Chapter Four

"How much for a night?"

"A hundred even."

"Okay, I'll take it." 

I drove all day, filling up my tank once and now I was staying the night in a hotel. This would probably be the only time I would be able to do this, because I needed to save my money. But I was tired and still upset over my mother, and I needed to make a plan. The dusty looking old man at the desk gave me a room key and then shuffled off to do god knows what. 

I went back out to my little white car and grabbed my bag out of the passenger seat. I should've grabbed some food, because my stomach was growling and I was really trying to save my money. 

    My room was sad and cold. The bed wasn't really soft, nor was it really hard. Just like the bathroom wasn't really dirty, but it wasn't really clean. My eyes burned with sadness as I threw my bag onto the floor. I fished out my laptop and charger and plugged it in so it'd be nice and charged while I got ready for bed.

I grabbed my shower things and tooth paste and made my way to the bathroom. 

    I turned the water as hot as it would go. I've always loved hot showers. 

When I was done showering, I washed my underwear and bra in the sink and hung them up to dry. I didn't bring a lot of underwear, and I didn't want to have to start turning pairs inside out.

    I sat on my bed in just a long t-shirt and grabbed my laptop. 

First, I checked my facebook. 

I didn't have a phone because I forgot to pay the bill a couple months ago and I haven't really felt the need to shell out the hundred dollar activation fee, plus the missed phone bill. It's not like I had anyone to text anyways.

    My mom had messaged me, telling me if I came home right then we could forget this ever happened. Ignored. Other than that, celebrities were still cheating on their husbands and girls from high school were still getting pregnant. 

    Next, I got directions. 

I've never been to Arkansas. I could make it as far as Tennessee, after that I had no idea where to go. I've always been good at finding my way though, so I wrote down some road names and highway exits and moved on.

    Lastly, I did some more in depth research on dreams. I pretty much came up with the same tired shit though, so I shut my laptop and set it aside.

    I was pooped. I had a feeling I wouldn't be dreaming of the boy tonight, so I wasn't worried about that. 

The next morning I stopped at a grocery store and picked up a couple of necessities (bread, peanut butter, a big water jug, some crackers, and a pillow and blanket) and started on my way again. 

I was down to eight hundred bucks, and I really wanted to make it to Arkansas by night fall at the latest. 

The drive there was long and gave me plenty of time to think about things. 

    Like, for example, why had I run away from home to find a fucking field that kind of looked like one my mom had a few photos from more than twenty years ago?

    I kept asking myself that, but I kept telling myself that I knew what I was doing was right. I knew the place and the people in it were real, and I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn't take the opportunity to find it.

    I also thought about what exactly I was going to do when, and if, I found it? What if it wasn't even there anymore? Or what if it was in someone's back yard? What if I found it, and it was literally just a fucking field? But again, something in my gut told but I wouldn't just find a field. Something in my gut told me, I was making the right call.

I had just crossed the border into Arkansas. I was about forty minutes away from Rogers, and that's where I was going first. 

I had done a little bit more research, and found a park that was home to many scenic fields and used to be home to a few houses before they were bulldozed down a few years ago. I figured that was a good as place as any to start.

    Arkansas was a pretty small, quaint looking place. There were plenty of big business, however. And lots of construction and road work. It looked like a place that was trying to become more suburban and known.

    But there were still stretches where there were nothing but trees and trailer parks. And every once in awhile you'd see a house with rebel flags proudly stuck in the ground, or a loud truck with no muffler would drive by blasting music. I kind of liked it.

I didn't reach lake atalanta until almost two in the morning. I had gotten slightly turned around and had to stop and use a gas station's wifi to look up directions on my laptop. 

But I was here now. 

I parked on the rocky spot of land that was intended for cars to park. The lake was huge and mossy at the edges, with a bridge going over it in the middle. It looked like it was man made. It was surrounded by a walking trail and huge trees, some of which looked older than me. There was a playground about a hundred feet away from the "parking lot" and it too looked like it had been played on by generations of children.

    As I walked to the water's edge to look for the field, I realized there were even more walking trails spidering off from the park. Which meant more ground to cover. This could take me days. 

    I sighed, and rubbed at my tired eyes. 

Tonight, I wouldn't start looking. I had found the damned place, and I was tired. 

So I made my way back to my car, sliding in the back where I propped up my pillow and pulled the blanket over my body. 

