I plunged into an ocean of darkness, falling deeper and deeper into the realm of my memories.
As I drifted downwards into the abyss of the back of my brain , lights would begin to float around me.
It was like I was suspended in a galaxy, though each star was a memory, and the universe was my entire mind.
My hand reached out slowly to a star close to me. And as I touched it, I was pulled into a memory.
I blinked and I was in a house. My house. My living room to be exact. I looked around and saw my entire family, including myself sitting on the couch. Wait... this seemed familiar. I glanced to the TV, seeing the same scene with the reporter.
I watched closely, this memory didn't seem to be tampered with yet.
I continued watching. I watched as the past me ran out of my house and saw the old man who was dead.
Though something about this was different. The dead old man had a bullet hole where his heart was. That wasn't there before. And instead of the Keepers spotting me, I ran away unseen.
I ran not to my house, but the kitchen in the lunch hall. It seems I was on the verge of a panic attack. I hid in the pantry. I watched the younger me all curled up in a ball on the floor, breathing heavily, when he— as in I— noticed something.
"What's this...?" I whispered between sobs, seeing the loose floor tile under the shelf.
I pulled myself underneath and slid the tile, looking into the dark void below.
I couldn't see anything so I leaned forward, which unfortunately caused me to fall into the hole in the floor.
"AGH-" I groaned as I hit the floor with mostly my face.
I rolled over onto my back and looked up at the place where I had fallen from.
"Wh...?" I sat up slowly rubbing my head as I looked around.
"How did you find this place." An unfamiliar voice spoke.
My head felt all fuzzy from falling so I didn't really know how to react to the voice.
A young man with tan skin, and long messy black hair that was pulled into a braid walked out. His eyes were a piercing blue, nearly glowing in the dark. His clothes were oddly familiar yet tattered slightly, then I recognized them. He wore the clothes of a Keeper.
I didn't answer his first question, instead I would just lay there on the floor in fear, my eyes were wide in panic, mostly from seeing a dead person earlier.
"... hey... it's alright- I'm not gonna hurt you." He looked confused as to why I was terrified, yet kneeled down to supposedly comfort me.
"I-... A...." I couldn't get any words out, I looked at his clothes and he seemed to understand.
"Don't worry I'm not one of them." He spoke.
His voice sounded like it was usually cold, yet he tried to make it softer.
"them?" I repeated, tilting my head.
"Look kid. What do you want?" He asked, looking at me with a slightly intimidating gaze.
"I just.... Uh..." I looked up at the hole.
"How did you find this place." He glanced up at the hole then to me.
"Fell." I said simply.
"Fell?" He raised one eyebrow.
"Mhm fell." I said simply, blinking at him.
" ok then... what's your name?" He asked me.
"Finlay Amery." I responded simply, "and you?"
"043." He said simply.
"That's not a name." I argued, frowning.
He laughed in a way that said 'this kid really knows nothing.'
"If you're ever a keeper, you're gonna have to give up your name for a number." He explained.
"So.. what was your name?" I asked, I was really bombarding him with questions.
"Doesn't matter." He stated simply.
I looked past him at a wall of papers and whatnot, as I squinted my eyes I noticed something.
"You- saw the news broadcast too?" I looked to him, my eyes wide.
043 didn't really know how to respond to that, so he asked me a question instead.
"And you were with the old man who died, did he tell you anything?" He asked me.
He then added, "don't worry I'm not a keeper anymore, in fact, everyone else probably thinks I'm dead."
"He... he said that.... Uhm.." I glanced around nervously to see if there were any cameras.
" there isn't any cameras down here don't worry." He assured me as if he read my mind.
"He told me that the world we live in is a lie.." I whispered.
"B-But- that can't be true right? Can everything really be a lie- that's not p-p-possible!" I stuttered ask I began to panic.
043 looked at me sympathetically, he must've understood how difficult it would be for someone who lived here their entire life only to find out everything was actually a lie.
"It's alright, deep breaths, I'll explain everything... but first let me get a few others."
I tilted my head in confusion. What did he mean by others?
He walked away for a moment, disappearing into the darkness before walking back with two people the same age as me.
One of them was a boy I don't remember fully, but his presence seemed familiar.
The other one was Caja.
"Alright Kiddos, gather around. It's story time." 043 said as he sat down on the ground cross-legged.
"Now, what I'm about to tell you might be a bit difficult to understand, so you're going to have to trust me on this. What I'm about to tell you is the truth and you mustn't repeat it to a soul! You hear me not a soul."
We all sat down around a small lantern. I glanced to the boy I didn't know he had longer messy brown hair that was tied back in a small ponytail. His eyes were a vibrant purple colour.
"Alright, first of all, introduce yourselves... then I'll explain. You already know me, I'm 043." He said simply, waiting for us to introduce ourselves to each other.
"I'm Caja Angelle." Caja smiled, waving a little.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all."
"I'm Ezra Dior..." spoke the other boy, he seemed a tad uncomfortable.
