Another YouTube Fairytale: Matt's Life In Hope Square; Book 1

Chapter 17 - The Other Fighters

*Forgive me, I've been binge watching Escape the Night. (Season 3.) Rest in Peace, my 70's chil'ren.*

Matt woke up in an honest-to-god box. It was small, but not tiny. He had to sit, but he had a bit of elbow room. 

Already going into sensory overload, Matt examined his very small, very dark surroundings. He knocked on one of the walls, and to his surprise, someone else knocked back. 

"Someone else is here." A man's voice came from whatever was beside him. 

"Who is that?" Matt asked. "Who else is here?" 

"He wasn't talking to you." A woman's voice said. 

 "He's confused, and all these voices can't be helping." The first voice said. 

"Wait." Matt stopped them all from talking over each other. "How many people are here? Who are you?" 

There was a short pause, until the first voice spoke up again. "I'm JC Caylen."

"Colleen Ballinger." Came the first woman's voice. 

Different voices started to sound out, all around him. 

"My name is Roi." 

"I'm Manny." 

"Teala." 

Matt relaxed a little, knowing their names made him feel slightly better, until a voice came from in front of him. "And my name is Safiya. But you're the one who's new here. So what's your name?" Despite her words being blunt and harsh, her tone of voice was kind and genuinely curious. Like Matt. 

"I'm Matt. So... you were all captured by Daggers?" Asked Matt. 

"Yeah, we were. We were told to deliver food to the jailer, and after a week each, a new person would be captured." Safiya explained. "I was first. I spent a week alone, here in the dark, until I heard Manny be taken in. I take it you're also in a box?"

"Yeah..." Matt pressed his hand against the wood. 

"After Manny, it was Colleen, JC, Roi, and then Teala." She explained. "And then you." 

"Wait, so you're one of the servants that had to bring food to Joey?" Asked Matt. "I was just with him. He told me that if I had any information on any of those servants, that I had to tell him." 

"So you're my replacement, then?" Asked the light-voiced girl, Teala.

"No, I'm not a castle servant." 

"Then what are you?" Asked Roi. 

Matt paused. Part of him wanted to hide it, but the rest of him didn't really care about hiding it. It wasn't really worth it, when it was most likely he was going to die. 

"I'm a Hope. They banished me for being too curious." 

"Sounds interesting." Manny said. "So... what do you mean by curious?" 

"Not really curious, I just-" Matt sighed. "I fell in love with the princess." 

"I'm sorry. A Hope? With... Princess Stephanie?" He could hear the disbelief in Colleen's voice. "Were you TRYING to get yourself banished?" 

"Forgive Colleen." He heard Manny say. "She's worse about it than all of us." 

"Well, of course I am! Safiya goes missing after exactly one week, then exactly one week later, it's you, and then what does the head off staff say? 'We'll send down Colleen. If she goes, it's no big deal.' No big deal?!" Matt heard a loud knock, probably Colleen hitting herself on the box. Matt guessed it was her head. 

"She's the first time it became a trend." Teala said. 

"Because it's not like we were also part of that trend." Roi said. "Anyway, once or twice a week they open the boxes, throw in a chunk of food, and then close it." 

"Wait, hold on." Safiya stole their attention back. "Matt's not a servant. He wasn't sent to bring Joey his food. That's why he was early this week. He didn't follow the one-week formula."

"And?" Manny asked. 

"Should we be concerned?" She asked. "Whatever they were planning to use us for, it's clearly moved up a bit with Matt coming so soon." 

"Before I was knocked out, he said something. He said, 'that's 6 for the arena.' There's six of you, right?" 

"So they want to put us six in an arena?" Colleen sounded nervous. "I am not letting you guys kill me." 

"What about Matt?" Asked Teala. 

"What about him? He's just a Hope. The human equivalent of a mouse. Why should we care?" Colleen asked. 

Everyone was silent, until Matt decided to speak up. "Because I'm still human. I've still got a heart, a brain, like any of you. I'm in love with a girl, I want to discover new things... I just..." Matt shook his head, his hands now braced on the side of the box. 

"I haven't had the chance to live. I was never allowed to live. I want to live."