Hey guys! I'm currently editing this story/adding new chapters! It's been a while but I'm ready to start again! This chapter is dedicated to my best friend and biggest support Arrow900. I love you! 

Cold.

The sensation engulfed Cayson both physically and figuratively. He trembled, lips chapped as he found his skin covered in an array of goosebumps. His mind simply repeated the word in various forms:

Cold.

So cold.

I'm freezing.

I can't feel my fingers.

Who turned the AC down?

Dear god, why am I so cold?

Cayson's eyes fluttered open, the harsh chill causing them to water. He pushed himself upright, expecting the soft foam of Lindy's mattress to comfort his hands. Instead his palms ached. His eyes shot to the bed in confusion, Cayson being met with utter shock.

There was no bed under him.

He wasn't lying comfortably under Lindy's thick comforter nor was he curled up against the plethora of pillows. He had been lying amongst the dirt and scattered leafs. Cayson eyed his surroundings, forgetting momentarily how to function.

He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, and most of all he couldn't move.

Cayson had fallen asleep in the safety and comfort of a friend's home and had awoken in the middle of a forest. All he saw was a sea of green. Light flittered through the tops of the trees whose branches seemed to touch the sky. The ground appeared as if it was covered in a green meadow.

Cayson would have been stunned by its beauty if it wasn't for the fact that he was freezing, in the middle of nowhere, and all alone. He rose to her feet, watching his breath wisp in the air around him. He'd spent many nights lying on cold park benches and under playground structure, but he'd finally caught a break and been taken in by the one and only person who cared about him: Lindy.

Now, he was in the middle of the forest.

"Hello?" His voice was hoarse. Cayson cleared his throat, attempting again to summon someone. "Hello!" He received no response. His heartbeat was so loud it pounded in his ears. He dared to utter the next word. "Dad?"

His father had always had a rather twisted and cruel style of punishment. Cayson prayed his father wasn't behind this, pulling some awful prank that he had roped Lindy into. He had managed to put his father behind bars and was more than sure, when he was released, his father wanted revenge.

"Dad! You son of a bitch! You come out here and face me . . . like a man!" The last time he'd told his father to "act like a man" it had resulted in a black eye and a bloody nose. The phrase got under his skin then and Cayson knew it would now.

But nothing happened.

Cayson felt so utterly weak. Half of his body was numb and the other half was currently assisting him in mentally breaking down. He'd had his grassy meadow in his hell-hole of a life in the form of Detective Lindy Willards and now it was ripped from him.

"Is anyone there!?" His voice quaked. Cayson didn't know what to do or where to begin.

Where am I? How did I get here? What do I do?

An endless mesh of questions circled in his head and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't silence them. Cayson couldn't focus on a single one due to the fact that a new question would emerge and he would try to answer that one.

"This isn't funny!" He stammered, waiting for one of his dirt bag friends to jump out and take credit for the sick and un-amusing joke. However, no one showed up. In fact, the woods was painfully silent, the only audible sound being his intense breathing.

Cayson wasn't the type to depend on others. Though he forced himself to remain in the exact same spot for an endless amount of time, hoping and praying someone would come along and guide him in the right direction, he soon realized he'd have to depend on himself.

Stepping forward, he jumped as something crunched under his feet. The now broken branch had startled him. Cayson inhaled deeply, he needed to regain control if he wanted to make it through the evening.

"If Caroline could see me now," he scoffed, continuing onward; eventually blocking out the leaves and branches cracking under his shoes. He tried but couldn't force away the pain. His legs were unbearably numb, so numb using them caused a horrible aching sensation.

Nonetheless, he knew he had other things he needed to worry about.

One of them being which way he should go. He went forward, left, and right but the scenery didn't seem to change. It altered slightly (more branches on one side, less leaves on the other) but for the most part they all seemed to blend together.

Cayson trudged along for what felt like days but was probably only an hour or so.

During his journey, he tried to piece together the previous couple of hours - his memory turning to mush. All Cayson could put into frame was throwing himself into bed and then waking up wherever he was currently.

This odd sound appeared, its strength ripping him from his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder in curiosity, eyebrow raised. Of course, he knew not to investigate any mysterious sounds alone; it would ultimately lead to his death.

Of course, he wasn't smart enough to follow the advice passed down from generations of horror films.

Cayson fought through the sea of low hanging branches and bundles of bushes to emerge on the other side. He came to a complete standstill.

He hadn't stumbled upon a cabin in the woods, a chainsaw wheeling Jason, or a pack of seriously pissed off wolves.

He'd found a girl – and she wasn't moving.