Parker woke to the squealing breaks of the car. “We’re here!” his dad shouted. The sun shining bright caused Parker to rise slowly from his sleep. Apparently, not sleeping the night before made it so that he was able to sleep through the whole trip.

“You sure passed out on us dear. You were out cold the whole time,” his mother stated.

Parker’s eyes finally adjusted to the brightness and he looked into the rearview mirror making eye contact with his dad. “This is it son. We have to drop you off here; we can’t go any further with you. It’s all up to you now!”

At that comment, Parker looked out of the windshield. In front of the car, there was absolutely nothing, a barren wasteland. He turned to the left, still nothing. Looking to the right, more nothing. Continuing to swivel his head to the right, he caught a glimpse of what looked like a subway entrance.

“What do you mean this is it? There’s nothing here!” Parker said, clearly frustrated with the whole situation.

His mom turned around in her seat, looking him in the eyes, “You are going to love it, I promise!”

This made no sense to Parker. “What’s there to love? An abandoned subway tunnel in the middle of nowhere?” His face grew redder the more he spoke. “Look out there! There’s nothing, just empty desert, sand as far as the eye can see!”

“Dear, that’s not all that is out here. Can’t you see the station entrance?”

Parker just stared at the front of the car, baffled at what he was hearing.

“What are you talking about? That entrance looks like no one has used it in decades! You can’t possibly think that I’m going down there, especially by myself!”

His mom and dad, now both turned around in their seats looking at him spoke in unison, “We promise, you’re going to love it. But we can’t go any further with you. All we’re allowed to do is drop you off here and then head back home. It’s up to you now, and you’re going to do great, I just know it!”

Parker couldn't grasp what his parents were saying to him. “All right dear, it’s time to go. We got here just a little bit early. Your dad was a speed demon on the roads. I just had to close my eyes so I wouldn’t watch. But you need to get going so you aren’t late,” his mother said as she opened her car door to get out.

They made their way to the back of the car to get Parker’s one suitcase out of the trunk. As he stood there with his suitcase on the ground, handle stretched up so he could pull it behind him, his parent both wrapped their arms around him. “Make sure that you know we love you, more than ever. We’re doing this to help you become better.”

He definitely didn’t feel like they were doing this because they loved him. It felt like they thought he failed as a family member and they were sending him away because of it. “All right. Well, I guess this is goodbye then,” he said, sounding as though someone had just shattered his world. “I don’t really know what to say. Saying ‘I love you’ doesn’t really feel like it covers it. It’s just terrifying to not know when I’ll get to see you again.”

His mother looked at him, tears filling her eyes. “We know how you feel. But we will do our best to keep in contact. We’ll write letters and have them sent to the school. Everything will be all right!”

His dad held him by the shoulders, looking into his eyes, “It’s time son, you’ve got to get going. I know it’s hard, I really do. But you cannot be late.” With that, Parker turned and walked toward the subway entrance.

Waving goodbye to his parents, they pulled off, on their long drive home. “Here I am. Parker Gray. Twelve years old, a suitcase and stranded, in the middle of the desert. What could possibly go wrong?”

He made it to the bottom of the staircase, which felt like a hundred steps. As he turned the corner, the hall became pitch black. No light entered, he turned around and it was as though there had never been an entrance to where he was. “Well now what do I do?” he said starting to panic.

Making his way over to the wall, so he had at least a little reference to where he was. As he started moving forward, or at least what he thought was forward, he began to feel different markings on the walls. “What in the world happened to these walls? There are cracks all over it. There’s no way it’s safe for me to be down here. How could they have just left me here?”

Putting his finger on one crack, it felt very sharp and jagged, like the stone was sticking straight out at him in spikes. He kept walking forward trying to make his way while managing to keep one hand on the wall.

About fifty feet down the tunnel, he found another crack that felt very different to him. This one was much smoother, but it did a lot of going up and down and coming to points. He felt like he was drawing a picture as he made his way down the hall. “My finger keeps moving forward and backward in this crack, even though I keep walking.”

