The Brave and the Broken

Alone and Surrounded

Clairvoyance: the ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception

     I woke up alone on a small bed. I sat up quickly and looked around. The room was small and made completely of wood. There was an uncomfortable-looking chair next to my bed. The lone door in the room was shut. There were no other people in sight. I almost panicked but, struggling to get my bearings, I took a deep shaky breath and slowly let it out. I don't like being alone, yet I somehow keep managing to find myself in situations like this; scared and alone in some unknown place, with no memory of how I got there. At least I wasn't in a cage this time.

     I looked over my right shoulder, then my left, even though I knew there was no one else in the room and all that was behind me was a plain wooden wall and the head of the bed frame. I stood up and winced as pain shot through my head. I immediately sat back down. I took a deep breath then stood again, slowly this time, and walked as gently as I could to the wooden door, trying my best to keep the ache at bay, though I was still slightly dizzy. Just as I was about to grab the brass doorknob, it turned. I tensed and took a step backward, feeling my heartbeat quicken a bit as I sway slightly on my feet and wait for the door to open to see who it was.

     The door swung open, revealing a short boy—though still taller than me—with black hair with some small streaks of grey, which I assumed were caused by stress. We stood there staring at each other wide-eyed in surprise for a moment, neither of us originally expecting the other. He then composed himself and opened his mouth to talk just as another boy entered, tall and skinny but muscular with buzzed black hair and dark eyes. The door creaked as he pulled it shut behind him.

     "You're up!" The tall, dark-skinned boy said, with a slightly high-pitched voice for a boy, "about shucking time!"

     Before I could say a word in response, the door opened yet again, this time for Gally, Newt, and Alby. This is getting ridiculous, I may not like being alone, but this is too many people to have this close to me in so small of a room. Starting to feel a bit claustrophobic, I went back over to the bed and sat down, fidgeting with the sleeve of the black flannel shirt I had been wearing since I came up in the box.

     I had so many questions, I didn't know what to ask first. I started with the first ones that came to my mind. "Where am I? Why am I here? How long have I been here? How did I even get here?"

     "Whoa, whoa, whoa. One question at a time, shank." Said the short boy with the greying hair.

     "Marie," I corrected, rolling my eyes. But I was too curious to linger on it; I wanted answers. "What happened? The last thing I remember, I was talking to you," I looked at Newt, "and then..." I trailed off, not knowing where to start.

     "Well?" Gally said, encouraging me to go on.

     "Well, answer my question! What happened?" I retorted.

     "Not sure, really. You were with me, like you said, we were talking, but then you—well, I don't bloody know really, you just kinda passed out." Newt answered.

     "I just passed out? Like that?"

     "Seemed like it, yeah."

     "Hmm," was all I said in response.

     "Hmm?" repeated Gally. I nodded slowly but said nothing else on the matter.

     After a long pause, I finally broke the silence. "I need to get out of here," I said, standing.