Survival of the Fittest

Chapter one:

I woke up sweaty and shaking from an unbearable sleep. Had I been knocked out? I wasn’t sure, but what I was sure of was that I was nowhere near my bedroom. I look around to see that I am lying in a cold floored room that is completely white and very small. I saw no doors or windows anywhere, this made me shake even more and feel a little claustrophobic. “Where am I?” I thought out loud, as tears welled up in my eyes. Nobody replied, all that I could hear was the faint echo of my voice bouncing off the walls as I stood up to walk around.

“WELCOME!” boomed a voice. The vibrations of this sudden loud noise brought me to the ground. “WHERE AM I?” I cried. I heard a faint laugh a sudden sigh coming from the echoing room around me. “ You are here to play a game Joanna, you are here to survive. I can tell you no more than this, you get one partner, when the walls around you start to descend you will find others just like you, from those people, you must choose one. That is all.” The voice boomed as I jumped up to yell again. I refrained myself though because I knew that from that point on, I would not be hearing from that voice again anytime soon. I wiped the tears from my eyes and stood my ground as the floor started to shake. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists as the walls started to descend into the ground below.

I didn’t move, didn’t breathe, I held my breath and stood as still as a statue until I heard voices all around me. I quickly opened my eyes to see that there were about a dozen other people in a larger white room with me now. They all looked just as confused as me, I tried to see if I could pinpoint anybody I knew, when everyone started to shift around and grab people to partner with. I was terrified and still hadn’t unclenched my fists or moved from the spot I had been standing in. I tried to observe what the others were doing, so I could figure out what I had to do. I saw that there was an even number of boys and girls, and that every boy had a set of handcuffs attached to their wrists. The boys would handcuff themselves to a girl and then continue to hustle and bustle around. I was beginning to get dizzy and felt very nauseous. I knew I shouldn’t faint at a time like this but that didn’t stop me.

I felt cold and alone again when I woke up; I was still in the room I had begun in. I tried my best to sit up off the cold floor, but I couldn’t. What was wrong with me? Why did I not have the willpower to do anything? I looked around and saw that there were still a bunch of people in the room. Then I spotted a familiar face, one I really did not want to spot in a place like this. It was a girl from my school, a girl who despised me, and I despised her. She was handcuffed to a tall dark haired boy, who wore sweatpants and a baggy white t-shirt. ‘Total trash’ I thought to myself. They were holding hands and shoving through people trying to find a way out of the room. I didn’t blame them, I wanted to get out of here as well. I just didn’t have the guts to get up from the ground.

People were walking past me as if I wasn’t even there. They stepped over me like I was just a piece of the room. I had no partner and I assumed that meant I had no way out of this. I finally had the energy to stand up, not that it was any better than lying down. I walked over to the nearest wall, avoiding people as I went and leaned up against it, again observing everybody around me. Did they all get the same speech I did before the walls dropped? Why did it seem like they all knew what they were doing and I didn’t? This angered me because all I wanted was to get out of this mess that I was for some reason put into.

I thought back to the night before to try and figure out why I was here. I did nothing out of the ordinary. I had a snack, watched some TV and then went and relaxed on my computer until I fell asleep. I don’t remember anything strange happening before that. Do my parents even know where I am? Did they put me into this messed up game? No they couldn’t have, they wouldn’t have, they’d never put me through something like this without telling me. I suddenly thought of my brother and whiped my head up to scan the room, I didn’t see him anywhere, thank god. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if they had put my younger brother through this insanity. Tears started to stream down my face as I began to sob thinking of my family. Was I the only one who had emotions? Everybody else was running around as I continued to cry.

I wiped my tears with my sleeve, noticing I wasn’t wearing the same clothes I had gone to bed with. My Spiderman boxers and tank top were replaced by a pair of beige fitting jogging pants with grey sneakers and a black jumper. I couldn’t process it, when did I change clothes? I knew that these clothes were still mine because I wore them earlier that week, but how was I wearing them now? Nothing made sense and everything just kept getting more confusing. I held my head in my arms as the questions kept pouring into my brain. I wanted to scream, but knew I couldn’t because if this was a game of survival I didn’t want to stir anyone up and lose any chances I had of getting a partner. Nobody had seemed to notice me crying, which was good because I didn’t want to seem like the weakest link, though I’m sure I’m not.

I am 17 years old and a girl, I’m not the strongest person in the room, but I am pretty light on my feet which can be good at times. I seem to be the only female brunette present, the other girls had blonde and red hair, which I found odd because brown is the most common hair color. I tried to remember every face that I could, this was hard because everybody kept moving around and most people were hiding their faces in their hoods. The people I did get a glance at seemed to be younger than me, maybe 12 or 13. I knew then that there was a wide age variety in this room. The booming voice, who I assumed had arranged this, made us prisoners. We were all victims in this and I felt sorry for everybody here.

In mid thought somebody bumped my arm and knocked me out of the quiet state I was in. “HEY WATCH IT!” I yelled. The girl turned to me and glared. It was the girl from school. Great, I thought, my enemy in school was now also my enemy in this game. She stared me down until the boy she was with finally pulled her along to keep moving. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, I guess they had known each other before being put into this horrible game because I don’t think strangers hold each other like that. Come to think of it, most of the boys in here were holding the girls they were with in similar ways. It seemed as though everybody here knew someone in the room, except me. The only girl I know is an enemy and that is no help for me in this place.

I try to look around again and see if I could find anybody that didn’t have a partner. I couldn’t spot anyone and was getting frustrated. I don’t know what happens if you don’t find a partner. The one thing the booming voice told me to do was the only thing I couldn’t. I began to shiver because if I couldn’t do the simplest thing in the simplest white room, how was I going to survive this hell hole I got put into.

I decided that maybe it was better for me to walk around or at least move locations, because where I was standing felt like an ice cube. “Why is this room so god damn cold?” I mumbled as I reached another corner of the room. As I stood in the corner, I had just arrived at, snow began to fall from the pure white ceiling. I couldn’t tell at first because the room is so white, but it was falling on the other kids heads so it was pretty clear to see. People started to run now trying to find exits. I couldn’t understand why, but then it hit me. If we don’t get out of here and it continues to snow, we will probably freeze to death or get buried in it. I was screwed; I still hadn’t found a partner or a way out of this room. I didn’t think the others would find it either because it already had been a good hour. I didn’t know what else to do but silently pray. I prayed I would find a way out, I prayed that if I didn’t, my family would be okay where ever they were and know that I loved them with all  my heart. I turned to face the wall so that I wouldn’t get hit with the snow that was accumulating in front of me. I tried to find warmth in my hood as I cupped my hands around the sides and stuck myself to the wall. It was no good, the wall was freezing and so was I. I had almost given up all hope when a hand touched my shoulder. I jumped and turned towards the boy standing next to me. “Hi, I’m Harry” he said warmly as he handcuffed my hand to his.