Paying too much attention to the crack he was following in the wall. He forgot to focus on being careful of what might be in front of him, since he couldn’t actually see anything. Smack! Parker ran straight into the wall. “Apparently, this is not just a straight tunnel. This hall must end here and turn to the left…” he said rubbing his nose that just smashed into the cement.

Keeping his hand on the wall, he slowly slid it into the corner, and turned his body to left making sure to keep his hand connected to the wall next to him. “Crap! I lost the crack I was following.” He put his hand back on the wall he was following. However, when he touched it, the wall was completely smooth. As though the company had just got done pouring it and it was finished drying. “What in the world? That wall felt like it was falling apart. How is it perfect all of a sudden?”

Thinking about what his dad said, he kept moving forward doing his best to make it so he wasn’t late, to wherever he was supposed to be going.

He placed his hand on the wall to his right, trying to find something else that he could follow. Right when he thought about finding a new crack, his finger fell into a smooth crevice in the wall. Not a crack, but like someone had made a design in the wall that was very neat.

As he kept moving forward, for what felt like hours, he noticed the next path he was following took him around corners and he felt like he was walking in circles that were getting smaller and smaller. Then when he thought he was just going to be walking in one spot but turning around, it would take him back out.

Finally, after he was beginning to lose his patience with this feeling of going nowhere, his finger left the wall and he found himself standing in the middle of what felt like nothing. There were no walls right next to him that he could touch.

Standing still, starting to panic because he had no clue where he was, Parker turned in circles trying to figure it out. “Wait, how is it everything’s gone?” Just as he said that, a faint glow of light came from behind him. He could feel a warmness come over his back as the light shined passed him.

In front of him, he could see there was another tunnel leading forward. Only able to see so far, Parker closed his eyes and listened to try and hear something. A faint rumbling echoed down the tunnel to where he was standing.

To his right, another tunnel led away. Barely able to see anything in this tunnel, he again listened for something. At first, he didn’t understand what he was hearing. It sounded like the ocean. That sounds you hear when you visit. The waves breaking, the tide going in and out, and the seagulls calling to one another. “That doesn’t make sense. We’re in the middle of the desert. I mean I’ve been walking a lot, but definitely not far enough to make it to an ocean.”

Thinking about how that could possibly be happening, a strong gust of wind rolled over his shoulders, blowing his hair into his face. The panic he felt began to go away. “How do I decide which path to take from here? I don’t even know what way I came from anymore.”

Closing his eyes, he imagined which way would lead to the right location, where he wasn’t supposed to be late. Even though he felt like he was already hours late and missed whatever he needed to be there for.

He could feel and hear everything from around him, making it harder and harder to make a choice. “I’ve got to get moving!” he told himself. “Whatever, I’ll just take that one!”

Parker began making his way into the wind that was blowing his hair all over the place. Something about this tunnel felt peaceful to him. He didn’t worry about anything popping out at him or making a wrong turn somewhere, although, he did keep his hand on the wall just to play it safe.

Continuing forward down the chosen tunnel, Parker walked now. But something was different about his walk now. It wasn't a scared and timid walk anymore. He had a pep to his step, like he actually felt he had somewhere to be and he was on a mission to get there.

After walking for what felt like an hour, Parker came to a dead end. This time though, he didn’t walk into the wall, he played it safe as he was walking. “Huh? Where do I go from here? Did I take the wrong tunnel?”

He started feeling around the wall in front of him. He figured it was about five feet wide and six feet tall. At first, the wall felt smooth, no cracks or marks on it. However, as he continued to run his hand around the wall trying to find something, anything to give him a clue, his finger fell into a groove. Sliding his finger along the groove, he noticed that it felt like he was drawing a shape. A large triangle, but the triangle had something different about. Almost at the top, it felt as though there was a line that cut through it.

After tracing the triangle and line for a minute, a large burst of air came out right into his face knocking him backwards. Parker sat on the ground, shocked at what just happened. “What in the world?” All of a sudden, the wall that had just been in front of him began to shake, slowly moving down into the floor.

Lights glared from in front of him, making him feel like he was staring straight into the sun. He shielded his eyes, trying to make out anything from behind what must’ve been the door to somewhere. Parker heard a girl’s voice, “Shhh! Someone’s here!”