Topic: Always Believe...

Tara Daktell

Date: 2017-04-11 16:53 EST
...something wonderful is going to happen

The following entries are pages from the journal (pictured above) carried by Tara.

April 7 2017

Hello. My name is Tara Rose Daktell and I am writing this journal in the chance that should I not make it home there is a record of what happened to me.

I was born December 31 2000. My mama used to joke that I was just too impatient to meet the world that I couldn't wait for the New Year. My parents are George and Martha Daktell, and I have one younger brother, Donny. We live in a cramped little apartment above the bakery that my papa inherited from his papa. He likes to say he won mama's heart over with a fresh bear claw.

I'm currently a senior in high school, thinking about going to vet school when I graduate. This summer I have an internship at a big rescue that I really, truly hope I make it to. My grades aren't the best, but I get by.

I've been cheerleading since I was eight years old and my squad are like the sisters I never had. We're thick as thieves and well....I guess that's where all this went on.

Okay, so I am known as the goody-goody teacher's pet of the school. I've never once been in trouble, missed an assignment, a day of school....I don't like to break rules. They exist for a reason, you know" My parents always taught me that if you do good, then good things come to you. And if you do bad things, then bad things happen. So ever since I was a little girl, I've always followed the rules.

But look. I'm seventeen years old. I just want my friends to like me, you know" Like they have been starting to leave me out, because I'm not interested in partying and boys (just yet) and I was so afraid they were going to leave me behind. That's why I did it, honest. I felt so guilty after that I was going to return it!

I guess I should write down what I did, huh' This won't be complete if I don't. Okay.

I stole a bracelet from the creepy antique store. That's not nice, it's not creepy, it's just they sell this really weird stuff like shrunken heads in jars and animal penis bones. The girls dared me to do it. Triple dog dared me. That isn't something you can say no to and not become a complete social pariah. So while the girls distracted the shopkeeper, I took this old bracelet that was kept under a glass dome like the rose from Beauty and the Beast. Omg Emma Watson was so pretty in that!!

Anyway, so I got this thing. It's like a cuff made of some silver material. I don't think it's really silver, just silvery. I thought it was just plain, but when I got it home and cleaned it up a bit I noticed it had, uh, etching things all around. Really, the shopkeeper should thank me, it's much prettier clean. The symbols are sort of neat.

The next day the guilt was just eating me up inside and so I was going to bring it back to the store. I was walking there after school when I got this idea that I wanted to at least try it on first. That's when things went all sideways upside down. The world did, my stomach did, my everything.

Soon as I put it on the symbols start to glow—I SWEAR—and it was like the world started to go wrong all around me. Like everything got washed out and gray and then grayer and grayer until it had all faded away like I was lost in some heavy duty fog. The heaviest I've ever seen. I tried to get the bracelet off, but it just won't fit past my hand, even though it looks like it should. That is until I walked right into the wall.

It wasn't a wall of any building I knew, though. And it's only gotten much weirder from there. Way weirder. And way, way scarier.

Okay, I have to go now. This nice old lady who sells fruit took pity on me and gave me a place to stay so long as I help her with the shop. Or until I figure something out. She said she takes in a lot of the "drop-ins" like me.

Next time I will write about this place. It's crazy!!

Tara Daktell

Date: 2017-04-13 16:54 EST
April 12 2017

Magda is a very nice woman. She has a last name I can't remember and now it's been enough days that I'm worried it'd be rude to ask. I asked her how old she was the other day and she just sort of laughed at me and patted me on the head. I really don't want to make her upset since she had been nice enough to let me stay in the spare room in her shop while I figure out what the h-e-double-hockey sticks is going on. She said her melons seem to attract wayward travelers.

It's flat out freaking crazy here. At first I was just totally freaked out because I got effing teleported to somewhere else, then I find out I'm on a whole other world than I should be and THEN I find out there is all this....all this....crazy ****.

There are minotaurs and dragons and elves and nightmares and everything you can think of it is real. So super real. And the craziest thing? There are humans here and they are all totally cool with all of this. Like living right in it and not even bothered a little bit. Not a bit. Not one little, tiny bit. And here I am freaking out!

The other night Magda encouraged me to go out and gave me directions to this inn place. It's sort of like a bar, but apparently it's okay for people who are underaged to go in. There were actually a couple of guys there that looked maybe around my age. I don't know. They were sort of all over each other so I didn't want to be rude and stare or anything.

There were other people there who seemed kind of nice. One dude had like these carvings on his face. But then there was this minotaur guy and he sort of freaked me out. Not just because he was huge and yanno all not human, but the things he said spooked me. So didn't this lady Layla, but she was at least trying to help me out.

It seems like people are used to other people just sort of showing up. They were talking about Earth and where they came from so I guess it's totally normal for people to just get flung here. Which is just crazy. That it's so normal.

I don't know. I have been pretty overwhelmed, I haven't tried to go out since. I know I need to figure something out, but I have no idea what I can or should do. I'm a kid. I should be looking at colleges to go to, not trying to figure out if I can get a job so I can support myself.

Maybe a dragon will step on me and I won't have to worry about this.

Tara Daktell

Date: 2018-11-29 17:54 EST
November 28 2018

Gosh darn. I forgot I even had this thing still. I got a whole two freaking pages in before I lost it! And hoo boy was it something of a year plus. Okay. I can't really lie to you, Journal page. There wasn't anything that really happened that gives me a good reason for not writing. Life was just life.

So things happened in the city all over the place. Craziness that I think I'm finally starting to get used to.

Let's see....things that have happened since I last wrote....I got a job! That's a good thing, right' Madga introduced me to this vendor who opened up a food truck. He really just needed someone who could drive it and I am an A++ good driver. Okay. So I hit a curb with it the first time I took it out. I've gotten much better.

We sell some crazy taco stuff. Tacos are always popular, right' It's called "Nacho Mama's Tacos*", isn't that great' It's pretty easy food to slap together. Now that I've been with them for a little over nine months I'm even helping with the prep. A lot of stuff is made in the morning and we hit the road for lunch. I'm getting pretty good at making tortillas!

It's good enough money that I was able to get an apartment with a couple roomies. Which is pretty cool, I've never lived with anyone but my parents before. I wanted to only live with girls, however beggars and choosers, right' This dudeguy is out a lot, so I don't worry too much. He's pretty clean, but his room smells like cave troll. The chick is a vampire, which at first made me pretty wary. Turns out she's pretty cool and doesn't like girl-blood, so I'm free and clear. She says Dobric smells like he'd taste like feet. We had a good laugh about that.

Oh jinkies! I gotta get to my shift in the truck. More later!