"Delilah you need to wake up right now." Someone was touching me, shaking me was probably more accurate. 

I shot up, gasping for air. My eyes searched in the dark for the source of the touching. I wasn't in a field this time, that much was for sure. It looked like I was in a dark bedroom. I sat up, and sure enough I was on a bed, soft and covered in a dark brown animal skin. 

"Delilah." And suddenly I was encased in a hug by a large figure. "What are you doing in my bed?" As the figure pulled away from me, I could see it was the boy, though I had already predicted as much.

"I need help." I say. "I'm nearby, trying to find you."

He sat back, his mouth falling open and his eyes going wide.

"What do you mean, you're nearby?"

"I mean you told me to find you, so I left home and here I am. Please, I need some help finding you. I'm at a place called Lake Atalanta now, but it's so huge it will take me literally a week to find you."

"It won't be that easy, Delilah. First you need to find the pond that will take you to me. This place, only few can access it, and you'll need to find the portal that will get you here." He sat thinking for a moment, and then sprung up. "Come, I must show you something." I let him grab me by the wrist and pull me from his room, through a quiet and dark kitchen and out the front door. Outside it was dark and cool. I could barely see three feet in front of me, but he seemed to know exactly where he was going. 

    He never let of my wrist as he pulled me through the forest, ducking under low tree branches, leaping over rocks, and flying around bushes. I got the feeling he was going slower than usual, and that made me jealous because I was struggling to keep up as it was. 

    Finally, we came to a stop in front of a pond. It was small, about the size of half a football field. It was surrounded by gray colored rocks and tall grass. I could smell the moss and mud, and I could hear frogs croaking and crickets making music.

"This is what the pond will look like."

"Exactly?" I ask, looking at him. I stare for a moment too long, admiring his long lashes and dark eyes. 

"Yes, exactly. This is the entrance to my world."I scrunch up my nose a bit, finding all of this hard to believe. "You will have to swim to the very bottom and there will be the opening. It is only accessible to… few." 

I noticed him hesitate before saying "few," but chose not to comment on it. Hopefully, all of this wasn't bullshit and I could really find him and would be able to ask him all the questions I wanted face to face. 

"Now wake up, and find me, Delilah. I'll be waiting for you."

For once when I woke up from one of my dreams I didn't feel pissed off or confused or miss the boy. 

This time when I woke up, I felt ready to go. I felt like I might finally be onto something. 

I had the image of the pond burned into my mind. 

I perked up a little as I had another realization. 

I sat up and checked my dashboard clock. It was only just eight in the morning.

I grabbed my bag and changed my underwear and shirt and pulled on some shorts. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. 

I looked out the windows first to see if anyone was around, and then I climbed out. My bones crackle as I stretched and my muscles thanked me. It was more cramped in my car than I had ever realized. 

    The cool morning air felt great on my slightly flushed face, and I just stood there for a moment, appreciating the feel or the air. There were a few cars around me now, Jeeps and other outdoorsy looking vehicles. I looked to the park and could see a women running across the bridge, but other than that everyone else must've been on the trails already.

    I looked behind me, and found exactly what I was looking for. A wooden pavilion, with a few picnic tables, and more importantly, a tall wooden frame that I was praying was a map of this place. 

    I smiled to myself, and jogged up to the pavilion. I almost cheered out loud as I found it was in fact a map, but I restrained myself. 

    Turns out, this place was even bigger than I thought. Some of the trials went on for thirty miles, winding through other parks, people's properties, and more public domains.

But I was looking for one thing. 

 Trail 26B. 

It began to the right of the bridge, and about a mile into it, there was a pond illustrated on the map. There were of course other bodies of water, but they all looked and felt wrong. That one was too big, that one was the wrong shape. 

But 26B. 

That felt right. 

I stopped off at my car again to make myself a peanut butter sandwich and take a huge swig of water. I checked to make sure no one was around, and then I pulled my shorts down and squatted down to pee. I was missing that average quality hotel room right about now. 

But the image of my boy flashed in my mind. 

His dark eyes.

Tall figure. 

Tattoos spidering all over his body. 

And not only did thoughts of my boy motivate me, but the place he was in did as well. I imagined laying in that field in the sunshine, and climbing in those trees. That place, it felt right in more ways than one.

And those thoughts pushed me towards the bridge, steered me to the left, and moved my feet down the trail that would hopefully take me to where I was looking for.