The Boy in the Walls

Chapter 17

This chapter has mentions of imprisonment and dehumanizing topics that could be disturbing to younger audiences.

Voices.
Someone was talking near him. What was that voice, vaguely familiar. The surface he was laying on was cold and hard. He racked his bran for memories of what had happened. Oliver's head ached, he groaned as he sat up. The voices stopped, and as he opened his eyes, Oliver was shocked by how bright the room he was in was. The first thing he noticed when his eyes came into focus was the glass wall separating him from the girl who had been speaking.

"Ah, Jacob, glad to see your awake" he sat up. Was this person addressing him? But his name wasn't Jacob. When he looked to the person who had spoken he was more confused still. He woman had a curly brown afro and dark complexion. She held a small notepad that was the size of her forearm, along with a stick of what he assumed to be graphite as a writing utensil.

"Uhm...my name isn't....my name is Oliver, not Jacob" he said blinking tiredly. He looked around the room ha was in, it looked nothing like the grimy walls of the house, nor did it look like the nests that most wild borrowers made. No the place he was in was almost like a prison or one of those cages that humans got for their pets.

"Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry sir, but you seem to be confused. Your name is Jacob, at least, that is what it is now" she said in a sweet voice.

"What are you talking about, where am I and who are you?!" He asked quickly becoming more panicked.

"My name is Njinga, I'm the Feather who will be taking care of you during your...transfer" she hesitated as if careful to not say too much.

Olivers mind reeled with questions. Why was he here? How did he get here? Where even was here? What happened? And why was this strange girl calling him by a name that was not his own? Then he remembered. The strange man, the fight he had gotten into and how he had desperately tried to contact his friend before being dragged into darkest and then passing out.

"W-why am I here? Where have you brought me?" The borrower asked, he walked to the glass wall that seperated him from the other borrower.

She looked at him piteously "We have brought you to the empire, where you will train to become a great soldier" she said this proudly and continued "but first we must get you used to the new environment, and make sure you are ready to be tested"

"T-tested...what do you mean? And who said i wanted to be a solider in some stupid empire?" He said he pressed his palms against the glass but it didn't budge.

"I'm sorry Jacob, you don't have any choice. Now calm yourself, we cant have you over exerting yourself this soon" she wrong te something on her notepad and began to walk away. "Ill go retrieve General Sorian, he will explain things further to you"

Oliver tried to chase her but the hit thee corner of the glass encasement and had to stop. Who was this Sorian guy? What was the empire. With each thing he learned he was left it's more questions then answers. He banged on the wall helplessly then turned to take in his surroundings.

He was in a perfectly square box, and all the walls seemed to be made of hard smooth stone, except for where the glass wall was. He backed up against the corner and slid down to a sitting position. Was he in a prison? What had he done wrong? Was this his punishment for talking to Isaac?

Oliver tried to remember Isaac. He remembered that he was a human who had helped him. But he was more then that...he was special. Why was he special? Oliver tried to picture the human but...nothing. Oliver wracked his brain for some way to visualize the human but he couldn't. Like his memories were locked away and he didn't have the key. They had said that it was possible for borrowers to kill humans, but they couldn't have done anything to this Isaac guy right?

Oliver was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up, expecting to see the borrower girl but instead he saw someone far far worse. It was him. Him the man who had taken Oliver away from his friend and home.

"Aah, Jacob, I see you've recovered from the surgery successfully, very well." The man spoke in a snobbish voice just as Oliver remembered.

"My name isn't Jacob, its Oliver" the borrower spat "who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh why, I was the one who rescued you" the man sneered "and my name is General Sorian, commander of the Needles" he looked upon Oliver like he was judging a piece of mouse intestine, which by the way, wasn't a very retry sight.

"Well general whatever-your-name-is, let me go and bring me back to my friend"

"Sorian," the man corrected with a scrutinizing glare "and your so called 'friend' is a bloodthirsty human, so I can't bring you to it"

"He isn't bloodthirsty, don't you dare insult him like that" Oliver said now pressed up to the glass wall in a defensive stance.

"whatever, that is completely unimportant. I came here to inform you of where we have brought you and why, don't t want to know that?" He stood in front of Oliver, arms behind his back as he scrutinized him.

"Fine but get me out of this cage you filthy rat!" Oliver looked for an exit but all the walls were solid. He wondered partially how he had gotten in there.

"You are only allowed out during training periods. Being the general of the Needles, I will be your trainer, and thus you must address me as such" the general said as he walked over to the part of wall Oliver couldn't see. "Now Jacob you have a choice, you can either willingly comply and join the other soldiers in training, or you can be difficult and we will force you to comply. In which case we will have to completely wipe your memories. Now...do you really want that Jacob?"

Oliver paled, he couldn't loose what little bit of memory he had of Isaac. But he also wasn't okay with obeying this prick.  The teen sighed, it really wasn't a choice: loose everything and be forced to obey, or be forced to obey but keep his memories.

"Fine. But how will i-" Oliver was cut off by the loud nose of gears turning behind him. He flinched and slowly turned to see what had happened.

The back wall of his prison was completely gone. Oliver could see a bright light coming from it. He walked into the light shielding his eyes from the blinding light. Things seemed to go into slow motion as he looked into the bright expanse.