Silence

Chapter 1

I quickly scrambled up and felt a warm liquid dripping down my face. I knew what it was, but I couldn't stop. If I did, it would catch me. I looked down the newer hall, darker than the last.

Windows covered in vines inside and out were on the walls. Gray tiled floors, cracked and broken, vines scattered across them, in some areas you couldn't even see the floor. I looked around the hall as I ran, and saw an open door.

I silently thanked whoever might be watching me, and ran into the room. I turned around and used all the force in my body to close the door.

I could hear the beast approaching me, and it sounded a lot closer than I liked. I pushed harder, the door was moving slowly and creaked so loud that I was sure that it could be heard throughout the building.

The beast screeched again, it sounded as if it was no more than 100 feet away from me. I started to panic, and adrenaline had been pushed through my body.

I didn't know if I would be able to close the door in time to avoid the beast. The door was so close to closing.

Suddenly, a pale hand had slashed through the crack of the door, just barely missing my face. I jumped back and pushed the door harder. The beast's screeches filling my ears. It was clawing around for me, and then swiftly scratched my arm with its long claws.

I winced and pushed harder, then as if it was a miracle, the beast pulled its arm and back, and the door closed. I had turned and leaned against the door, panting and bleeding. I looked around the new room, and it seemed to be a bathroom.

It was white and was in the same poor state as the rest of the building. Cracked mirrors hanging on the wall above sinks, stalls with toilets that obviously didn't work. Some places had blood on the walls, with piles of I didn't want to know what.

I walked up to one of the mirrors and looked at myself. I seemed to be as pale as paper, only a shade brighter than the beast I had just avoided. Long, straight black hair, some of it drenched in blood and knotted from the gash on my head, reaching my waist. My eyes were a dull gray, and my lips were downturned and pink.

I looked at my arm in my reflection, too scared to look at it directly. Three long red slashes went down my arm. My eyes filled with tears as the pain started to slowly fill in as my adrenaline died down. I reached to touch before pulling back in hesitation.

I looked around the room. I had nothing to wrap the wound in. I knew where the infirmary was, having to survive in this place for years on end. I didn't know if the beast was still on the other side of the door or not, but I decided not to find out just yet. I reached down and torn off a section of the hem of my gown, and used my teeth to tie it tightly and securely around the wound. There was nothing I could do for my head though.

I tired myself out and used a lot of my stamina running from the beast. The bleeding from my head and arm, which now had fully bloodied the makeshift bandage.

I sighed and looked down at the ground, I saw a piece of tile that had seemed to be out of place. I reached and removed it, underneath was a leather journal with a pen on top of it. I had these planted throughout the place, finding them in a room full of supplies.

I opened the journal and turned to one of the blank pages. I then started to write.

I still need to figure out why I'm here, and how I even got here to begin with. I need to leave. I saw LeafMouth when I woke up, and I should have known better than sleeping in a room with a broken door.

It's been a few months I think since I've been here. I haven't remembered anything new. I'm still hearing that voice and she's still helping me, at least I think she is. If she had;t been, I wouldn't have known about LeafMouth.

Speaking of which, I haven't seen anything else yet. I can't tell if that's a good thing or not.

I'm waiting for it to rain, that way I can get some more water. I also need to find some more of the SmallOnes, I haven't eaten in a few days. The taste of those things is getting tiring though. I wish there was something else to eat.

I still haven't found any signs of other people. I don't think I ever will. I'll have to assume that the voice is just my instinct.

After finishing the entry I closed the journal and placed it back underneath the tile. I then closed my eyes and relaxed against the door, I couldn't leave right now, I was too tired, and needed to regain some energy first. Knowing that, I fell asleep.