[b][u]Gary Riley[/u][/b]

When Gary saw that the girl was not only following him, but also seemed to have pulled herself together, he was relieved. One less thing to worry about. But the vines were continuing to spread, and he had already spent quite a bit of time talking and arguing, so he broke into a run. He hit the button to stop recording on his phone and shoved it into his pocket, before bursting out the front door.

The first thing he noticed was the police cruiser, and the two officers heading their way. He was immediately faced with a crisis: how could he explain what was happening? If he told them too much, they would dismiss him as crazy. If he told them too little, they would be going in blind and completely unaware of the danger. "It's bad," he told them. "A missing girl turned up in the diner and locked herself in the bathroom, then a bunch of vines started growing everywhere. When some people tried to get in, they said there was a tiger in there, but went in anyway. I don't know what happened to them, but that building isn't safe."

Okay, that still sounded completely insane, but at least he told them about the vines and the tiger, which were the two main dangers. He wasn't going to mention the portal; if it was still there they would see for themselves, and right now there was absolutely no way for him to put that into words.

He moved out of the war of the door, and leaned against the wall, suddenly aware of how quickly his heart had been beating. How had he remained so calm back there? He remembered spraying the tiger with a fire extinguisher. Even though it worked, it had been stupid. [i]What was I thinking?[/i]