The Girl in the Glade

Chapter 1

Scarlett gasped as she woke up in complete darkness, in some kind of box thing that was moving slowly. There was an overwhelming smell of oil and sweat that made Scarlett's stomach churn. There was also a faint smell of feet. She could also hear the squeaks and the creaks of the pulleys that were slowly pulling the strange lift up. The young girl had no idea where it was going. Slowly, Scarlett stood up, using the walls of the Box to pull herself up. The box lift thing violently jerked, sending Scarlett to the floor. She let out a string of curses, putting her back against the wall. The creaks and squeak of the pulleys echoed of the metals walls. She wanted to cry out of frustration and confusion, but no tears came. Out of all the confusion that Scarlett was feeling, a name came to her mind. Clear as crystal.

"Scarlett. My name is Scarlett." She muttered softly. That was the only thing she could remember. Well, she could remember things like the seaside, eating a burger, running down a snow-covered path but she couldn't remember where any of that was or who she was with. Scarlett guessed that she must have been in the strange box-lift thing for about half an hour, though it felt longer.

There wasn't much she could do in here, except wait to arrive wherever she was going. Images would appear in her head but they didn't make sense or they were blurry. Like a merge of colors. She didn't know how she got in the dark lift, who her parents were and if she had any siblings. Or how old she was. She didn't know where she came from. She couldn't remember anything else, except her name. As the strange lift swayed slightly as it made its journey upwards, Scarlett became used to the sounds to the point where it was almost comforting. Anything was better than sitting there in silence.

After a few moments, Scarlett decided to stand up, feeling the cool metal walls for support. It wasn't like she could walk around, the lift was quite small. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness yet. The dark lift suddenly halted with a loud groan and a loud clank, making Scarlett lose her footing and fall to the floor. A minute passed. Then two minutes passed. A loud clank above her, making her jump and suck in a startled breath. There was a loud, heavy grating sound as the doors above her, watching the strip of light expand. The sudden light stabbed at her eyes, making her shield her eyes. She could hear voices above her.

"What the? No way.."

"What is it?"

"Oi, shut up and let the shank talk!"

"It's a girl."

Scarlett couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. "No shit Sherlock." she thought to herself, looking up at the voices. Though she wasn't sure where that phrase came from. The shapes above her were blurry at first, then everything adjusted like a camera. Scarlett could see that the people above were boys. Some of them were kids, teenagers even. Scarlett felt a wave of confusion come over her as she stared at the boys above her. They all looked as confused as she was, whispering and pointing at her. Scarlett blinked up at them, still very confused at what was going on.

"A girl?"

"That's what I said, you shank."

"Shut your holes!"

"Is she cute?"

"I got dibs!"

"How old is she?"

"I said shut your holes!"

"Hope you like the one-way trip!"

A boy jumped into the box, making Scarlett gasp in surprise and stumble backward. The boy had short brown hair and crazy looking eyebrows. He also looked tall and a little muscular. He looked at Scarlett with a curious look on his face. "Day one Greenie," he said. "Rise and shine." Before Scarlett could even ask any questions, the boy grabbed her and lifted her out of the strange box. Scarlett stumbled onto the soft grass, moving her hair out of her face. Her heart was still racing.