The Journey [On hold]

Chapter 11- Something they don't want us knowing

"Kayla. You're up late." Andrew commented as I got up from my uncomfortable position, leaned over the table. I rubbed my eyes and glared at him- I was not a morning person.

"Where's Annie?" I said, thinking of my sister as soon as I said the name. It was like some author accidentally giving two characters similar names and deciding to work it in somehow. Okay, that seemed like a very particular observation from someone who had just woken up... Maybe the hacker was putting things in my head.

Speaking of the hacker... You there, bro?

...I guess not.

"Annie went outside... She was babbling on about endangered rabbits. That lady has lost her mind."

"Don't be hard on her. You'd be crazy too, if you were stuck here so long... Oh wait, you already are crazy."

"Haha." He said shortly, shoving a mug into my hands. "She left us tea."

I sighed and set it down on the table. "We should go soon." I said after a moment of silence.

"Wait, what? Why? She could help us find a glitch."

"But... The hacker told me, in my head, that she has a glitch ready for us- we just need to keep walking."

"I can't tell which one of you two is crazier. But for now, we're staying here. She has food, Kayla. Foooooooood."

For once, Andrew had a good point. He almost seemed like a normal kid- until he looked at me and I remembered that he's a stuck up kid I was forced to bring with me.

I missed Sim, Jess, and Mark... I hoped they were okay. I wanted someone else to talk to, someone else to be on my side and make us a golden trio. Or maybe a bronze trio- no matter who the third person would be, we wouldn't be all that great.

"Food sounds good. What's for breakfast?" I asked, picking up my mug and wrinkling my nose a bit at the liquid inside. I really just wanted milk- this didn't even taste like the limited tea I had tried before this. Which made sense, it was probably some kind of herbal brew... but it still tasted like it had milk in it, and where did Annie get milk?

Maybe the scientists gave it to her to help her cope with living here alone. To make her not want to die. But then why not just give her a mansion or whatever, with a luxury bed instead of the makeshift one in the corner. What was the point of keeping her safe if she was so unhappy?

In my deep thought, I realized I had missed Andrew's response to my question. He was looking at me as if he knew it. "I thought you were more interested in breakfast rather than just tea."

"Yeah, of course. Could you repeat whatever you said?" I asked absentmindedly, staring out the one dirty window next to the cottage door.

"I said that she didn't leave anything for breakfast, but there must be food somewhere here." He said, setting down his own mug and opening a small cupboard. The kitchen wasn't very big, of course, and there wasn't much to look through.

"Nothing." Andrew sounded quite puzzled as I looked up from my tea again. In the span of a minute he had searched her whole kitchen (and messed up all the drawers too, most likely) but somehow he hadn't found food.

"Maybe she keeps it outside or something. C'mon." I left my tea on the table and led him outside, around the back of the cottage. It was quaint, but it was dirty and left me wondering why the scientists couldn't give her a normal house with a bathroom, at the very least. She certainly hadn't acted happy yesterday, and a gross house wouldn't help with whatever inner turmoil she was going through.

I can't begin to fully imagine it. Being trapped here, not knowing when you entered this simulation that you would never see anyone you knew again. Never see your home again. Never even have something a small as normal tea again.