Zipped

4: The Landing

“Celia. Who are you? What are you doing here? There was only supposed to be one guy who came down the zipper today,” the young girl questioned us. “How’d you get here? Why are you here?”

“Whoa, a lot of questions. One at a time,” Molly requested.

Celia nodded slowly. “Okay. Who are you?” She looked at the two of us, and with the small light we could see there was a hint of fear in her eyes.

“I’m Thomas, and this is my sister, Molly,” I answer, giving her a small smile. “Don’t be scared. We’re not going to hurt you, I promise,” I assure her, trying to make her understand. I didn’t want her to be afraid of us. She could be our only link to Elsie. We may need her help, and that won’t go very well if she’s afraid of us.

Celia nodded. “Okay. I’m not scared of you, anyway,” she said, even though her eyes said otherwise. “Then what are you doing here?” She asked softly, her grip tightening on her torch.

“We jumped down here. We’re looking for our little sister. She fell in here by accident and we want to bring her back home,” Molly explained. “Have you seen her anywhere? Small, blonde, about seven years old? Gives incredibly good death glares?” I couldn’t help smiling at what Molly said. It was all true, but it was still kind of funny to think about.

“You mean Elsie? Oh, I know where she is. Follow me,” Celia said. She turned around and hurried back down the path she came, only this time we could actually see her walk away.

Molly and I shared a look, and without further hesitation, we hurried after her to find out where our sister was. The sight of a living girl gave me hope that she was still alive, as well as the fact that we were actually still alive and walking. But Elsie wasn’t as strong as she thought she was. The fall might have hurt her badly anyway.

I had to push the thought out of my head as I followed her out of the area. “So, Celia,” I begin, walking beside her. “What did you do that got you sent down here? I thought they didn’t use this kind of punishment on minors.”

I saw Celia start to laugh. “You think I was sent here? This is the only place I know. I was born here, Thomas,” she said, and my eyes widened. She started to laugh at me as she saw my reaction, as well as my sister’s, who had a very similar reaction. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?” she asked with a smile, still laughing.

“You were born down here?” Molly asked. “B-but…” she stuttered, just staring at her.

“So were my brother and sister,” Celia added, knowing it would just surprise us even more. And it sure did!

“Your brother and sister too?” Molly asked. Then I saw her eyes widen even more, and I knew she had figured something out. “Were your parents the ones who were thrown in while the woman was pregnant?”

Celia nodded. “That’s right. And that baby was my older brother, Neil. Then my sister came along, and then there was me. We’re the Greens,” she told us.

“Well, you have an interesting family,” I couldn’t help muttering.