Chapter 1

The youngster with pale blond hair, sporting faint traces of a beard and a wispy trail of a moustache stood in the clearing between the tall Sal trees waving his hand in goodbye as the jeep carrying his friends disappeared into the woods. A wistful smile appeared on his lips as he gazed at their faces- a fair-skinned boy with a smiling face wearing crooked, rimless glasses, a brown-toned girl with hair dyed in bright blue and pink, a very tanned girl with a tattoo of a heart under her right eye and another olive-skinned boy with a bowl haircut and buck teeth.

Wait, we are in a forest, right? Then why are they leaving me here?! What is going on?

This thought struck him just before the jeep was lost from his view and the boy cried out, “Wait!! Why are you leaving me behind?!”

But the Gypsy was already out of his view and for some reason he could no longer even hear the sound of the engine. He stepped in the direction the jeep had been going but a wave of dizziness struck him. The boy lost his balance and fell with a thump!

He saw stars. Clutching his forehead tightly and closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths. Slowly, as the wave passed, the boy felt better. But even as the wave passed and he felt better, the boy was curious about what had happened. He decided to try remembering from the beginning.

He started with a simple question, “What’s my name?”

His mouth opened, the name at the tip of his tongue...But!

To his shock, he couldn’t recall his own name. Panicked, he kept repeating the question over and over, closing his, wracking his brain to recall and unconsciously even stopped breathing. When it suddenly became too long to have not breathed in any air, his body jerked, eyes flew open and he started breathing at a heightened rate...slowly, very slowly, very very slowly...his breathing reduced to normal. And as he gazed up at the sunbeams that pierced through the tall trees that loomed over him, the name that had been eluding him surfaced- Anshul.

“Sunbeams...ah yes, my name means sunbeams- I am Anshul.” The boy whispered softly.

Nestled in the comfort of remembering his name, Anshul lay there spread-eagled, smiling softly as the rays of sunlight made various patterns through the leaves and branches of the trees. He sighed as he inhaled in the smell of Mother Nature- that fragrance of unidentifiable flowers, the scent of damp soil- and heard the sound the wind whistling through the multitude of leaves.

After some time of quiet comfort, he reluctantly drew himself up into a sitting position. Thinking for a while he found that he could name those friends whose faces he had seen in the jeep.

“Crooked glasses- Matthew, Dyed hair- Avni, Heart tattoo- Dae and Buck teeth- Aroon,” Anshul ticked the names and faces off. “But why did they leave me here? Gotta move and find a way out of the forest. Maybe, I’ll get some answers then.”

No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t for the life of him remember why he had been left in the middle of the forest.

Standing up and stretching his body, Anshul randomly chose a direction that seemed like the jeep had taken, as crushed branches and leaves lay there, and started walking.

I had better be careful. I have no idea why the jeep was off-road and I see no tracks. After all, this is a forest.

Keeping a close lookout, Anshul followed what seemed like tracks to him, all the while trying to recall what had transpired that had led to such a situation, but it was all fruitless.

As he kept moving, he became aware of the calming silence of the forest broken by intermittent chirpings of the birds. He was looking around in wonder when a small green figure caught his eye.