Chapter 1
My eyes opened. My body jittered up against the wall as I got a grasp of the dirt floor beneath me. I didn't know where I was, who I was, How I got here. All I felt was a great pain in my left arm just before my hand. I looked at my body, hands first then looking at the rest. My whole body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises. lucky for me none of the cuts where serious just minor. I moved my fingers and the toes inside my shoes and socks. Nothing broken. That was a good sign.
I rolled my neck around my shoulders. It hurt till I stopped rolling them. It settled when it got back to the original spot it was in. Overall, my body was fine.
I looked around to see what was an inclosed room made up of steal walls and little holes for air to pile through. Or i think it's for air.
The room was about ten feet wide by ten feet long. I looked up. The ceiling was eight feet from the ground, although it seemed much shorter than that. Coming from the ceiling there was a light bulb hanging from a wire. It looked like it had been there for ages. Never had it been changed. Which seemed strange cause a lightbulb doesn't last quite long.
It was the only source of light filling this tiny room. No windows for any natural light to come through just a door on the one side of the room.
Maybe it's the way out? Maybe I just have to walk over there and open it. Then I'll be free. It's not that easy I say to myself. Whoever put me in here, put me here for a reason, an I don't think there going to make it that easy to get out.
I looked around the room some more. Staying in the same spot I woke up in, I was reluctant to get up. I didn't notice it before. Maybe to fascinated by the enclosed room, but there where people in the room.
The first person I saw, had a child about 8 years old, lying on her lap. Her hand on his back.
The women was awake, except she looked horrible. Dirty, tired. Although I had to admit, she didn't look at all scared. Just confused like what happened to me? Who did this?
I had those same questions playing through my mind. Did I look like her? Confused? It didn't matter. I didn't want to know.
I continued looking around the room. Until I saw a boy, he wasn't sitting beside anyone, he was all alone. no one to hug, to trust. The only thing he had was the thing in his hand. It was quite difficult to see what it was, because his hands was moving around it quite quickly.
What could it have been I thought. Was only a few seconds later that I realized it was a Rubik's cube! Wow a boy having fun, in an enclosed room. nobody to be with.
When I looked up to expect a slight smile on the boys face, my expectation had disappeared. His eyes where closed, no smile, just a blank face Concentrating on the one puzzle he had. That disappointed me. I continued staring at him.
The boy opened his eyes and looked down. A short grin appeared on his face, then quickly vanished. I wonder what made him smile?
When I went to look down at what made the boy so happy, I saw a completed Rubik's cube, all sides with there correct colour. It was impressive, that the boy could memorize where all the pieces where. Then solve it. That kid had a talent.
His smile gave me back a bit of hope. Not sure what the hope was for but it was there.
I saw another women right across the room from me. She was young university student. She had long curly brown hair that reached to her shoulders. She was skinny. Tall.
The look on her face was angry. Not to the point where she would scream and go crazy, but pissed off.
She had her finger on the dirt. She was writing something. Numbers, letters. It was then I figured out what she was doing. She was doing math.
Why would you be doing math right now? what's the point?
I decided not to judge her. She was most likely doing it simple cause she was bored. Simply for fun I guess. Except for the expression on her face wasn't necessarily amused. It seemed like she wasn't able to solve the equation. If she wasn't doing it for fun, than what was she doing it for? I didn't even want to know.
There was a total of 14 people in the small ten by ten room. 2 where kids, 4 where young adults, 6 where adults from 30-40 years of age, and 2 where elderly. Plus me. 8 male, 6 female.
There was one couple in the room. Both young adults. They had there hands held tightly between them. The women with her head resting against her boyfriends shoulder. They weren't the happiest couple in the world, but I could tell that they where grateful to be together. At least they had someone.
• • •
I've been in this room for 5 hours now. No one has said a word, no one has moved no one has eaten.
How could these people just sit here and do nothing? Let themselves die in a room to rot. Not even trying to escape.
Well I'm not going to do that, I'm going to help these people and give them hope.
I stand up with great difficulty my cuts hurting as they stretch. My back hurts from sitting in the same position for a great deal of hours. I let my back hurt as I stand.
Half of the people in the room look at me. This is harder than I imagined.
I start to speak, but the words aren't making any sound. I try again, this time it starts out soft. "I don't know where I am, who I am, or how I got here. All I know is that I'm stuck in this cage, with fourteen other people. I don't know if anybody remembers anything, but that's the case for me." I look around, no one has changed there expression. I catch a breath then raise my voice a little. "But we can't just sit here and die like this. Somebody, a horrible person has locked you up in here.
I don't know why, but I know that there is a door leading out of this room. And it's there for a reason. This person wants us to get out. He just hasn't made it easy for us." I stop and look around again. Everyone looks the same as if I hadn't said anything. That was it. The only way we can get out of here is by teamwork, and nobody except me is whiling to do that. I guess rotting in here is the only option. I guess I'm giving up. I give them a hopeless look then turn to sit.
I'm about to sit when I hear a faint voice. Deep, rough slowly getting louder. I turn around to realize that it is the elderly man sitting on the floor. I couldn't make out what he was saying. He sounded grumpy, tired. Then he spoke clear enough for me to hear,
"And what makes you think that he wants us to get out?" The old man asks in a firm tone.
I look at him. I replay the question in my head. over and over again. I say looking at the man. I hesitate, then pull out a note from the pocket of my sweat pants.
" I found this in my pocket" I say looking around the room glancing at the faces.
The minute I pulled out the note and said those words, some people sat there with there hopeless expression, others where scared and curious on what the note said. I decided to read the note aloud.
"This room is sealed with 3 feet of thick steal. And all of you have been put here for a reason. The room you are in may seem safe for now, but soon won't be. After the 15 hour mark, those holes in the one wall you see before you behind you or beside you, will spew out a deadly green mist. But all hope isn't lost. There is one door in the room you are in. Find a way past the door, go on, or you can stay here and see what the mist has to offer."