A House Divided

Phase Two

Pearl's P.O.V.

"Please, Pearl. Wake up."

"She's bleeding heavily; someone go get a towel!"

"Where?! All the doors in this f*cking house are locked!!"

I opened my eyes. Bright, white, light pierced my eyes.
I winced as I sat up. I felt the side of my face. I was bleeding. My hand came back with crimson blood on my palm.

Amethyst's hands held onto my shoulders.
"Are you okay?" She asked me, worried.

I looked up at Sapphire and Ruby. They stared down at me with the same worried look on their faces.

"I'm fine. But, what happened?" I asked.

"From what we could piece together, the man chased us one by one. We were knocked out and we woke up here. You were the one who sustained the worst injury." Sapphire said clutching onto Ruby's arm.

I stared at them. They were different some how. Their outfits were changed into black shorts and black tee shirts. They each had no shoes on.

I paused and looked down at myself. I was dressed the same way. So, was Amethyst.

Amethyst hugged me. I felt tears fall onto my shirt.

"Are we stuck in here, P?" She asked.

I held her close.

"It's okay. We'll be okay." I whispered back.

"All life forms are alive and awake. Now opening up main door." A monotone voice said.

I jumped. Who was that?
"Who is that?! Whoever you are come out and fight us!" Ruby yelled loudly. No one answered.

A loud hissing sound filled the room and the door off to my far right opened.

I froze and held Ame closer to me. The blood clung to my hair, sticking to my face. I wiped away my hair and saw the figures step out of the fog.

In stepped Jasper, Peridot, Lapis, and...Rose.

"You guys?!" Jasper roared, walking up to Ruby.

"What are you doing here?!' Ruby said getting in Jasper's face.

"I don't know! What are you doing here?!" Jasper yelled, pushing Ruby.

I stood up with Amethyst.

"No fighting. Please! Neither of us know what's going on. Fighting is not going to help." Sapphire said standing in the middle of Jasper and Ruby.

"Yeah, we can't start fighting. As of right now all we have is each other." Lapis said flipping her long blonde hair out of her eyes.

Amethyst and I walked over to the group, when we heard him.

"Hello Life Forms. I am M.A.X.W.E.L.L." He said, stepping out of the fog.

Maxwell was a tall, white robot. His eyes glowed an unnatural shade of blue. I was scared of him. Of the way he moved. He seemed to be a puppet. A puppet trying to walk by itself.

I gasped as he came closer and moved away from him.

The group froze. No one moved, no one dared take a breath.

"I am here as your guide in the S.M.A.R.T. house." He said moving away from us.

"What's this 'smart' house?" Rose asked, breaking the silence.

"Smart stands for

S. Sedate

M. Master

A. Atler

R. Reform

T. Teach

And I Am M.A.X.W.E.L.L." Said the robot, walking over to me.

"You are hurt. Please, come with me." He said holding out a hand to me.

I backed away from him. I didn't trust the robot.

"Pearl Miller, please come with me." The robot responded, moving closer to me.

I looked at him, stunned.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"I know all of your names. You are Pearl Miller. She is Amethyst Smith." He said pointing to Ame.

"There's Ruby Jenkins, Sapphire Jones, Lapis Rene, Rose Cating, Jasper Mowan, and Peridot Rathbone." He said pointing at each of us.

Everyone stood quietly.

"Please ask me anything. I will answer to the best of my ability. But, first I need to assist Pearl with her wound." Maxwell said grabbing my hand and pulling me away. I pushed back and tried to dig my bare feet into the hardwood floor, but the robot was strong.

"Stop struggling Miss Pearl." Maxwell said, pulling harder.

The rest of the girls chased after me into another room. The room was filled with a dark deep blue haze. Like the other room, this room was white and had nothing on the walls. the glow was coming from a large blue orb in the center of the ceiling.

"This is the real Maxwell. I am just a part of him. This Maxwell doesn't speak, but it is the boss. And I carry out its orders." Maxwell said, letting me go.

I crashed onto the hardwood floor. Maxwell walked over to me with a large bandage in his hand. He moved his hand over my face, near the large gash. I flinched as he put it on.

"Now that Pearl has been taken care of, please ask me your questions." Maxwell said, pointing to the couch behind my back.

The rest of the girls sat up on the couch. I stayed down on the floor. Adrenaline pumped through me. I was ready to run at a moments notice. The only problem was that there were no windows in this room. There was only one door. The door we came in and that room had no windows either.

"What are we doing here?!" Jasper yelled.

"That information is classified." Maxwell replied.

"Who took us here?" Sapphire asked.

"That information is also classified." Maxwell said.

"Then why can't we just bust out of this f*cking place?!?!?!" Jasper yelled loudly standing up.

"That's where I come in." Maxwell said.

Jasper threw a punch at the robot, but the puppet caught her large fist. Maxwell forced Jasper onto the ground. Jasper screamed in pain as the robot put more force on her hand.

Jasper was on her knees now when Maxwell's knee struck her in her face.

Jasper laid, writhing in pain. She held her wrist close to her body.

"Fighting is one of the rules here in this house. No fighting, no killing, and you must not touch Maxwell." The robot said, walking away.

"You may help yourself to anything that you find in the house. you may do whatever you want as long as you don't break the three rules. I will be around to check on you all later. Until then, goodnight." Maxwell walked over to wall and sat down. His blue eyes flickered and turned off. The door off to the side opened with a clang. We all stood in shock as Jasper stood up.

"I need a drink.....Anyone care to join me?" Jasper said wiping the blood from her nose  and onto her hand. She stumbled out of the room, leaving a small trail of blood.