A hallway... It was a hallway, he thought to himself. Long and dark with very little light, its walls some deep shade of darkened blue with black patterns everywhere, the hallway seemed to stretch on into blackness. But there was something there: a single door just at the end. It was almost haunting him now. When opened, he was afraid he may not like what he found.. But at last, the dream that had tormented him for months, blurred and confusing, was suddenly much clearer. He now knew that this was not the end but only the beginning of a journey that he had been preparing for.. although unknowingly.

(soft, reflective tone) Parker, wrapped in his blanket, tiptoed over the toy-littered carpet towards the window. The cold bit at his face as he shut the wooden panels with a soft click. Hunger gnawed at him, a stark reminder of the meager dinner earlier.

In a moment, Parker had put on his shoes, stuffed a few things of importance into an old backpack, and snuck quietly out of his room, shutting his bedroom door carefully behind him. Silently down the creaking staircase, through the front door, he ran swiftly into the night…the shutters of his window still hanging open...swaying in the icy breeze of the midnight air.