Chapter Two.

I turned around when I heard the loud slam of the heavy doors behind me. Through the glass, I could see Charlie wave to me before he disappeared down the long hallway. I positioned my body to face the front again and adjusted my backpack and sighed. I was on my own, now.
My immediate surroundings screamed that I was in a place like no other. The streets were made of hard, dark gray cobblestone and the buildings were made of a smoothe material of the same dark colour. They were twisted in shape, interesting to look at and almost like something that would appear in a Dalí painting. Streetlamps were placed in various places, not continuously but in just enough places that there were very slim dark spaces in the Twilit world.
Not many people were out tonight, I noted as I began walking, not sure of which direction I was supposed to go. The figures drifted lightly on the sidewalks and in the streets, conversing with each other in quiet, hushed tones and voices. They didn't seem menacing but I had this gut feeling that these weren't the right people to talk to right away.
My shoes flopped lightly on the rough ground as I slowly made my way away from the Facility building and farther on my seemingly long journey back home. A few minutes of walking and I realized that I would not be getting anywhere if I didn't find help soon. At that moment, I felt a slight quiver in my hands. I looked down at the small red book I held in my hands. Didn't Charlie say that this book was a "Very Helpful Book"? I shrugged and opened Chuck. Expecting a miracle, I was disappointed when I saw that the first few pages were empty.
"Some helpful book you are," I muttered and flipped a few more pages. I gasped when I saw dark, bold writing that looked as if it were written in a few seconds:"You just have to know how to ask" as soon as I'd read the words, they vanished.
I clamped the book shut and breathed, not believing my eyes and questioning my sanity. Then I realized something, of course I was insane, I'm on a 'journey' of 'self-discovery' and 'redemption' brought on by me being in a coma.
"Alright, Chuck, I'll play your game," I muttered. "Where do I go next?" I opened the book and the first page I opened to had the same messy handwriting:The question is where do you NOT go next?Chuck was playing games with me, so I shrugged and continued walking. Apparently, he was going to be enigmatic and if that was the case, I needed to come up with a darn good question to ask him if I really needed help. The little book quivered slightly in my hands so I opened it.
"Follow your star, your voice and your heart... Use common sense and don't trust the Pixies- they only lead to trouble."
"My star?" I questioned first. "Well, my birthday is in May... so that makes me a Taurus-" I looked up pensively at the sky. Unfortunately, there were no stars. It was still twilight out. "Alright, my voice? What do you mean by that?" I flipped the page after the previous handwriting disappeared.
"The one inside your head, you DO have one, don't you?" Was Chuck just toying with me? Or did he mean the phantasmal voice that I actually heard? How did he know?
"Alright, so I listen to the voice inside my head. Who is it? Do you know?"I flipped the page. Nothing. Apparently I was asking too many questions, or not the right ones. So I gave up on the voice... for now."And last but not least, my heart? How cheesy can you get?"
A small smiley face appeared in the center of the page I had turned to.
"Thanks Chuck, and I'll be sure to look out for Pixies." Whatever they look like, I thought to myself.I continued walking with Chuck in my hands in case he decided to spout off any more useful information.
These streets seemed endless and they all seemed the same to me. Each house was the same dark gray colour, each street name was the same name: "One Way Lane". This wasn't making much sense to me. Who in their right mind would name every single street the same?
"Well," I said to myself. "This is getting me nowhere, so lets just think," and as I said that, looking at the ground, I ran into something hard.
With a soft 'oof', I dropped Chuck on the hard cobblestone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," a cheery voice emanated from the thing I ran into. I looked up to see a tall figure, not like the rest of the 'people' I saw here. "Let me get that for you!"
This person was taller than I was and thin, lanky almost. He had sandy blond hair and a bright smile on his face as he handed Chuck to me.
"Um, thanks," I said nervously. Was this a pixie? I always pictured a pixie to be... smaller.
"No problem, I'm Olliver," he said and held out his hand. I took it. "But you can call me Ollie!"
"Krista," I replied. His grip was strong but gentle and his deep blue eyes gazed sweetly into mine.
"So, Krista, what is such a bright person such as yourself doing in a bland, boring place as this?" He seemed cheerful enough, and not like a troublemaker. Maybe I should be nice, too.
"Actually... I'm trying to get out of this place, but I keep getting lost. All the signs here look the same. You're not a pixie are you?" I asked quickly.
At first, Olliver looked at me as though I was crazy, then he burst out laughing.
"No, no. I'm not a pixie, those little demons are much smaller and their not half as good looking as I," he struck a pose that I had to smile at. "And," he continued "I'm on my out of this place, so if you're lost, you could accompany me? I'm dreadfully alone and sad."
Sad? That was hard for me to believe. He said he was lonely and sad, yet he said all of this with the biggest smile I've ever seen, plastered onto his face. I thought about it for a moment. I could go with him, not get lost, and be THAT much closer to getting back home. On the other hand, I just met Olliver. He could be... well, dangerous seeing as how he was technically still a stranger. I looked around, the shadows of people weaved in and out of the lamplight and floated noiselessly above the ground in such a way that sent shivers up my spine. They gave off a menacing presence, even though they hadn't tried to harm me... yet.
"Alright," I said. "I'll come with you, but you have to help me with something."
"Okay," Olliver said brightly led the way. "What would that be?"
"You see, I'm kind of on a... quest... to the Otherworld."
"The Otherworld?"
"Yes, I'm from there, you see and would like to get back."
"You're from the Otherworld?" Oh man, had I said something wrong? Maybe telling him what I was up to wasn't such a hot idea. "That's so... COOL! Wow, I've never met someone from the Otherworld, whats it like?"
"Its alright, I guess. Its way different from here, no crazy looking places or anything," then I thought about it. "Well, our places would be crazy looking to you."Olliver nodded and smiled, he seemed to do that a lot. That dazzling smile of his never left his face as we walked down the dimly lit streets. Pretty soon, I could see the edge of town and as we neared it, fewer and fewer people appeared from out of the shadows.
"We're almost out," Olliver whispered. "If we can get by safe, we'll be home free." Why was he whispering?As we neared the boarder of the town, two tall, dark figures materialized in front of us, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You're not going anywhere," one of them growled.