[center][h3][color=bc8dbf]Mackenzie Prang[/color][/h3]
[@Eklispe][/center]
[hr]

She woke to light dancing across her face. Mackenzie blinked once, twice, then groaned as she moved to rub at her eyes. [color=bc8dbf]"Wh' time is it?"[/color] came her garbled question. But her cat, normally happy to wake her with licks of his sand-paper tongue, had no answer. That was the first indicator that something was amiss. [color=bc8dbf]"Yukon?"[/color] Mack rolled over, reaching out for the other side of her queen bed, where Yukon spent his nights. Instead of soft sheets and a throne of pillows, her fingertips kissed rough wood. 

Her eyes cleared in an instant, surprise chasing the sleep from the wide blues. She found her hand resting on the thick root of a massive tree. It towered above her, the small slips of sunlight that permeated the thick canopy shifting with each cool breeze. The grass beneath her was thick and lush, and smelled like the most recent rainfall. She inhaled deeply, letting her lungs fill with the clean air. It worked to sharpen her mind, waking it further as she racked her memory. Why was she outside? It was summer vacation, and she spent most of her time in the state park, so her surroundings weren't entirely foreign. Still, she could not remember falling asleep there.

Mack climbed to her knees, fishing for her cell phone in her hoodie pocket. Plain gray hoodie, black exercise pants - both her hiking attire, and her bumming-around-the-house outfit, so it provided no clues. Regardless, she felt entirely naked without her cell. Again, surprise lit her features as her hand closed around something far smaller than an iPhone. [color=bc8dbf]"What?"[/color] she breathed, drawing a USB from her pocket. It was the color of lilacs, her favorite, but it did not belong to her. Neither did the bag that lay a few paces away, nestled in a cropping of long grass. 

Slowly, hesitantly, Mack found her feet. Her gaze remained on the device in her palm, lips turned down in mixed parts confusion and frustration. While she could appreciate the beautiful design, and the color... Wait, hadn't she just told someone that this was her favorite color?

The USB flew from her hand, thrown to the ground as if it had burned her. That game. That weird questionnaire. The memory of snuggling into her over-sized chair with her laptop, Yukon draped across her feet, and then... nothing. Her hands trembled like the leaves overhead, and she clenched them at her sides in an attempt to steady herself. It wasn't right. None of it was right. Despite the beauty of the world around her, she could no longer bring herself to bask in it. It was [i]wrong.[/i]

The USB lay where it was, as did the bag, while Mack stalked away. Her mind raced, trying to formulate a plan though there was no real material to work with. Nothing [i]logical[/i] at least. She had thought she was signing up for some new MMORPG, in its alpha stage, if the advertisements were to be believed. She raked her hand through her hair, damp with sweat despite the chill in the air. She drew in a long breath and closed her eyes, blocking out all distractions so she could think. Her head filled with the sound of a river, babbling somewhere deeper in the woods. The leaves murmured far above her, whispering on the wind. But that was all. Mack heard no crunch of brush underfoot, no flap of wings, or buzz of insects. When she opened her eyes, the shadows that filled the forest seemed even darker than before. A dark sense of foreboding twisted her gut. [color=bc8dbf]"This is wrong,"[/color] she said finally.

[center][color=bc8dbf]❀[/color][/center]