The Light in Darkness

Chapter 4: The Good Doctor

-Katrina-

"Nathan? Is she awake?" A girl's voice whispers. "Shhhh! Be quiet!" A nearby male voice hisses. Neither of the voices sounded familiar, and they sounded about my age. Curious, on who they were, I open my eyes to see a boy with brown hair and clover green eyes sitting down in front of my face. Startled, I scream and kick the boy in the chest. The boy falls to his back and coughs as I scoot myself to a nearby corner shaking in fear. Once scooted back into the safety of a nearby corner, I couldn't help but hear the sound of chains follow me. I look down at the source of the noise to see a rusty chain cuffed to my right ankle.

I attempt to scream, but the boy, stops me by covering my mouth. His actions, surprise me and I go silent. The boy puts a finger to his pale lips and hushes me. Confused, I give him a questioning look, weren't we the only ones here? The boy rolls his eyes and points towards a set of stairs that held a door at the top. As if on que, footsteps up above us is echoed throughout the silent room. The footsteps walk at a steady pace across the wooden floor until they come to a slow stop. Before the boy can explain what is happening, the sound of a chair being dragged is echoed throughout the silent building before the sound of the person sitting is heard. "The doctor's awake." The girl behind the boy squeaks. "Shhh!" The boy commands. The girl obeys and continues listening with us.

Minutes go by without much noise other than the sounds of writing and typing are heard. Getting bored of the silence, I turn my attention away from listening to this "doctor" and take a look around the room. By the looks of it, we were trapped in a basement with a single lone light shining above us. We were all sitting on a depressing cement floor that held three red sleeping bags, some paper, and broken crayons. On the wall behind the girl were names and under those names held red tally marks. There were five names and one blank space at the end. Of those six categories, two names were crossed off in black crayon. "Samantha and Henry." I read silently. "It seems that only Ben, Ali, and Nathan remain, but where is Ben and what happened to the others." I pondered.

After discovering the other kids names, I turn my curiosity to them. The boy in front of me was named Nathan and the girl behind him was Ali. Ali has long red hair, grey eyes, and looked to be about nine years old. She wears a pair of ripped jeans, a pink t-shirt containing a smiley, and a rusty chain on her right ankle. The boy, Nathan, has brown hair, clover green eyes, and looked to be about twelve. Nathan wears a pair of tan shorts, a plain red t-shirt, a hoodie tied around his waist, and a rusty chain on his left ankle. Nathan looked very familiar and it took a few seconds before I remembered why.

Figuring that it was alright for me to do so, I take Nathan's hand off my mouth. " I know you. N-nathan? Is it? I saw y-you on the TV this morning." I barely whisper. My voice catches both of the kids off guard as well as the person upstairs. Not even noticing that the person upstairs stopped working and was now listening in on us, Nathan speaks up first, "So you do talk. We thought you were mute from what we heard from Gabriel." "Gabriel? Who's Gabriel?" I ask. "The doctor's assistant." Ali whispers. "Who's this 'doctor' I keep hearing about?" I ask. There is a long silence before Nathan speaks up again, "Someone, you don't want to meet." Another silence is formed between us, until Ali speaks up, "So why don't you talk much?" "I only talk to those who I know and can somewhat trust." I sigh, "Otherwise, I don't." The silence returns, but leaves once again when Ali approaches me. "What's your name? My name's Ali." Ali smiles. A genuine smile forms on my lips to her friendliness. "K-katrina." I pause, "Katrina Parkman."

Ali smiles before handing me a red crayon. "Care to join us on the tally board?" Ali asks. I nod before hesitantly taking the crayon from Ali, I couldn't tell if they were really this nice or if it was all an act. I slowly stand to my feet and walk with my rusty chain to the cement wall where my blank space waited to be filled. I sigh heavily, before writing down my first name on the cement wall and putting my first tally mark underneath it. I knew what this chart was for. It was for counting the days we were trapped down here or at least until we get crossed off.