Remember the Rules

Rule #1: Stay Away From People

When you're in Neverland, try to avoid people. Especially people named Peter Pan.

"Welcome home, Uriel. We'll see you soon."

I woke up, breathing hard.

"Where am I?" I asked nobody in particular. "Who am I?"

I looked around and saw a forest. Just a forest, nothing fancy or abnormal about it. I had been lying down on a little bed of leaves. I remembered the voice with yellow eyes saying, "Welcome home, Uriel."

How could this place be considered home, though? Who drops a girl in the middle of the woods with no memory of who or where they are and thinks they'll consider it home?

Yeah, you heard me. Girl. Yes, Uriel is a boy name, and yes, I am a girl. I would explain it to you, but wait, I don't remember!

Anyway, I checked my supplies as soon as I was sure that there was no one around to bother me.

"Just like I thought," I sighed. I didn't have anything in the way of food, water, or clothes. Just a spiral notebook and... "Is that a knife or a sword?" I muttered, even though I already knew. It was a steel hunting knife the length of my forearm, and it was wickedly sharp.

Well, there's that, I thought, setting it aside and checking the book out. I would need to figure out how to use the knife later.

The first page of the book said Be careful what you wish for. It had a sketch of two stars at the bottom of the page. The next page said Rule #1: When you're in Neverland, try to avoid people. Especially people named Peter Pan.

Peter Pan? What the hell? What kind of a name is that? And what's Neverland? Is that where I am? I thought. I wasn't sure I could trust this book, but for the moment it was all I had. I started to look through the rest of the book when my stomach growled. I hadn't eaten in... however long I'd been passed out. The page I'd stopped on had something about some plant called Dreamshade, and how I should stay away from it.

"Alright, no Dreamshade. I do need food, though." I stood up and shook out my legs, trying to wake them up. When I was stable, I grabbed the book and knife and delved deeper into the forest. About twenty minutes of mindless wandering later, I stumbled upon a clearing full of berry bushes. There was no sign of any Dreamshade (there was a sketch in the book), but there were some strawberries and blackberries. I instinctively stayed away from the strawberries.

Maybe I'm allergic.

I pricked myself repeatedly on the thorns, but managed to get enough blackberries to stop my stomach from growling so much. As I tried to pry another one loose, I heard leaves rustling and branches snapping.

Someone's coming.

I hid in the blackberry bushes, ignoring the thorns and branches pulling on my hair and clothes. As the noises got closer, I heard two boys talking.

"--Come on, Felix. He could be anywhere!"

"Well then I guess we're searching everywhere, aren't we Sammy? Because Pan's orders were to find the new boy and bring him home, and we follow Pan's orders," another boy snapped.

I peered at them between the branches. The angry one- Felix? -was a little older, with blonde hair. The other one was brunette and a few inches shorter.

They kept arguing as they walked through the clearing and disappeared into the trees again. I let out a breath and got up, dusting myself off and not at all expecting to have a boy in a green shirt hold a knife to my throat with a grin.