Chapter Text
Everything was rattling and dark. I tried to open my eyes, but I’m not sure if I did because I couldn’t see any better than before. I wanted to move but I felt like I was cemented in place, and splayed across the shaking ground. I flexed my fingers, trying to get some sense of my surroundings, and discovered a grate underneath me. There were holes all over the floor, probably more gaps than actual metal, like chicken wire. Almost as if I was some sort of animal locked in a box, something to be played with. It for sure made me feel like one.
I stood up to try and find a way out, but all I found was maybe some wood boxes and more metal, but this time on the walls. I went over to one of the maybe-crates of wood and tried to pry it open. Having vision here would’ve been very helpful. Instead of actually opening it I instead gained splinter. It made me feel so helpless.
“HELP! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? GET ME OUT!” I started to yell, begging for some sort of escape, desperation in my voice apparent.
The only response I got was from a disgruntled… chicken? I think it was a chicken. I haven’t seen one of those in… well, I’m not sure how long. Come to think of it, how did I even get in here? Who am I? Oh god, I don’t even know my name.
“HELP ME!” I started screaming again, banging on the metal, hoping for some kind of response. Anything.
I could feel my face getting wet, I didn’t even realize I was crying. I knelt down and leaned against some of the crates, my body shaking in fear similar to the box around me.
Suddenly the box starts to move violently and is going straight up, very fast. If I didn’t think I was gonna die before, I for sure am now. I looked up to see these red blinking lights. Oh god… I’m gonna hit it. I’m gonna die in a collision with some boxes and an upset chicken. Oh come on! I at least deserve a cool death.
Instead of murdering me, the box stopped pretty abruptly, knocking me to the ground from my maybe-crates and giving me a nasty ache in my head. There was a sliver of light shining through the metal above my cage, letting me see what was around me a little. The chicken looked almost as scared as I was, hiding in the corner of its own box too. I could hear some light chatter but in all honesty, I thought I was hallucinating.
Then without much notice, the metal started opening up, briefly blinding me. I’d think that this is what some may think Heaven would be like, but instead of god or an angel coming down to get me, a bunch of guys looked down at me instead. I don’t think they could see me very well either, going that fast from dark to light or vice-versa making it hard to see.
After the brief surprise, the cage itself was starting to open and a wide-shouldered, kinda burly man with oddly shaped eyebrows jumped down next to me… I’ll call him eyebrows.
I could tell exactly when his eyes adjusted to the dark, because they shot wide open and he turned back around to the other guys, announcing “It’s a girl!”, like this was some kind of gender reveal party.
The boys didn’t take long to respond, making it very obvious through their “Huh?”s and “Oohhh”s that they were surprised. Some uh… pleasantly… surprised by the looks of it. Those few seemed to be looking at me as if I was a piece of meat, successful in making me VERY uncomfortable.
Instead of dealing with them, I just decided to skip it all, promptly climbing up the crates I was leaning on beforehand, escaping the box and sprinting away from the ogling crowd.
It was like I was just a show to them, like this wasn’t the scariest point in my life (hat I can remember at least). A few of them yelled out, “RUNNER!” and “WE GOT A RUNNER!”. What does that even mean??
I didn’t have much more time to think of this, promptly tripping on a rock at full speed which sent me careening across part of the field, coating my skin in dirt and streaks of green. I got up as fast as I could but it wasn’t fast enough, because eyebrows and a few of the other boys were running over towards me and weren’t very far away. I doubt they were the ones that put me here because they seemed surprised, but maybe it was a ruse. Even if it’s not, I don’t even know my own name, could I even trust myself?
I clambered up as fast as possible, and checked my surroundings. The only escape from the approaching young men is a gap in these big grey walls surrounding me and the entire meadow. I sprinted as fast as I could towards the opening, the boys’ shouting becoming louder and almost panicked at my new direction.
I could feel my legs burning, and my knees were so close to buckling, but I kept running. I kept pushing. I was going to get myself to that entrance, I was going to get out.
As soon as my foot made contact with the start of the stone path, the boys that were following me before stopped abruptly, and yelled at me to come back. None of them dared to cross the line of grass to stone, watching me in horror. I clearly just broke some sort of unspoken rule. From the crowd, an Asian, short black haired guy stepped out towards me. He had a very lean and strong body, built like a runner (how do I know that?) and he walked with confidence, even though his face didn’t show it. He was the only one to step over the invisible barrier towards me.
“You don’t wanna do that.” He told me while holding his hands out in a meant to be calming way, making me uneasy and unsettled.
“Why the hell not??” I tested him. I don’t feel anywhere near as safe as I did in the meadow compared to this stone hallway, but at least I’m not surrounded by something that could kill me.
“Trust me, ok? It’s a bad idea. Come back over-“ The black haired guy was quickly cut off by eyebrows.
“Get back over here shuck face! You trying to kill yourself?” Eyebrows yelled at me accusingly. Unlike the black haired guy however, he didn’t cross the barrier.
The black haired guy looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes. There was something behind them. I feel like he’s done this before, talking someone off a ledge.
I looked to the boys behind him, all of them dirty faced and clothed, most packing some muscles. A few looking more entertained than anything, but the overwhelming majority seemed just as concerned as eyebrows and black haired guy.
I knew that it probably wasn’t a great decision to walk back into the hands of who may have been the ones to put me here, but it was either that or go deeper into the place that was making my gut churn. I looked through the crowd again, this time to find a pathway through to the meadow. Maybe I could climb up something or hide out, if I’m fast enough. I bounced on my feet a few times to check if I could run, which visibly made some of the boys, especially the blacked haired boy, on edge. They probably thought I was gonna sprint deeper into the hall, which must’ve been very surprising for them when I ran towards a gap between two of the boys instead, bursting through and out into the meadow again.
I spotted a misshapen tower around 100 meters away, which I made my new target. If adrenaline hadn’t been pumping through my veins before, it definitely was now. I knew I was running slower than before, I could hear the yells of some boys behind me and the thudding of their feet harshly meeting the ground. Just before I was able to get to the tower, I was knocked over.
I didn’t have any energy to fight anymore, all the running and terror leaving me exhausted, so I let the person above me take control. My eyes were shut, trying to placate the throbbing in my head from falling in the box. Whoever had knocked me over had moved to straddle my hips, and locked my hands together on the ground above my head, effectively trapping me. I could here him calling out to some of the others in an accent unlike my own, saying that he’s got me. Once I opened my eyes I was met with a lean, blonde haired boy who looked a bit ruffed up, his hair sticking up every which way. He was pretty. He turned to face me, looking down “welcome to the glade greenie!”.