Ch. 1
Amy stared up at the top shelf of the closet. Yes, the box was still there. The old Toshiba TV box that she had discovered the day before. The box that, to her parents, didn't exist.
Amy had questioned her parents about the mysterious box the day before. They swore that that they had never seen the box, and also swore that they had never bought a Toshiba TV.
"We try to buy American products," Amy's father had said, "and Toshiba is definitely not American."
Amy's parents told her that she was seeing things, that the box never existed, that she should forget all about it. But so far Amy Lane hadn't forgotten, and she never would.
Amy ran for a stool and brought back the tallest one she could find. She mounted it right beneath where the box sat, and began to climb onto the stool.
Amy looked at the box, wondering if she should risk looking through it. The box stared down at her as if to say, I dare you. Amy began to climb down. I double dog dare you. Amy stared at the box skeptically. I triple dog dare you.
"That's it," Amy mumbled to herself. She hoisted herself back onto the stool, stood up, and stretched her arms toward the box, but to no avail. Amy still couldn't reach.
She decided to give up. If her parents didn't know about it, it couldn't be that important. It was probably just filled with old junk that the family never used.
Amy carefully picked up the stool and took it back where it was. That was probably enough excitement for her for one day.
Ch. 2
RING!
Amy jumped out of bed with a start. She eyed her alarm clock and groaned. It was Monday. The start of the week. The start of the school week. Ugh. School. It was legal torture. And to top it off, they made you bring the torture home with you. Amy rolled out of bed, stretched, yawned, and stumbled to her closet to get dressed.
* * *
Amy and Jaime gripped the naugahyde seats and clung for their lives. The bus sped up and dipped. Everyone threw their hands in the air and screamed as the bus dipped deeper and then quickly came up.
"That was a BIG one!" Jaime screamed.
"Get ready for another!" shouted Ryan. Ryan was the 16-year-old bus driver for the girls' school who loved taking his job to the extremes.
The bus grunted, and then sped to life again. Everyone cheered but soon began to scream again as the bus took another dip.
"HEY!" Amy shouted against the noise.
"WHAT?!" Jaime bellowed back.
"Guess what happened yesterday?"
"What?"
"I found a weird box in my house and my parents said that they've never heard of it."
"So why are you concerned? Is it important?"
"They told me I was seeing things, but it was there in plain sight!"
"Strange. Oh look, here comes another!"
The girls clung again to the torn-up bus seats as the bus took another dip. The bus then hit a pothole which aroused many screams and yelps.
Ryan turned around. "Fun's over, kids." The bus slowed, and soon turned into the girls' school, Waterton Middle.
"Darn..." Amy mumbled. When the bus had stopped, Ryan ushered the kids through the doors and wished them good luck at school. Amy knew that they all needed it.
Classes were monotonous, but Amy, her friends, and the other students were eventually relieved by lunch.
Amy took her usual seat at the lunch table; in front of Lisa, next to Jaime, and across from Ashlen. Today's lunch was grilled cheese and soup; not the best lunch, but at least it was somewhat edible. Amy examined her plate. A ring of grease surrounded the edge of her soup bowl. Blech was the first thing that came to Amy's mind. Blech. She turned to her sandwich. It looked edible. Amy took a bite. Could there be such thing as a rubbery grilled cheese? Now there was.
Amy swallowed the bite of rubbery grilled cheese and put the rest of the sandwich back on her plate. the sandwich was blech, too. Amy quickly pushed the plate away.
"I'm fasting..." she uttered.
"Too hungry to fast," said Lisa, "and don't you want your cookies?"
Amy grabbed her Oreos and ate them quickly. "Now I'll fast."
Ashlen looked away, then jumped.
"Hey Amy, I think that new guy's lookin' at you."
“Who, that Josh kid? Or was it James?" Jaime questioned.
Amy and Lisa turned to look.
"Yep, that's Josh." Amy said.
“And yes, he was looking at Amy. He just turned back around." Lisa added.
"Whatever," Ashlen said, "the boys in this class are mean and not very good-looking anyway. One new kid won't change that."
"It never does." replied Amy. She turned to look at the guys again. The Josh kid caught her eye and waved. Amy smiled a little, then turned back to her group. She quickly joined their discussion about the literature test that was coming up that afternoon. At least it was on a book that was somewhat enjoyable.
Ch. 3
Amy got off the bus and waved to Jaime as the bus slowly crawled down the asphalt road. The afternoon's ride wasn't exactly as exciting as the morning's.
It was raining, so Amy sighed, put a book over her head, and trudged down the sidewalk to her house.
Amy always thought on her way home. Today's thought topic was the new Josh kid, and why in the world he would want anything to do with Amy. Did he like her? If that were the case, she would be the laughingstock of the school.
Girls at Waterton Middle didn't care much for boys, and treated them as terribly as they could. Anyone who liked a guy or was liked by a guy was instantly shunned.
Amy finally decided to forget about it as she unlocked her front door.
But, unknown to Amy, something was about to happen to her that she would definitely never forget.
Ch. 4
Amy set down her enormous back-pack and wiped her feet on the raggy doormat. She had a lot of homework that night, she couldn't have any interruptions, she-
Suddenly, Amy felt the floor beneath her shake. She turned around. There was nothing in front of, behind, or next to her. Amy sighed. It was probably just her imagination.
And then, Amy was dropped, the doormat beneath her.
* * *
Amy was rapidly descending down a rectangular tunnel which was only lit by a vertical row of orange neon lights in each corner. Amy looked at her hands. They were shaking, but at least she still had all ten fingers. She still had her feet, and, she touched her hair, still had her hair. Amy's body kept descending, and was shaking with fear.
This has to be some kind of dream she thought. Maybe if I pinch myself, I'll wake up!
Amy moved her shaky left hand towards her right arm, cringed, and pinched as strongly and as sharply as she could. She was still descending, and could still see the orange neon lights. She yeeped, and realized that this wasn't a dream. It also seemed too real to be a dream, for that matter.
Slowly, the doormat reached solid ground, and Amy found herself in a large room with walls covered in computer screens and illuminated by the information that the screens displayed. Amy checked to make sure that the ground beneath her was even, then stepped off of the doormat. It ascended behind her, leaving Amy with only one option: to stay in the mysterious room.
Before long, Amy realized that she was the only person in a room of computers. She decided that she would look for someone, anyone would do.
"Hello?" Amy called into the sea of computers.
"HELLO." a computer chimed back.
"Hello?! Anyone here?" Amy called again, not at all satisfied with the computer's response. Amy sighed.
Unexpected to Amy, another doormat flew onto the floor next to her. This doormat carried a man who looked like he was somewhere in his thirties. The man stepped off of the mat and onto the floor in front of him. His right arm flew to his mouth as he uttered, "Agent Clemens, clocking in. Ready for assignment." The man had been speaking into a watch, which he was now fiddling with.
Amy caught the man's eye.
"Hey there, Lassie." the man said to her. "Aren't you Amy Lane?"
