"Sally, you wake! It almost half pass seven!" My mom shouted in her broken english. Yes, she is not good at the language because my family recently moved from China. She tries her best, and that's all that really matters. Anyway, I got out of bed and ran to my closet. I almost tripped over a pile of school books that I set beside my bed - bad idea. I threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, but when I was almost down the stairs I realized I had a geography trip and needed good hiking clothes.

"Crap," I said as I ran up the stairs, realizing that not only did I have to change, but that I had nothing to change into! I searched frantically around my small - and very messy - bedroom. I kept tripping on stuff. I made a mental note to clean my room after the two day trip was over. At that moment I had another terrible realization: I hadn't asked mom to sign the permission form! I pulled a pair of track pants off my floor and threw on a t-shirt.

"Where's the darn track jacket?!" I was panicking. I looked at my watch with my groggy, tired, "fell-asleep-at-midnight" eyes and read "seven fifteen". I would definitely be late today.

I finally made it downstairs fifteen minutes later. Mom was yelling at me in Chinese. She was telling me to hurry up and get to school. I was still a bit disoriented and super tired, and said a quick "Zao!", ( "Morning!") as I grapped an apple and ran to get the permission form. It took a bit of explaining before she really understood what the form was for, but eventually she signed it, so who cares. She knows not to expect me today after school, so at least she gets the important stuff.

By the time I got to school I was ten minutes late for my first class: ESL. I didn't really care because I take an English class outside of school, and I was doing quite well in both of them. I ran to the office to get my late slip, grabbed my english binder out of my locker and ran to class. Geography was next period, so I didn't need to bring anything for the next few classes.

"Hello Miss Chu," My teacher, Miss Chan said as I entered the classroom. I whispered a shy "hello," as I gave her the late slip and permission form. I quietly made my way to my desk. I was probably one of the quietest students in my class. Not just because of my ability to speak English as much as my shy personality in front of others. I said hello to my friend, Sharyn Wang, and we started a conversation in Chinese. Sharyn was one of my best friends. It was mainly because we both spoke fluent Chinese, and also because our personalities were similar (but not too similar). She is in my geography class as well as English, and on the trip we get to share a room at a lodge we are staying at for the night. Our room will also be shared with two girls from the other Academic Geography class, but neither of us know them at all.

"I'm excited to go for trip." Sharyn said in English.

"Yes, I am too." I said. I think my English is better than Sharyn's even though she moved here before me. She moved in grade eight. I moved in the summer before grade nine, but was learning English in China, and had classes all summer in Canada. I really like it here, but sometimes I miss my friends in China. I talk to them on the instant messenger on my computer, but it isn't the same as talking in person. I am only allowed to make one call to China per month, so I have a schedule of which friend to call which month. I also get to call my grandparents, aunts and uncles on holidays. Anyway, it was almost time for the trip, and Sharyn and I were psyched! (My friend Dianne taught me that word.)

We got on the bus at around ten o'clock, and it took two hours to get to the lodge. Sharyn, I, and a girl named Christina played "Chinese checkers" for almost the whole ride. Tina didn't know how to play at first, but we taught her. Soon she was a pro. We played checkers until Christina fell asleep. Neither I or Sharyn know why she did it, but we did not wake her; we let her sleep for the rest of the ride. I opened my book and started to read. It was a Chinese book I got for my fifteenth birthday. It was about a few friends who were wandering around a trail at night. They were playing hide and seek in the dark, and one of the girls decided to hide deep in the woods where no one could ever find her. She was right, no one could find her. Her friends searched and searched for hours. Meanwhile, the girl found a strange little hut deep in the woods. It was surrounded by water, like a moat. The girl guessed the water was about six feet deep, and could not swim. There was no pathway or bridge over it, so the girl decided to forget about it and keep walking. Suddenly, the girl tripped and fell. She felt a hard force pushing down on her, making it impossible for her to move. She started to scream for help, hoping that maybe her friends could hear her. No one could hear her cries. She lay there helplessly, wishing there was some way she could rewind this and start over. She would hide in a new spot this time. A spot closer to the trail, even if it meant getting caught first. But in her mind the girl knew it was not really what she would do. She thought out a real scenario. The girl was young, curious, competetive and very stubborn. She would never lose a game of hide-and-seek. She never had in her life. The girl knew that if there was ever a way to get a second chance, that she would be too curious of the woods to stay away. She was like that. She wouldn't be able to stay away. She imagined the same strength of the force she had on her now, pulling her towards the area again. It was invinsible, unstoppable. She began to scream and cry.

"Help me!" She cried. "I can't move!" The more she screamed, the weaker her voice became.

After hours of screaming, her voice was gone. She could not make a noise, not even a little squeak. It was at that moment that she knew she had no hope of living. She thought of herself dying from starvation; her body would rot in that same position when she "tripped". If she was ever found, no one would know what happened to her. It was hopeless to try to save herself now. All she wanted was to know how this happened, and why there was a little hut in the middle of the woods. She never found out.

I was starting to scare myself with thoughts of me in the girl's place. I reminded myself that it was only a story; there was no possible way it could be real. Was there?