name is Daniel Grey. Can you explain everything to me?"

Lily's big eyes seemed to tear up and she grabbed his hands into hers, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll remember eventually. This is a long story and the simulation is about to end. You can come with us back to my parent's house and I'll explain everything there."

Daniel looked down and contemplated his options. He's in an unfamiliar Timeline/World/Future without an identity or knowledge. He looked up and smiled at Lily, "That would be great! Thank you very much."

Just as Sarah was about to make a sarcastic comment a mechanical voice spread throughout the forest, "Simulation ending in 10, 9 .... 3, 2, 1"

With a flash of light the forest disappeared and the environment changed into a large white room that seemed endless. On the ground arrows were flashing towards a door that read exit. Lily grabbed Daniel's left hand and dragged him to the door with Sarah and Julie following behind.

Daniel took in a deep breath and exhaled as he walked through the door. This is the start of a new life and he couldn't wait to see where it leads.