Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 30 - The Woods

Spenzo breaks the silence.

"I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that we actually escaped," he says.

"Same here," I agree. Tammie lies across my legs, staring at the dancing flames, and I look across the fire to see Tressa curled up into a ball, sporadically coughing as she looks at the fire. Cale sits casually against the stone floor of the cave, watching the fire with a contentment I've never seen him have. Deen sits cross-legged in front of the fire, occasionally feeding it with some twigs from a pile in the corner of the cave. I look at the mouth of the cave, almost expecting the familiar countenance of a guard to peer in, then I remember they're not here. "I had a flashback this morning, or yesterday morning, depending on what time it is right now, I have no idea. But, the flashback, when I said I was hanging out with my friends, I wasn't. We were breaking into my dads lab to see what he was up to. There was this really tall wall; we tried to get over it my friend fell and broke her leg, and I fell and did a lot worse," I explain.

"That's the flashback you were so wigged out about?" Deen says.

I nod. "I didn't want to say, 'cuz you know, the guards watching our every move."

"I had a dream with the same vibe." Spenzo tells everyone. "We were in the woods, we got attacked. 2 people got hurt and 2 of us, I think...Kinnie and Zuke were BZs."

Tammie lifts her head up. "That's not going to happen."

I see everyone else looks a little unsettled as well. "Guys, I wouldn't take it as an omen or anything," Spenzo says quickly. "I think it was just anxiety about the whole heist thing."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Deen says.

There's a lull; no one says anything.

"This is so weird," Cale says. "I don't think we've ever had a conversation that wasn't tailored, not in a while. I think I forgot how to carry a normal conversation."

"Same," Deen agrees.

Tammie sits up completely and looks at the rest of us.

"I know what we need, an icebreaker. We got so used to talking for other people we forgot how to actually express ourselves. Truth or truth should fix that," Tammie explains.

"Truth or truth?" I repeat, looking at her quizzically. The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I highly doubt I've ever played it.

"It's a game we used to play during group confinement when we were little," Deen explains. "Like Truth or Dare, but in a tiny room there's not much room for dares, so we just did truths." Oh, Truth or Dare rings a bell. I have memories from playing it once or twice with people whose faces and names I don't remember.

"We played it before we learned that the guards aren't our friends," Cale says plainly.

"Yeah, I think it's one of the first games people played in the basement to pass time," Spenzo adds. "I've never played it personally, because by the time I got down there everyone my age was already over it. I've heard people talk about it, though."

"How do we play?" I ask.

"Simple, we take turns asking and answering questions," Tammie explains.

"Only rule is: if you ask a question, you have to answer one, truthfully," Deen says.

"Okay, sounds like it could be fun," I say, a bit hesitantly. It seems like the kind of game that could get people in a lot of trouble. I can see why they stopped playing it in front of the guards.

"How do we choose who goes first?" Spenzo asks.

"Whoever wants to ask the first question answers the second question," Cale explains.