After

Keys

Uhhh, god does my head hurt. I open my eyes and am greeted by darkness. "Where the hell am I." I say as I rub my eyes scratching sleep out of the corners. I let out a hollow groan as I push myself to sit up. BANG! "What the..." My head crashes against the top of something, I stretch my hands over my head and realize that I am inside something. I try to find a hatch, my hands dancing along the wood.

    "Hey, is anybody there. Someone help me." I yell out as I bang my hands against the wood. Suddenly I here footsteps approaching me, I cower into the darkness making myself as small as possible. My small calloused hands reached out in front of me. I close my eyes, praying that this is all just a dream, just my imagination. I begin to pray to the God I don't believe in.

    I hear keys entering a lock and begin to cry. I shut my eyes as tight as I can, blocking out all light that is now entering the darkness. My mind goes blank as I hear a loud creaking sound and a beautiful light surrounds me, burning through my shut eyes. "Why hello there, hey, hey, hey... No need to hide like that." A small hand reaches down and touches my shoulder, I am immediately greeted by a sense of, calmness. A feeling I've never really experienced before.

    I am met with the desire to open my eyes and am greeted with a boy, probably 10 or so. He has black eyes, but that is an understatement,  his eyes are lined with a hundred different shades of brown and black. They are coated with a colour even deeper than death, they speak volumes and sing songs that have been long forgotten. I fall into a trance when I look into them. He has long hair that screams to be noticed against his dark skin. His hair dances around his square face, curling around his neck; reaching up towards his hollow cheeks.

"Hey, there we go. How you doing, you must be tired no?" He speaks his voice coated with an accent I couldn't quite place. He reaches out his hand to my stick like arms, and pulls me up with ease. I stumble on my feet, struggling to find my balance.

"Yeah, I'm ok...Not too tired." I manage to say.

"Thats good we've got lots of to see t'day."

"Oh, ok. May I ask, where am I?"

He looks at me like that was the stupidest question he's ever heard. "Ummm, do you really not remember anything, about how you got here, what happened to you...?"
"No, should I?"

"I guess your memory will come back in time, you should probably talk to Rhea about that though. She will be able to tell you more...about all of that." I begin to look around taking in my surroundings.

    Beautiful paintings and wardrobes line the gold walls. A rug sewed with roses and tulips covers the floor. The rooms ceilings seem as though they go on forever, and I can't see what comes after the room.

"Oh my goodness, you don't even know my name, I'm Ash. Its nice to meet you."

    "I'm Ariella, though most just call me Aella." I give him a crooked smile, my incisor teeth sticking out past my bottom lip. "Yeah I know. Everyone here knows who you are." I begin to feel un-easy, looking around to try to find a way out. Where the hell am I. "No need to be afraid, come on lets get goin'. I'll show you the other kids down here."