His name felt familiar to me, these were my memories I had lost so that's probably why.
"I'm... Finlay Amery." I said quietly.
"Alright now that you all know each other's names, I'll begin." He started to explain everything.
"There never was a war. Only corruption. The world was once at peace before a corrupt government took over, they made us build cities underground. They lied to everyone of a great war that was coming, though there was never any evidence of it. They forced us to live here in the bunkers, why? Their reasons were unknown for quite awhile. However—" He paused, looking up as he heard footsteps.
043 cursed under his breath as he looked up, realizing the tile hadn't been put back.
He put one finger over his mouth to say 'be quiet' as he listened for the footsteps to pass by.
The sound of the door closing was the cue that they were gone, he waited a few more minutes before climbing up and moving the tile, hiding the hidden room we all sat in.
"Alright... where was I.." he thought out loud.
"Ah, yes... their reasons were unknown for a long time however I've discovered they're using the surface as a place for... let's call it research." He looked to all of us.
Caja blinked confusedly, "research? What kind?" She asked curiously.
"Not gonna get into that right now." 043 muttered.
We didn't ask any other questions about that, we listened as he continued.
"They're keeping us here so we don't discover what they're up too. To them everyone underground is just another test subject. Even keepers, especially keepers." His expression became cold and distant.
"Them?" Ezra asked.
"The researchers." 043 said, "if you ever get caught by a keeper if you're trying to escape they'll send you to the researchers to wipe your mind of it ever happening, or put you to sleep for awhile and make you live in a dream if you've seen too much... or just kill you." He spoke quietly.
"Wipe your mind?" I asked, my eyes widened.
"Mhm, they'll put fake memories in your head too." 043 stated.
"Fake memories?" Caja asked.
"Yep things that have never happened but if you've been wiped you'll think they have happened." He answered.
"Is there a way to get your memories back?" Extra asked.
"I'm working on that." 043 said simply.
The conversation faded away and I was brought into another memory in the same place.
"This here," 043 spoke as he pointed to a large blueprint that looked all hand drawn.
"Is a map of the bunkers."
Everyone looked at the map.
"We are going to find a way out of this place, you've all seen a glimpse of the truth, so you know that this place isn't safe, it never was." 043 stated.
We all listened to what exactly his plan was.
When we weren't in the hidden room under the pantry, we stayed in our homes, hiding in the blind spots of the cameras, writing in code to each other if necessary. We never talked about our plans out loud when not in the hidden room.
At first I didn't really understand why 043 never came out of that room... though I remembered he said that to everyone else he was considered dead so he must've been in hiding. Well obviously he was in hiding, he wanted to expose all this place's secrets.
We all gathered together for another night of discussing the plans. We've been planning for a long long time, a few years to be exact. We were all 16, except 043 none of us were sure of his age but it was close to ours probably.
Anyways, during that long time, we all got to know each other. Caja and I became what many would consider best friends. Ezra was more the stick to himself kind of guy, but he was still nice.
043 remained as mysterious as ever. He never talked about himself. He never wanted too.
We had gathered supplies, learned all the routes, the vents, the patrol patterns the keepers would take. Everything. We learned all of it.
The plan was simple, hijack the cameras and get to the elevator on the 7th floor. The 7th floor was only for keepers, and also had the only supposed elevator that lead to the surface according to 043.
"Alright." 043 spoke, standing before us.
"Today is the day we finally begin our mission. Now remember if all goes south we come back here and regroup and hide for as long as we need too." He explained.
"Why do we need to hide?" I asked.
"Because they'll be on high alert if they spot us." 043 stated coldly.
"What happens if we get caught?" Caja asked.
"Bad things." 043 said simply.
"What sort of bad things?" Ezra asked.
043 sighed heavily.
"Children, children please stop with your questions..." he muttered.
"We're not kids. Besides, You're not that much older then us..." Caja gave him a sarcastic look.
"Ughhhhh..." Seems that 043 was done talking about that subject for now, he would rub his temples before looking back to us.
"Ok so the mission..." he got back to the point, grabbing a few pens.
"Each of you take one of these." He handed each of us a pen, "these will be your communication devices, it'll also record everything that happens and send it to this pen here in case they catch you." 043 pointed to a pen in his hand.
"Remember the 7th floor is crawling with keepers, so you'll go mostly through the vents except for the one hallway that leads to the elevator. That part will be on foot and also the most dangerous. Don't let them catch you." He explained.
"Again what kind of bad thing happen if they—" Caja tried to ask again but 043 interrupted her.
"You don't want to know that." He said sternly.
"What if one of us gets caught? We have to go back for them right?" I asked, tilting my head.
"It'll be too dangerous to go back and get your teammates so... just don't get caught." He explained.
"So what about you?" Ezra looked at 043, "are you coming with us?"
"I'll be making sure the cameras can't see you frolicking around in the keepers territory so I'll be working behind the scenes in a way, and also guiding you through the vents and halls. Anyways, you all should prepare yourself, let's get this mission going." 043 looked to all of us.