“What's going on?”

 

Lied was on a rickety boat in the middle of a swampy lake. She couldn't see anything past the thick and hazy fog surrounding the area. She immediately noticed her hands were tied up. Biting her lip, she attempted moving her wrists, trying to figure out the strength of the rope. The more she pulled, the more painful it was to her wrists, so she stopped resisting. With her teeth, she tried chewing and biting it away, but the rope tasted like acrid mildew, and was too tough to gnaw through anyway. She spit into the lake, and rubbed her tongue against her thin windbreaker to remove the bitter taste from her mouth.

 

“What's going on?!” she yelled, praying someone would hear her. Her voice echoed throughout the entire lake. “Is anyone there?! I'm stuck in the middle of this lake!”

 

Even if her hands were free, there were still no oars, and one slight movement could cause her to slip, and fall into the murky water below her. By sight, she couldn't tell how deep the water was, but Lied didn't want to find out the hard way. She couldn't physically swim after a recent injury to her knee.

 

The panic attack started. Lied was started to get dizzy from the pungent smell that was messing with her mind. It smelled like rotting fish and mold blended together. No matter how hard she tired, she couldn't recall how she ended up there, or the last thing she did before. A thousand theories disturbing theories were circling her mind, but she couldn't prove or disprove any of them. All Lied knew was she wanted to leave, and she was unable to. She didn't want to spend a single minute longer in that unstable boat.

 

The boat began to rock back and forth, and water seeped through tiny holes in the bottom. Again, she tugged at her wrists. “Come on, you stupid rope, get off my hands!” she growled through her teeth. She sighed when her efforts were once again nothing but futile. “Why isn't this working?! Where even am I?!”

 

She closed her eyes, hoping when she opened them, everything would go back to normal.

 

 

“Hey Lied! You're new here aren't you? I'm Rayne! Whoa, you're just as short as they say! Why are you sitting by yourself? Come with me, and I'll show you all around the school, and all the secret hideouts!”

 

Lied could feel herself being engulfed by the cold sea. Muddy water filled her lungs, choking her throat. She started to kick her legs, hoping she could swim back to the capsized boat, but her entire left leg was heavy, and wouldn't move even with the adrenaline flowing through her. More bitter water continued to enter her lungs. In a matter of time, with only one movable leg, and no hands to paddle, she knew she would drown.

 

“HELP ME! I CAN'T SWIM!” she rasped, splashing around in the water. The gushing water prevented her voice from being amplified. She tried to stay afloat, hoping someone, anyone, would help her. “I DON'T WANT TO DIE!” She thrust her body towards the boat, but the waves caused it to drift further away from her slippery grasp. Her sight was still obstructed because of the hazy fog, but she thought she heard laughter coming from one direction.

 

In a single moment, the fog cleared up, and the dock became visible. Lied saw actual people there. A large spark of hope flared inside of her, and she screamed with all of her might, spitting back the disgusting water as she struggled in the waves, praying she would catch their eyes. They all stared at the drowning girl with frosty glares. One started to laugh, and the others joined the ringleader. They pointed their fingers at her, and held their stomachs from their crude guffawing.

 

“PLEASE HELP ME!” Lied cried, as she felt her life at its grand finale. Her leg couldn't kept her body above the water much longer. Her energy was reaching its limit.

 

Then they all walked away, leaving Lied to die alone in the icy lake.

 

“Wow...You really suck at this.”

 

It was the voice of a boy. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a boy flying around the capsized boat. Lied had no time to question this peculiarity. She cried to him, with a drop of hope that maybe he would help her. At that moment, all of her strength was drained to the last dtop. Her body went limp, and she started plunging into the depths below.

 

The boy dived into the lake after her, and grabbed her by the legs, pulling her body out of the lake, and chucked her onto the dock, face first.

 

“Get up.”

 

Lied's entire body went numb. She was coughing up water and spewed out blood, all while shivering from lack of heat. Her eyes were sore and red as she struggled to open them.

 

The floating boy poked her with a stick that he picked up on the dock. “I said, GET UP! Did water enter your ears as well?”

 

Lied still couldn't open her eyes, but she could hear the boy's snarling just fine. “I can't see,” she managed to utter. “Eyes...shut...”

 

The boy landed onto the slippery dock, and crouched down next to her. “So you finally arrive, leader. Took you long enough.” He then grabbed the rope bounding her wrists and ankles together, and began to untie it. “Nice entrance by the way. I'd give you a perfect ten out of ten on that fall into the lake. If only I could relive that moment eternally.”

 

Once her hands were freed, Lied began to rise. With the new support of her hands, she was able to stand up, and rub the excess water from her swollen eyes. She batted her eyelids a few times, and then saw an old sign. The ink letters were faded, but still readable.

 

“Illusion...Lake?”

