“Hey!” I cry out. I stand and cup my hands around my mouth. “Hey! Is there anybody out there? I’m stuck! Help!”
When that doesn’t work, I let out a long, continuous scream as I jump up and down. By the time my throat is feeling raw, I try one last time to pull myself up, but the dirt gives way and I drop back to my rear end, leaning on my hands for support. I close my eyes for a moment, trying to get those deep breathing exercises to calm me, but they don’t. I shake my head, let out a long, slow breath, and look up again.
I am met with a wild shock of long, reddish-brown hair that sticks out all over the head of a young man. His hair is long enough to hang past his shoulders, and his face is covered in a short, rough beard of the same color. Where he isn’t covered in hair, he’s covered in dirt. From the middle of the dirt and hair, he peers at me with the most beautiful, bright green eyes I have ever seen.
I stare at him for a long, long time as he stares back at me, and images from Dad’s lab fly around helter-skelter in my head. The plan was to just stop and say hi and maybe grab some lunch with Dad. I was there only moments ago, but now…now, I definitely am not.
Where am I?
The man at the top of the hole has clear, intelligent eyes, but he’s wearing nothing except a scrap of leather around his waist, and he’s carrying an ancient-style, stabbing-type spear. Whoever he is, he’s not from twenty-first century Georgia.
When am I?
Finally, regardless of my current confusion, I realize my life is about to change in a very drastic way.
THE END