Darkness

Locked

The room is even larger than they first expected-it seems to stretch on for miles and miles. They walk and walk, and the closer they get, the brighter the light seems. 

"So...do you have any idea where we are? Any at all?" Paige asks after a while.

"...Nope, I'm, uh, clueless... You?" Oscar stutters, looking at his feet.

"Erm...okay..." she says, slightly suspicious of his reaction. His broken speech and refusal to make eye contact couldn't mean nothing, could they? No time to worry about that now, though, she thinks.

Seconds after the conversation, they find that they have reached the end of the room. They can see a brick wall smothered in black paint with the surprisingly faint light overhead- perhaps it has been dimmed while they were walking? There are a few red stains on the walls- not enough to worry properly about, but enough to make the pair feel uneasy.

And that's not all.

There is a door.

"S...should we open it?" asks Paige. 

"I dunno...probably," says Oscar.

"Oh, what have we got to lose?" Paige exclaims, and grabs the door handle. She twists it and flings the door open.

And nothing happens.

"Anti-climax..." she murmurs, then walks through the doorway, Oscar following closely in her footsteps.

The new room is a lot smaller and brighter, nothing too special but they can see the wall at the other end and there are a few chairs at the side. But they can see something else. Three other people.

The three other people have spotted them too, and have leapt up, backing away. 

"Relax! We aren't going to hurt you!" Paige insists, and they relax a bit, but they still seem unsure.

"I'm Paige..." she says. "And you are...?"

"Coby," says a boy at the front of the group. "I'm Coby. These wee guys are Zach and Jenny," he says, gesturing to the two others beside him. They look scared. 

"Do you know where we are?" asks Oscar.

"Naw," Coby says, laughing a little. "Damn, I was hoping you would. Ah well. At least we've found mair people. Safety in numbers an' all."

"Yeah, but without knowing where we are, we have no chance..." Paige counters.

Coby chuckles again. "I'm very much in the dark as to our location!" he says, laughing. This is clearly a joke in reference to their gloomy surroundings, as does not need to be explained. Paige is reminded of a boy in her primary seven class who never stopped with the awful puns. She groans at the rubbish joke, but there's something funny around it anyway so she starts laughing.

"Urgh. That's not even funny," moans a female voice who, Paige assumes, must be Jenny.

"Whiiiiiit? You have no sense of humour!" proclaims Coby jokingly.

"Yeah I do!" Jenny retorts defensively, taking it all far too seriously.

"Hey, uh...where you from?" he asks with a sly smile.

"Newcastle..." she says, unsure of why that is relevant in any way. 

"Ah. So, you're English?"  Coby, repressing giggles.

"Er, yeah...why?" she says, the I'm-getting-really-freaked-out tone obvious in her voice.

Coby grins. "Well, that explains a lot!" he laughs. Paige knows that he's wrong to assume all English people are stuck-up and humourless, but she can't help but laugh. This guy is funny! she thinks.

Coby hears her laughter and smiles at her. Jenny looks unimpressed. 

"I don't know what you're laughing at...England is a brilliant country. Where are you from?"

Paige jumps in. "No need to start the whole country rivalry thing, guys..." She knows how explosive arguments about which nation in the UK is the best can get.

"Yeah, but I'm curious...where is everyone from?" asks Oscar.

"Edinburgh!" Coby proudly declares. "Scottish through and through!"

"Not a particularly Scottish name, though..."  says a quiet male voice. He must be Zach.

"True, true. My da's fae Montana," replies Coby, unshaken.

"Ah," says Zach. "I'm from Denbigh. Wales."

"Nice," mutters Paige. Wales. That's where they film Doctor Who, she reminds herself.

"Where you fae?" asks Coby, this time directing it at Oscar and Paige.

"Belfast," Oscar says simply. He gives a quick, tiny smile after his answer. Probably so he seems friendly, bless him, Paige thinks. She's seen kids from school do the same thing.

"Kelso," she tells everyone. "But my dad lives in Aberdeen, so I sometimes visit him there."

Coby smiles. "Scotland rocks."

"Yeah," Paige yells with enthusiasm. The Scottish pride is sort of a national inside joke, but they do seriously love where they come from.

For a few moments, everyone is silent, for there is nothing to say.  Then Coby breaks the ice.

"So...how are we gonna get out of here...?" he asks.

"Just keep exploring until we find an escape route, I guess..." says Paige with a shrug. How am I supposed to know?

"Well. Where's the entrance to the next room, then?" asks Coby again.

"I dunno, but the door to the room we came from is there," Oscar says, jumping in before anyone else can reply. He jumps to his feet and walks to the door handle. He turns it, but the door won't open.

It has been locked.