Coordinates: Unknown

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The towering trees surrounding me were like nothing found on Earth. Silver bark flecked with bits of violet and green gave way to red-tipped, translucent leaves the shape of diamonds. Massive roots thicker around than a car tore through the damp, mulch-littered ground to form loops and half-circles in the air. Bushes large enough to be trees themselves clustered in groups among the trunks, sporting fruits or berries of sizes and shapes I’d never seen.

I was sup posed to go to the future.

Alien sounds battered my ears. Animal noises from creatures whose appearances I could only imagine echoed in a cacophony of what I hoped weren’t hunting calls. And the smell—like a forest on Earth, but different. Thicker, as though scents didn’t travel and only hung, stagnant, building upon each other until they were too muddled to identify. Or maybe it was just the lack of a breeze. Or the rising panic slowly winding around my lungs and squeezing—

$20,000. That’s how much they offered upfront for someone to test out their new time travel device. I’d go to the future, they said. Someone would be waiting for me, because if it worked, then the people in the future would be expecting my arrival and could then send me back.

I didn’t fully understand the process, but it didn’t matter. All I had to do was go into the machine, document some facts about the future in the little, black notebook they gave me, and come home. Quick. Simple, and a much higher compensation amount than I’d expected. An easy $20,000 would completely change my life for the better, and maybe even save my mother’s.

I jumped at a roar louder than anything I’ve ever heard, but despite the plentiful foliage, there were no visible animals. I started walking anyway, away from the source of the roar, clutching the black notebook and single pen as though they were lifelines that could take me back to my old life. They were the only items I had other than the clothes on my back and the tiny backpack with limited supplies I’d insisted on bringing, just in case.

My life is definitely changed, but for the better? I don’t know where I am or even how I got here. Is this still Earth? Is this really the future? Or maybe this is the distant past? I’m not even sure that it matters. I feel small—like a bug on the back of an elephant. A single raindrop from this oversized world could probably swallow me whole.

I’d barely made it more than a dozen yards before I doubled over, vomiting the meager contents of my stomach onto the ground. The scientists had suggested eating only a light meal in case the time travel made me sick, but whether it was the machine or my own panic causing my stomach to twist, I didn’t know.

“Okay,” I said out loud, hoping to force myself to focus. “You have to stay calm. You’ll get through this. It could be worse.”

I cast my glance around for anything new to see, but it was like I’d never even moved. Was this how a flea felt on the back of a dog? Equally as lost, equally as small. Would this world scratch me off its surface, too?

I’m going to die here. This place is too big, too alien, with no signs of any kind of civilization. It’s like this world was created and then left to its own devices, and it chose to grow bigger and harsher than anything I could’ve dreamed.

I’m writing in this notebook because... well, I guess I’m hoping someone someday will find it and understand what happened. A notebook like this will probably last longer than me, anyway.

“What’s the first thing you need to do in a survival situation?” I asked myself. “Find shelter.”

I didn’t have anything with which to build a shelter, but surely it couldn’t be too difficult to find somewhere to take refuge, especially considering how oversized everything was here. It was eerie that I still hadn’t seen any animals, but I was minimally comforted by the continuing sounds of wildlife. From what little I knew, a loud forest was a safe forest.

Relatively speaking.

I pulled my backpack off and grabbed one of the two water bottles I’d stuck inside. Dehydration would get me long before starvation, so I needed to be careful until I found a safe and steady source of water. I drank just enough to wet my parched throat and zipped the bottle back inside my backpack.

“Right. Shelter.”

I set off again. I knew nothing about this world—didn’t even know if I was on Earth, past or future—but the presence of a forest like this one had to suggest some similarities to Earth. At the very least, I could still breathe. That was definitely a win.

I can’t deny that this place is beautiful, though. The towering trees, massive bushes, natural colors and designs not present in my home world. Home planet? Timeline? Regardless of where this is, and how terrified I am to be here, there is beauty.

I just wish I’d have more time to appreciate it.

I rested after what felt like hours of walking, drinking a bit more water and snacking on a granola bar. It was difficult to tell time or distance here. The forest never seemed to change, and the leaves strangled the sunlight so that it always appeared to be dusk. The chorus of animal cries had ceased some time ago, which I attributed to the onset of night. I hoped to find a decent shelter before darkness fell, but so far, I hadn’t stumbled across anything worthwhile.

I stood and stretched, preparing to cover more ground. If I was lucky—

Wait.

The forest was quiet.

I whirled around as a low growl rumbled behind me. A wolf’s head larger than I was tall bared fangs longer than my arm. Huge, sharp antlers jutted from its forehead, barely clearing the tree trunks on either side. Massive hooves scraped at the dirt like a bull about to charge, and a thick, furry tail lashed the air.

My legs took off before my brain could catch up. The monster crashed through the forest behind me like a thunderstorm rolling through the sky. On flat, clear land, I never would’ve outrun it, but in the forest, my small size was my only advantage.

I dodged around trees and under bushes, never looking back because the angry roars and snapping branches told me the monster wasn’t far behind. I had no idea where I was going—no real hope of surviving—but still, I ran. Maybe it would lose sight of me. Maybe I could find a cave to hide in. Maybe—

The tip of an antler caught me in the side and sent me flying. I crashed into one of the tree-like bushes, tangling in the branches. Despite the blood seeping down my side, I didn’t feel any pain.

I’ve spent mere hours in this strange place. Seen wonders I never could’ve imagined.

Through the leaves, I watched the monster stalk toward me. I struggled to free myself, but the branches were hard as bone. I couldn’t break them, so I wriggled and squirmed until I had one arm free. One hand that could grab a jagged stick that must’ve broken off when I flew into the bush.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I was supposed to go to the future. Use the unexpected fortune of $20,000 to improve my life and help my mother.

The monster shoved its snout into the branches until its hot, acrid breath ghosted across my face from between its glimmering, bloodstained teeth.

I know I will die here.

I shoved the sharp, pointed edge of the branch as far into the monster’s nose as I could manage. It reared back with a pained and enraged roar.

But I won’t die without a fight.