Unusual

Chapter 3

I wake up, disoriented and dizzy, and I can't see much. There is virtually no light, besides the blinking red light in the upper left corner, which is most likely a security camera to watch me and... wait. Where's Shire? I assumed he would be behind me, but all I can feel is a smooth, cold brick wall. My hands are tied behind my back with an itchy rope, so are my ankles. Im sat up against the corner of the room. Did they put Shire in a different room? What happened in that hotel room? But...where am I now?

"Shire?!" I yell out into the darkness. I wait for a response, but can only hear the sound of my own breathing. My voice is hoarse and raspy, I must've been out for a while. "Shire?" I yell out again. This time, I listen more carefully. Then, I hear someone take a deep, sharp breath in. Almost like a gasp. "Shire?!" I call out again, lunging forward towards the breath, only to find out I'm tied to the wall. I hear a groan coming from the far right corner, but I still can't see what it is. But then the lights flash on, without warning. I pull my knees up to my chest and slam my head down, keeping my eyes shut to protect them. Once the initial shock wears off, I slowly open my eyes. I still can't see anything for probably about a minute or two, but when my vision finally clears, I can see I am in a white room, with hard brick textured walls, the ceiling is made of slabs, held together by thin support shelves. The floor is a cold, hard tile, with little spots all over it. The room makes it look as though we are in a classroom. The walls are bare and empty, besides the chalk board on the left wall saying 'Welcome to your new home!' in bubble letters. There's a door in the middle of the far wall, and as I scan the room, taking in my surroundings, I see Shire. He's slumped up against the far right corner, with his head down. I can't tell if he is breathing or not, or if he's even alive. Then he starts to move. I realize I've been staring as he lifts his head to make eye contact with me.

"Nye?" He says. He sounds tired and in pain. I smile when he says my name, and he tries to get up. Before I can warn him, he tries to get up and immediately falls down in pain, with a bone grinding crunch and a yell of pain. His leg must be broken. His hands are tied behind his back, but his ankles aren't bound. Whoever took us must've beat him so badly that they weren't worried about him running away. But as my shock wears off, I start to notice certain details about him. He has blood dripping down the corner of his mouth, and down the side of his head. The blood was crusted and dried, but if he got a blow to the head that made him bleed, he most likely had a concussion. I haven't been aware of my own situation until I look down at myself. I have bruises on my legs and my shirt has blood stains on it. I'm not sure why my legs have bruises. They just knocked me out when I walked into the hotel room. There was no fight, so why do I have bruises? I'll figure it out later, I'm more worried about how to get out of here.

I try to get up again. This time, focusing on what part of me is attached to the wall. Once I fall down, I realize the rope on my hands is attached to some sort of loop or hook that is anchored to the wall. I try to lift myself at different angles to try and get the rope unhooked, but to no avail. Then I start just shaking and trying to rub the rope against the thing that is keeping me attached to the wall. After a couple minutes, I start to smell burning. That's a good sign. After probably 10 minutes, I'm still attached to the wall, but I keep at it in hopes of getting free.

After going at it for what seems like forever, the rope finally snaps. I don't freak out immediately, simply because of the camera; I have no idea who is on the other side. The camera is rotating, so once it points at the closer left corner, away from both me and Shire, I scoot across the floor like a madman in his direction. I successfully reach him, but he isn't awake. I shake his shoulders as I look back at the camera to make sure I'm in the clear. I do a double take of the camera as I quickly realize it's pointing right at us... and not moving. They tricked us, and now I'm probably going to die for escaping. At this point, I don't care.