"Where am I?" groaned Lucas Catler groggily as he arose from his unconscious state and studied his surroundings from his seat on the forest floor.
"Wow! This forest is neat," cried the twelve-year-old who, like most young boys, loved forests. Suddenly, a barrage of worries of his family flooded his mind. Where were they? Were they alright? Were they hurt? Lucas quickly leapt to his feet and started hunting for his family. Abruptly, he stopped, for he had begun to experience déjà vu. Cautiously, he continued walking but not without questions about the déjà vu he was experiencing plaguing him. Why in the world would would he be having déjà vu? Squeezing his eyes shut to avoid crying from fear and loneliness, he began to jog. A man stepped into Lucas' path. Lucas, not seeing him, ran straight into him.
"Oh! Sorry, sir. I didn't see you there," apologized Lucas as he scrubbed away the embarrassing tears on his face.
"Hello, boy," said the man in a voice that kind of creeped Lucas out. "My name is Enoch Leaner. What's yours?"
"Lucas Catler," Lucas said flatly. Without warning, Enoch whipped a sweet smelling rough black cloth out of his back pocket and harshly slapped it over Lucas' nose. Falling on the ground in dead faint, Lucas remembered no more.
"Ugh," Lucas moaned, opening his eyes and once again studied his surroundings.
"Finally. You're awake," shouted the loud voice of a toddler.
"Oh, hello, Lizzy," said Lucas, glad to see a familiar face--even if it was not someone of closer to his age.
"You okay, Luke?" asked Amos, his sixteen-year-old brother who had just come into the room with the rest of the family, calling him by his familiar nickname.
"Yeah, I guess so, but my head doesn't feel too great," Lucas replied. "Hi, everyone!"
Lucas, noticing his parents' tear-stained faces, asked softly, "Why are we here?"
Lucas's mom, taking a deep breath, responded. "Let me explain. Ten years ago we visited Cuba for vacation. We totally loved the place, so we moved there. A few months later, we fell in love with a little orphan boy. We learned he had been abandoned as a little baby in the forest we are in now. We adopted him and named him Lucas...that baby was you."
"Wow. You never thought to tell me I was adopted? Let me guess. Now you tell me that my other family wants me back," Lucas fumed.
"Actually...yes," Lucas' mom said bluntly.
"Okay. Wow."
A door opened and a couple walked in holding out their arms lovingly and saying, "Lucas, our son."
Lucas looked at them with anger in his eyes and said, "I am not going with some weird parents who left me alone in the woods."
Before the couple could answer, the same door opened and a flustered man ran into the room. He said, "They're not his parents. They're some criminals working to kidnap him!" The couple, looking anxious, began backing out of the room but were stopped by a buff police officer saying, "Mr. and Mrs. Doffer, you and Enoch Leaner are under arrest."
"I knew it. I mean what kind of weird parents try to take back the kid they left?" Lucas laughed, smiling at his family.