Life on the Inside

Chapter 5

I lingered around the barrier for a few more minutes, gathering my thoughts. I had no idea how a girl got on the inside. She wasn't from the area, and humans couldn't go through the barrier, only animals, and the weather, from what I had observed. I hoped she would be fine on her own; jaguars liked to roam around that time of night.

After listening to the sounds of all the creatures and insects around me to try and relax for a few minutes, I decided to wander a little, to see if I could find her. I wandered about a mile radius from where I was, checking up in the trees and all around for the girl, but after an hour of searching, there was no sign of her. No footprints that I could see in the dark, signs of human interaction with the environment, or anything of that sort.

By the time I walked back to my hut, it was probably around midnight, and pitch black outside, except for the tiny glints of light that reflected off of the small stream's water. Moonlight rarely ever reached this far down in the rainforest, but luckily I had built the hut near a small opening, where light reached down to the jungle floor.

"Decent place you have here.." a voice said as I opened the already slightly opened door, making me jump back in shock.

"How did you find this!?" I exclaimed as my eyes met with hers. I could see her better now than I could earlier. She had dark brown eyes, and brown hair with fine features.

"Well, it wasn't too far from where we met earlier." she said, "I'm Lena by the way... and sorry about earlier."

"So you're not mad an-"

"Oh trust me, I'm furious right now, I just don't see a need to take it out on you...unless you did this to me"she looked at me without emotion, "and you are?"

"Oh yea, I'm Aiden."

"Aiden...alright. So, Aiden, why the heck am I here in...wherever I am."

"Well, I've come to call this place the inside, and i have no idea why or how you got here. I was just here going to sleep and I heard your screams." I held my hands up to show my innocence.

"The inside, an interesting name." she thought aloud.

"So what happened?" I asked, "What was it like?" I hoped I wasn't being to invasive, since I had no idea what was going on in her head, but thankfully, she answered without conflict.

"Like I said earlier, I don't know... One moment I'm out with friends at a party, having a fun time, then everything went black immediately. I don't know how long that I passed out for, but when I woke up, I was out there, " she pointed vaguely in the direction where I first saw her, " with a dang jaguar about ready to tear me to bits! What the heck am I doing in a jungle!?" she yelled, becoming angry.

"Lena I don't know." I said, attempting to calm her down, "but we'll be fine."

"Fine!? We are as good as dead! How long have you been out here?" I struggled to reply, worried of what she would say, and there was a moment of awkward silence, "...well?"

"Five years, I think." I managed to mutter out.

She stared at me with a look of awe and hopelessness, "Five freaking years? Is there no escape? Why are you even here?"

"Well, I was in school around five years ago, and these, strange people I don't know claimed to be my guardians, which the school believed, so I had to go with them. They took me away, far from home. A few airplane rides later, I remember being dragged into some kind of lab, where these strangers did experiments on me. I don't know what they were looking for, or if they were trying to harm me or kill me, but they eventually gave a shot in the neck, hurt like crap, and it knocked me out. After some time I woke up, here on the inside. I didn't really know what they were doing to me was wrong, or even dangerous, until I actually thought about again a few years ago. I realized what they had done to me. Leaving me here in a place like this, for me to rot." It was silent for a minute.

"Dang." Lena stated, " I thought my day was rough."

"Yea, it's whatever; not important."

"But maybe it is." Lena stated, sounding emotionless once more.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Maybe it is important. I mean crazy scientist guys wouldn't just stick two kids a rainforest surrounded by an invisible dome."

I chuckled, "You're dreaming. There is nothing important about me. I don't know about you, but I know there is nothing special about me. I'm a nobody." I sat on the ground, "You can sleep there if you plan on staying for the night"

"Don't have much other choice do I?" she said.

Within half an hour, Lena had already fallen asleep, but I was still wide awake. Today had just been way too weird. One moment I was thinking to myself how lonely I had been over the years, the next moment a girl suddenly gets teleported on the Inside. What the heck was going on here? What if I was still being watched by the ones who originally put me here? I eventually fell asleep, with those thoughts in my head, causing for a restless, long night.

Author's Note: Emme's name WAS CHANGED to Lena, in case of any confusion.