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“Chip, we are totally lost.” Jay looked around at the identical trees in every direction and the four paths surrounding them.
“I know exactly where I am Jay, relax. I think we take…uhhh…”, he spun in a full circle, “this path!” he pointed at the one behind them. Jay looked over at the map in Chip's hand, sighed, and turned it upside down.
“Oh.” He paused. “Well, as I always say, there’s no better path than the right one!” He started walking down the path extending to the right. Jay reluctantly followed.
Before they got far, Jay heard a child’s muffled cry from deep in the woods. She immediately began to move towards the cry, but Chip stopped her.
“What if it’s a trap?” He urgently whispered, pulling her close.
“Chip, a kid could be in danger! It’s fine.” Jay brushed off his hand and led the way as they trampled through the dense woods.
In a very small clearing sat a very small boy, with his arms around his legs, crying into his lap. Jay scanned the area for a potential threat but the boy was seemingly alone. Chip hesitantly stayed back as Jay dropped her pack and walked calmly to the boy’s side.
“Hey”, she said calmly, “What’s your name?”
The boy continued crying. After no response, Jay said, “Well my name is Jay, can I ask what happened to you?”
The boy finally looked up and met Jay's concerned eyes as she took in what was a battered and bruised boy, with a black eye and a bloody scrape on his chin.
Chip now walked over to where the two of them were. “Woahhh, looks like you’ve been a little roughed up, huh?”
The boy sniffled and nodded. Jay softly said, “This is my friend Chip, he’s not gonna hurt you.”
Chip sat next to the boy's other side and said, “To me, it looks like you’re really brave.” The boy stared at him with wide eyes and whispered, “Really?” His voice was hoarse from crying.
“Yeah! I know a lot of big tough guys who would be screaming and crying like a little baby if they got hurt like that! You’re barely crying at all!”
The child looked awestruck.
Chip continued, “You must be a really brave kid for your age, how old are you?” The boy looked down again and said nothing.
Jay spoke up. “Well, the good news is that we have some bandages and ointment that will heal you and get you feeling better, is that alright?”
The boy looked up at Jay and again said, “Really?”
“Yeah! I’ll grab them.” She walked over to where she left her pack to find the medicine.
As she left, Chip asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to you? It must’ve been something really cool for you to have these awesome battle scars!” He gestured towards the boy's face enthusiastically.
The boy looked away, and with the same squeaky voice, said “It’s not that cool, I shouldn’t tell you.”
Chip tried again. “Well not everything has to be cool, I guess–”
“I’ll get in trouble if I tell you.” The boy interrupted him and looked him in the eyes.
Chip, taken aback, said, “I see”.
He thought for a moment, then said, “Well, I don’t think that I caught your name.”
The boy stayed silent.
“Listen, if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, but we need to call you something! When I was a kid, I didn’t even know my name!”
The boy looked at him strangely and wiped away a tear. “You...didn’t? What about your parents?” His voice cracked when he said parents, as if it pained him.
“Never really had any, so I got to pick my own name! I called myself Chip after I chipped my tooth when I was really little! Isn’t that silly?”
The boy let out a small laugh, which only made Chip's smile grow wider. “That’s the fun thing about names! You can choose whichever one you want.”
Jay smiled softly as she watched them from a distance.
“So what do you want us to call you? It can be anything.” He gestured towards the open area. “Should we call you, tree, or maybe rock? Ooh! Stump is a good one.”
The kid let out a loud childish laugh as Chip kept naming more objects.
“No, I think I know!” The boy exclaimed.
“Really? That’s awesome!” Jay had never seen Chip look happier. “That was way quicker than I chose mine!”
The boy said excitedly, “What about Ollie?”
Chip threw his hands up in the air in celebration. “Ollie! That’s a great name!” Chip high-fived Ollie and yelled over to Jay, “You hear that? This guy's name is Ollie!”
Jay walked back with the supplies and said, “That’s so cool! Very nice to meet you, Ollie!”
Ollie looked at Chip with so much admiration and happiness on his broken face.
“Okay now, this might sting a little,” Jay said as she placed a bandage on the scrape on Ollie’s chin.
“Ow!” He jolted back.
“It’s okay, Jay,” Chip assured her, “This guy is super brave.”
Ollie beamed as Jay cleaned up the rest of his face.
Chip looked very proud of himself for cheering up Ollie, and asked him, “Would you like to go on a little adventure with us?”
Jay looked over at him, unsure.
“What kind of adventure?” Ollie asked eagerly.
Chip explained, “Well, right now we are looking for our friend who is lost. His name is Gillion and we need to find him.”
Chip’s smile dropped and Jay exhaled.
She continued for him: “We’re looking for a witch who lives in these woods who might be able to tell us how to get to our friend! It might be a little dangerous–”
Chip jumped in. “But I know you can handle it. Everything will be totally fine the whole time.” He assured him.
Ollie jumped to his feet. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Chip, very surprised, said, “Okay!” and jumped up after Ollie, as Jay followed.
They made their way out of the thicket and back on the path.
“Ollie, did you know Chip got us lost on the way over here? He was holding the map upside down!”
Ollie laughed out loud and looked at Chip. “You’re so dumb!”
“Hey! I’m not dumb”, Chip tried to defend himself, smiling. “I was just… creative, in how we got here.”
They all laughed as they walked down the path, embarking on a new adventure.