From thunder to grandma

It was a rainy and stormy night. The wind was howling and the trees in the darkness looked alive. She was alone in the old wood house. The noises were getting stronger as the wind whipped off the windows. She was scared so she hid. Flashlight in hand and a bit of water

Sadie, hiding under her brother’s bed, gripped her flashlight tightly. How long would she need to wait there? She was certain the coast was clear when a huge clap of thunder startled her into banging her head on the bed frame. When she came to, she was somewhere else.

Deep in a forest, her cheek resting on a fragrant bed of moss. It was no longer storming nor nighttime, and around her she could hear the soft buzzing of bees and the occasional song of a bird. Still, her heart was beating in her chest. How had she gotten here and where was she?

Was she in the Amazon, the Congo, the Black Forest of Germany? Or was she in an unnamed forest mulch closer to home? She had no way to know, nothing in her life so far prepared her for this situation.

Her grandmother had given her the ancient compass as a child, but it was lost in the flood. She also had a smartphone in her backpack, but she refused to cave in so easily. She entered this competition out of courage, and she was going to finish it.

She had almost lost hope when she smelled something familiar. Chicken roast with marshmallows, her grandmother’s signature dish! She was still showing her the way! Filled with renewed energy, she followed her nose across two fields, an alligator filled pool and the finish line.