Prologue

*8 years ago*

I giggled as I looked over to Tyler- with his floppy brown hair and bright green eyes- to see he was smiling evilly at me. Which was funny to see on his ten year old face.

"You can't catch me!!" I giggled as I ran away from my best friend.

"Oh yes I can!" Tyler said as he chased after me.

"No, you can't!" I called as I ran faster, I looked around for a place to go and saw the forest.

I smiled because I knew I would be able to lose him in there. He wouldn't be able to catch me if he couldn't find me. I giggled as I ran for the forest, I could still hear Tyler behind me. I turned around slightly and saw him, but he couldn't see me, I laughed quietly and ran a little further in the forest and then stopped behind a tree.

When I didn't hear anything, I peaked around the tree and saw him just standing there, looking around.

"Dakota!" He called out, I put my hand over my mouth and giggled."Dakota come on, this isn't funny!" He called out again.

He was getting closer now, I watched as he passed where I was and held in another giggle so he wouldn't notice me. He looked up through the trees and sighed, wondering what he was looking at, I looked up too and saw that it was almost completely dark. I wanted to leave now because I didn't like the dark, but I didn't want him to find and catch me, so I stayed quiet where I was at.

He started walking further into the woods, not even caring that it was getting dark. Waiting till he was a little further away, I decided to try to scare him.

"Dakota!! Come on, it's getting dark! We won't be able to see anymore!" He called out, I looked up and saw he was right.

Sighing, I decided I would sneak up on him now instead of waiting, that way I could go back to the house while I can still see. Slowly and silently, I began to creep up on him. His back was to me as he called out my name, looking around for me. I got closer and smiled, as soon as he stopped to call my name again, I jumped out.

"Boo!" I screamed and poked his sides. He screamed and jumped up in the air, his reaction causing me to start laughing really hard.

"Oh, you're so gonna get it now!" He said with an evil smile on his face. My eyes grew wide, and I immediately stopped laughing.

"You'll have to catch me first!" I called as I turned around and bolted for the house, or at least the way I thought was towards the house.

"Dakota, you're going the wrong way!" He called out, but I hardly heard him. I just kept laughing and running away from him.

As I ran through the woods, I barely took in that it was darker and I could hardly see where I was going now. I faintly heard Tyler calling after me, but I was too focused on running. When I suddenly didn't hear anything at all, I stopped where I was and looked around, but I realized I didn't recognize what part of the woods I was in.

I started to get scared, there was nothing familiar about this area, I was alone, and it was dark. I turned around in circles trying to figure out the way I had come from, but then started to cry because I couldn't figure it out. Suddenly I heard a twig snap. because I wasn't able to see, I got really scared. I immediately turned away from where the noise came from and ran.

I ran and ran and ran, and then suddenly I tripped over a tree root that I couldn't see sticking out of the ground. I screamed as I fell and screamed again when I landed on my knee. Pain shot up my leg and I started crying.

Looking around I still didn't see anyone, and I was hurt. I tried to get up, but pain erupted in my leg causing me to scream out. I put my hands over my mouth and tried to stop crying because mommy says big girls don't cry. I slowly got quieter and I was able to hear the noises around me.

More twigs snapped in the distance, and I started to panic again. I looked around but could barely see a thing. A couple feet behind me was a big tree with large roots that stuck out of the ground, it was what had tripped me, but I wanted to hide. So I pushed myself closer to it till my back was pressed against it. I tried slowing my breathing again and could hear some more noise around me.

I started to freak out when it got closer, causing me to whimper. But then suddenly a familiar voice called out.

"Dakota!" I heard Tyler's voice getting closer to me.

"Tyler" I tried to call out, but I was still too scared of what was around me.

"Dakota!" I heard his voice again, it was a little closer and i could tell he sounded worried, maybe he knew what was making that noise out there and wanted to get away from it.

Then I couldn't hear him calling me anymore and thought I was alone. I let the tears slide down my face as I silently cried. Out of nowhere I heard a few more twigs snap, and my heart jumped in my chest.

I looked around frantically but couldn't see anything because it was too dark. I was scared, hurt and alone. I started whimpering again in fear when I heard a few twigs snap, the sound was closer to me this time. Then a shadowy, silhouette   came into view, and I pushed myself further into the tree. It's head turned my way and then it immediately ran towards me.

I shut my eyes and cowered away so I couldn't see whatever it was. I didn't want to see whatever it was, because it would probably hurt me. I shut my eyes tighter and whimpered as I heard it right next to me.

"Dakota!" A voice called out happily. I opened my eyes and saw it was Tyler right in front of me.

"Tyler!" I said in relief and threw my arms around his neck. He hugged me right back.

"You scared me," he mumbled in relief.

"I'm sorry!" I cried.

"Don't ever run away from me again," he told me sternly as he pulled away, showing me he was serious by the look on his face.

"Okay." I nodded and wiped my tears.

"Come on, let's go back home." He said standing up, he tried to pull me up but I cried out in pain when I tried to stand on my leg. He hurriedly helped me sit back down, and then looked at me. "What happened? Are you okay?" He asked, looking at me with worried eyes.

"I think I hurt my knee." I said in a wobbly voice, my hands going to my knee.

He ran his hands through his hair and glanced back to where we came from and then to me again. His looked worried and thoughtful, and then he sighed really loudly getting up. He looked back down at me with sorry eyes.

"I'll be right back, I gotta go get help." he said about to take off. My breathing quickened as I thought about him leaving me here in the woods alone and by myself.

"No! No, don't leave me here, Tyler." I sobbed and tried to get up, but a shot of pain went through my knee again causing me to fall to the ground. He quickly knelt to the ground beside me, looking at me with so much worry.

"Please don't move, I need to go get help." he pleaded with me, tears in his eyes.

"Please don't leave me." I cried, not even bothering to wipe away the tears this time. He sighed but nodded, he sat there on the ground next to me.

"Okay Dakota, don't worry. I won't leave you." He hugged me.

"You promise?" I sniffed.

"I promise, I won't ever leave you. Okay? I promise I won't ever leave you," he said, and I believed him. My arms quickly went around him as I hugged him back, feeling safe again.

"Thank you, Tyler."

"But I need to get us back," he said looking sad, then he perked up with an idea. "How about I carry you?"

"Tyler you can't carry me." I giggled shaking my head, the tears finally stopping.

"Sure I can. Since you're hurt, it's the only way we can get out of here." he said with determination in his voice.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." he said with a voice that left no room for argument.

He put one arm under my knees and his other behind my back, then picked me up like a baby. I winced when my leg would get jerked because he was walking, but I stayed silent and didn't let him hear me cry.

I started to get tired and rested my head on his chest as he walked us through the forest. I looked up and saw him getting tired as well, I tried to tell him to just put me down but he insisted to keep going. He was walking slower as we went, but then finally, I saw the end to the forest where the house was. I heard voices calling our names, and as soon as we emerged from the forest, our parents ran to us.

My mom cried as she saw us, she immediately picked me up out of Tyler's arms and hugged me. Then she pulled Tyler into a hug as well, which turned into a big group hug.

"Thank you so much Tyler, you found my baby!" my mom cried as she hugged him.

Tyler didn't leave my side that whole night, even when he slept. He made his mom let him stay with me till he knew I was all right, and even after that he would hardly go a day without seeing me. He always stayed with me.

We became inseparable.