An Empty World

Found

Day 50

  It was lunch time. Everyone in the room ate the food that had been scavenged from shops and houses happily and chatted to another, enjoying each others company. Well most people. Not me. Reflecting upon the amount of time I had been here, I decided that everything would have been much better if I was actually alone in the world. Teenagers. Ew. 

 "Did you hear what happened with the spiders last night?" the blonde girl with the concave haircut who I now knew as Lara asked someone seated at the other side of her. At this point Haydn had insisted that every person eat together at the table like "one big happy family".  Finally an interesting conversation. I thought with relief. Intelligent conversation were rare these days. I listened eagerly while eating a burger and pretending to be oblivious to everyone and everything around me.  

  "Yeah, I think so. Didn't Ellie almost get caught? I hear the spiders are the size of cars!" I had to strain myself and block everything else out to hear what the small voice was saying. 
 
  "They almost did but Haydn got her in time. Apparently the spiders are tryi--" I heard the blonde one begin to say but was interrupted by a nudge in the ribs. Twice. One before I ignored them and one after, that hurt a little more because the first attempt failed. 

  "What do you want?!" I hissed and turned to face the person who had just sat beside me so that they could see my death stare. It was that boy again. The one that reminded me of Jake.  

  "Hey, calm down. I just want to talk. That's what people do," he said almost defensively. 

  "I don't talk and I don't like people. Just allow me to eat my food that's all I ask," I snapped and tried to resume my eavesdropping but he couldn't just leave me alone. His hand grabbed my elbow and twisted my body back to face him again. 

  "I'm not like my brother okay? I don't exactly fit in either," the pretty boy leaned in and lowered his voice. "We should talk alone. Later," he whispered discreetly. His gaze shifted from me to the people around us. My eyes narrowed, summing up the situation. While unsure of what to do but at the same time getting frustrated because I was going to fall behind in the other conversation, I quickly I nodded and said "sure," in hope that he'd go away. 

  "My name is Gabriel by the way," he grinned at me and then got up awkwardly after I gave him a brief fake smile in return. Turning back in my seat I leaned closer and listened keenly to where the conversation had gone.

  "Oh my gosh yes! I love those shoes! And the best thing is everything is free now days!  Soo many choices! And.." Lara giggled and brainlessly rattled on. Instantly my appetite had gone. In reaction to the disappointing subject change, I dismissively dropped what was left of my burger onto my plate. Sighing to myself I found it an appropriate reaction to lean my head on one arm and glare at nothing, with disinterest, annoyance and resign.  

   Peering over to the opposite side of the table Haydn was watching me with amusement. When he saw that I had noticed him, the look of amusement grew into a wide, twisted smile. He had me trapped here. He had the power and there was nothing I could do about it.  

                            
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  "Okay now that we're alone, what's the escape plan?" Gabriel asked keenly but still in a hushed tone. By now it was late and he had pulled me outside of the large house that the gang had taken over. He was towering over me while I sat outside the pool with my feet dangling in the water. It felt nice.  I looked up at him and raised my eyebrow.  This had become a habit of mine, picked up over the years and it had never really faded away. 

  "I would assume that you of all people, would have an escape plan?" 

  "If I had one, why would I tell you?" I ran my fingers through my hair thoughtfully. Being a night time person and now, one on one with Gabriel made me feel less irritable and relaxed.  

  "Oh I don't know...maybe because I actually tried to save you! Do you have any idea how much trouble I would have been in if they knew?" his voice gradually went into a whisper as he said this. This time Gabriel seemed to be getting a little annoyed.   

  "Well you did a great job didn't you? In any case, you still came to the wrong person. I'm trapped here just as much as you are,"  the slightly wiry figure kicked a rock that stood in front of his foot in frustration. After a few minutes of quiet he came and sat beside me, also putting his feet in the water, not caring how it made his jeans go wet. 

   "Can you please help me? I'm begging you. I know you want to get out of here just as much as me. Everyday I see how sad you look, you're dying to get away," he pleaded. "I need your help." 

  "You're forgetting Danny. I owe him. Because of me..." I trailed off at the thought. 

  "I know. He told us. He told us everything Christa. You can't even trust him and you know if he stays here with them, which he wants to do, he will end up being just like Haydn and the rest. Forget him and work something out with me. We can get away from all this," something rustled from behind us and the young man looked around quickly to see if anyone was there.

    "It's Ellie. She's spying on us through window at the top floor of the house. Luckily for us we've been speaking quietly. Just go with it. I don't think she saw that I noticed her," Gabriel whispered and put his arm around me, to give her the wrong impression. I placed my head on his shoulder and moved in closer. I clenched my jaw, this was not part of the plan and the half hug made me want to cry all the tears I had been holding in for so long.

   "Okay, she's gone now," he told me, looking back at the closed curtains. His look of relief shortly turned into a look of shock, when a pale blue creature jumped out of the bushes and shoved him into the water, almost dragging me along with him. Gabriel hardly had time to react and came up to the top of the water to catch his breath and stare at Trondark with surprise. 

  "Wonderful!" Trondark said and crossed his arms disapprovingly. "Why were you putting your arms around my Christa? It's my job to hug her. Find a different human for yourself." 

   "Trondark it was just an act! Wait 'your Christa?' Christa belongs to no one. Don't treat me like your pet. I'll hug who I like," I started to rant while closing in on him. Trondark tried to fix what he said with mumbles in between what I said but it ended with him almost tripping backwards over the bush he'd jumped out of to attack. 

  "Sorry! You're right Christa, please don't be mad. I just don't like that human for some reason and I've been looking for you everywhere," he said defensively. 

  "Why?" 

  "We.. were..umm.. going to find more honey remember?! I need your help with that," he said quietly. I laughed in reply, the creature always found a way to make me laugh. I had to admit to myself that for the week of being at this horrible house, I had missed him a lot. 

   "Hug?" he asked reaching his arms out hopefully, a pleading expression on his face. 

   "No,"  I said sternly and he dropped his arms in disappointment.   

   "Oh, excuse me guys. Person drenched in pool water here. What the heck are you supposed to be?" Gabriel was now out of the water and standing behind us while wringing out his clothes and hugging himself from the cold.  Trondark growled in response and I shrugged and smiled. Now. Now, we could make our escape plan with his help.