“Excuse me? You appear to be in the wrong place." 

Wanderer stood on the edge of his woods and watched the new arrival approach. She was beautiful in the simplest way. She could've been a cheerleader on the arm of the quarterback back in the Light. Or maybe she was quieter, more reserved, and loved to read while sipping coffee with music playing in the background.  

Wanderer sighed. It didn't matter really. No matter who she was before, she was here now. Her soft brown hair fell over her eyes, which had lost their color and become the milky white of all the Wanderers found. She was blind, of course. Everyone the Wanderer found was blind.  

The sight of her made him sad. Someone so beautiful and full of life shouldn't be here. The Dark Forest was a place for people like him, not her. Either way, he had to help her find her way out. 

Wanderer approached her as she tried to feel her way through the darkness. She came inches from smashing her nose on a rather sickly looking ash tree. 

"Who's there?” Her voice came out quivering and tight with nerves. “It’s too dark, I can’t see anything." 

Wanderer held up his oil lamp to illuminate the immediate area. "Hello there, friend. It would appear you're a little lost." 

The girl's face scrunched up in confusion. "That's not possible. This is where I am supposed to be going. It has to be." 

Wanderer nodded patiently but had to suppress a sigh. This wasn't the first time he'd heard someone say that. The last guy who came through almost punched him when it was insinuated he was going the wrong way. 

"How do you know? What led you here?" Wanderer was walking side-by-side with her now, holding up his lamp so she wouldn't trip over the sickly trees that made up his Forest. 

She thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. So much has been going on and this was the path that I was led to." 

This sentence wasn't new either but Wanderer just said, "Could you elaborate please?" 

"Where to start?" Her voice shook. "My parents fight, my dad is sick, school is so hard, nobody wants me around, and the world has just become grey." 

Wanderer looked around and watched the color fade from the already pale trees and bleed past the now grey grass. 

"I see," he began. "Is there anything we can do right now to help it?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, can we do anything right this minute to make things better?" 

"No way. There's no making this better. The world is a broken, cruel, and twisted place. There's no way we can fix me."  

A tear rolled down the beautiful girl’s cheek as storm clouds rolled above. 

"I doubt that for some reason," Wanderer said with just a faint tone of humor. "Let’s start with the first and third thing." 

The girl thought back to the problems she listed off. “My parents fighting and nobody wanting me?" 

Wanderer nodded. "Those are the things you have to rise above. Sadly, I can't snap my fingers and make your parents all better. But you can't let them hold you back. You can't let their fighting control your life and change your course. They make it more rough, but you can still keep it clear enough to travel." 

As the words escaped his pale lips, the pair stepped onto a rocky gravel path through the woods 

"The next issue is one that you've let the world create in your head. I guarantee that there are people who care about you and want you in their life." 

"There's no way, no way that someone could want me in their life," Another tear rolled and rain began to drizzle down on them, but the fire from the lamp continued to burn, unaffected. 

"Before you came to me, were you talking to someone?" 

"Yeah." Her voice grew softer as she remembered the boy she was talking to. "He's this boy that's super sweet. He told me he was concerned and told me he wanted to take me out on an adventure. Something about how I'd look amazing silhouetted in the setting sun." 

"He sounds like he cares about you. Like he misses you right now as you're here with me" 

"Maybe he does," she whispered hopefully. The girl blushed as the rain slowed to a light drizzle. 

Wanderer spoke again with encouragement. "So we've knocked out two of the problems, which leaves two to go." 

"What could you possibly do about my dad being sick and school being awful?" 

"That's just it, there's nothing that can be done. You're dad being sick isn't something you can change, no matter how awful it is. So why let it consume you? Why let something you can't change dominate your life?" 

The girl nodded. "But what if he doesn't get better? What if I lose him?" 

"That's a possibility. So you should probably make the most of your time with him while you can. One day you'll lose him, no matter what everyone dies. That's just nature and it can't be controlled. But what you do with him, the memories you make with him, that can be controlled and made amazing." 

She nodded again, her brow furrowing with understanding. She opened her mouth but Wanderer spoke again before she could. 

"That leads me to the last problem. School sucks. It really does. It's stressful, it's dull, and it’s frustrating and terrifying and everything in between. But you have to go through it to achieve your dreams. You have four years left, right?"  

She nodded.  

"So you have four years to do dumb stuff and make memories with your friends while school is your only responsibility. Might as well live it up while getting the job done." 

The rain had stopped now and so had their walking. 

"That's four out of the five" The girl said, "You forgot about the world becoming dull and grey." 

Wanderer smiled for the first time. "I think you'll be pretty amazed what happens when you truly open your eyes and look for the beauty in the world." 

He pulled a flower out from his pocket and held it up for her to see. What she expected was a plant that was a few shades of muted gray. But what she found in front of her eyes was a work of natural beauty that was painted a vivid red. The soft rose swayed in the wind and its scent found its way to her nose, and she inhaled the sweet aroma.  

All around her the immediate area bloomed with greens and blues and reds as the Forest came to life. Everything Wanderer's light touched became an addition to the beautiful painting of life she had created. The girl’s eyes lost the milky coloring that clouded her vision and she looked around clearly for the first time with her beautiful hazel eyes. 

"I'm in the wrong place," she declared with newly found conviction. "I have to return to the Light." 

"Yes you do," Wanderer said through a smile. "Right this way." 

And so the pair walked and walked and walked through the treacherous Dark Forest. But the girl was no longer scared, she knew where she had to go and she had The Wanderer's light to guide the way. After what seemed like a small eternity, the girl found that she had reached the edge of The Forest and that her world was visible at last. 

"There it is!" she exclaimed, "We're free! We can go home!" 

Wanderer smiled again but took a step back. "You go on ahead, friend. I think I dropped my matches a few steps back. Don't worry, I'll catch up!" 

The girl nodded and waved. "Don't be too long! I'll see you soon right?" 

"Of course! I'll be right there!" 

And so the girl finally escaped The Dark Forest and returned to The Light and those who loved her. Wanderer watched her go until she was no longer visible with a sad smile on his face. It was true what he said earlier, that he’d miss her if she was gone for good. She never even looked back to see if he was following. Nobody ever did. As the light and color left the Forest, Wanderer truly missed his friend. 

Wanderer stared in the direction of where she said she saw The Light, but all he saw was the Forest. That's all he ever saw, The Forest and the poor souls who wandered into it. He wasn't too totally convinced the Light existed, but he didn't need to. He just needed to get the people he found back there.  

He sat down and scanned the surroundings with his lantern and waited. It usually didn't take too long, but he wouldn't really know because time had lost its meaning. Sure enough, after what could have been ten minutes or ten years or ten millennia, The Wanderer could see a figure approaching in the distance. The darkness made it impossible to tell if it was a boy or girl or how old they were. The milky cloud over Wanderers eyes didn't help either.  

Regardless, Wanderer stood up, stretched his legs, and walked towards the figure. "Excuse me? You appear to be in the wrong place."