Done For

Chapter Eight | Explanations

Ate woke with a start. Where was she? This wasn't her room.

Then, all the events from the past few hours hit her.

"Damnit." She whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was real. She was stuck in hell on Earth.

"You're up."

She looked up as she heard a voice she was still unfamiliar with. She recognized the person as who Uni had said was Sal.

"Oh. Yeah," Ate responded, giving a small nod.

"Get a shower. Then come downstairs," Sal told her. "Towel and some clothes that should be your size are in the bathroom across the hall."

"Thank you," Ate said after a moment of silence.

Sal simply gave a slight smile. "No problem." With that, they turned and walked from the doorway.

Ate hoisted herself out of the bed, letting out a groan as her muscles stiffened up. She didn't expect to be so sore.

She quickly made her way across the hall to the bathroom Sal had spoken of, before closing the door behind herself.

She was thrown off as she looked in the mirror. Only ten hours ago she looked like a normal seventeen year old, soon to graduate. Now? She looked like she just exited Purgatory. Her hair was sticking out every which way. A piece of her shirt was torn, a cut across the exposed skin.

She simply sighed before stripping and stepping into the shower. It seemed like the best thing in the world.

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Ate didn't know how long she was in the shower. She estimated a time range as she started drying herself off. Twenty minutes? Thirty minutes? She couldn't tell.

"What did they leave for me?" She quietly asked as she wrapped her hair in the towel as soon as she dried her body. "Let's see."

She first grabbed the shirt and looked over it. It was more intricate than she expected. The shirt was a light purple and black, the black and purple meeting in deep and narrow 'waves'. Her eyes flickered to the pants, which were a pair of light colored jeans. It seemed to be a type of turquoise. She would have to say thank you again.

She only took a moment to dress and, as soon as she did, she exited the bathroom and headed downstairs.

She heard soft talking coming from the living room. She recognized Ashlie's voice immediately.

"Are you doing alright?" Who was Ashlie talking to? "You didn't need to say anything."

"I know." Ate recognized Tommy's voice next. She was confused. His voice was tight. "But I just, I don't know."

Ashlie went to speak again, but was cut off by Cory.

"Oh! Hey, Ate," Cory said with a smile.

"Morning, sunshine," Ashlie smiled at Ate as well, but her smile seemed to be more forced.

"Hi," Ate replied as she walked to one of the chairs and sat down.

"You seemed to have slept well for just a few hours of sleep," Nick told her, not looking up from the notebook resting in his lap.

Ate didn't respond. At least, not to Nick's statement.

"I want to know what's going on," She told the group. "Where are we? Why are we here? What was that thing trying to kill us?"

The four others in the room exchanged glances. It was silently agreed Nick would be the best to explain.

"Fine," Nick muttered, turning the pages in the notebook before landing to the beginning. "Let's start off slow. Want to know who the Nurse is?"