 

The boy floated over and smirked. Lied studied his features. He looked around the same age she was, also having disturbing red eyes. They weren't bright red, but it was more like a shade of rust and brick. His hair was an absolute tangled mess of black hair, flying out in every direction.

 

“Thanks,” Lied choked out, drying her face with her torn sleeve.

 

Red-eyed boy just rolled his eyes. “You couldn't even see past the tiny illusions here? You don't have a very strong will, talk about weak.”

 

Lied remembered the laughing bunch mocking her. “So...they were all fake? All those people were just illusions?”

 

The guy looked at the lake with disgust. “What kind of messed up things do you have in your head? You were all like: 'Oh no! I'm scared, someone help me! Eek!' Blah blah blah. Everyone sees different things, but if your mind is strong enough, you can see past anything ol' Illusion throws at you.”

 

“I've never seen heard of any lake called 'Illusion Lake' in Michigan. We have lots of lakes everywhere, and the four Great Lakes too, but I don't know any 'Illusion Lake.' What's going on?”

 

“We're not in this...Michigan place...to answer your question.”

 

Lied rubbed at her eyes again. “Where are we then? Are we in a state nearby like Ohio or Indiana?”

 

The boy grumbled loudly. “We aren't in any of those places.”

 

Dumbfounded, Lied continued to ask about more places. “Are we in North America? Europe? Where are we?!”

 

The boy put his finger to her lips. “Shush! If you don't shut your freaking mouth, I can't answer your question! Also, you didn't say 'please.' I like nice people.” Lied nodded, and pushed his finger away. She noticed his skin was rough and dry like the peelings of a tree bark.

 

“Please tell me where I am,” she asked as politely as she could.

 

“I'm Hass,” the boy said, spreading his arms. “Welcome to Einsam.”

 

“Hass,” she repeated. It wasn't a pleasant sounding name. It sounded more like a rasping noise than a name.

 

“Well, my name is—”

 

“Lied,” he interrupted, holding up his hand. “I know who you are. We all do. Everyone in Einsam knows your identity, Lied.”

 

“Well, that's not creepy in the slightest. Where on Earth are we? How does everyone know-”

 

Hass began to laugh until tears came out of his eyes, interrupting her once more. “Earth?” he said, drying his tears. “This isn't Earth. I guess your kind would call this a 'dream,' but that depends on how you look at it.”

 

Lied raised her eyebrows, and narrowed her eyes. “If this is a dream, can't I just wake up now? I don't want to be here anymore. Any dream where I nearly drown isn't one that I'd want to stay in.”

 

Hass stopped laughing, a solemn look immediately replacing his joyful one. “You wouldn't want to do that. Trust me. This is no ordinary dream that you can just 'wake up' from.”

 

“I don't want to trust you.”

 

Hass levitated a few inches of the dock, and swirled around midair. “Too bad. It's not like you have any other choice. I'm one of your guardians in this world, and I'll protect you during your entire stay.”

 

“One of how many?”

 

Hass inspected his fingernails as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. “We know who you are, Lied. Everyone in this world was created for the sole purpose of making you happy.”

 

Lied gave Hass a stern glare. “Do I look happy to you?!” she spat at him. “I wake up, tied up in a boat that capsized, and now I'm still choking up water!” She coughed in her sleeve. Her throat was still graveled, and the taste of blood still lingered in her tongue.

Hass shook his head, biting his lip. “I hate to say this, but you're absolutely right. This world may have been created for your enjoyment, but something is abominably wrong. This place was supposed to be a paradise.”

 

Lied inspected the murky lake. The trees surrounding it had no leaves to be adorned with, and the very dock they were standing on was rotting away with age. The atmosphere of the place as a whole was empty and hollow. “Paradise, no. Pandemonium, yes.”

 

Hass threw his hands up in the air, annoyed. “Augh. Just come with me. I'll show you to the place where you'll stay. It's quite nice compared to this cold area.”

 

As they walked away, Lied could've sworn she saw a silhouette emerge from the lake. “Did you see something just now?” she asked Hass as she scratched her arms from the goosebumps.

 

“Illusion Lake. Emphasis on ILLUSION, Lied. Hurry up, the sky is getting dark, and soon they'll come out.”

 

Before Lied could ask who “they” were, rustles echoed from the bushes. “Don't look back,” Hass warned her. “Don't let your curiosity kill you, because there are other things planning to kill you first.”

 

His grip on her wrist tightened. “Isn't everyone designed to protect me? Why would anyone want to kill me?” she whispered as she was dragged along on a dirt path.

 

“Like I said, there are some...problems. This world malfunctioned in a way. Try to mind the technical difficulties as much as you can. Rules have been broken. Peace has been disrupted. Blood has been shed. I've been trying to figure out what's been going on to the best of my ability. Time is running out, Lied. Not all hourglasses have infinite particles of sand.”