ᥴ᥅ꪖᦓꫝꫀᦔ ꪻꪮᧁꫀꪻꫝꫀ᥅ (ON HOLD)

• S e v e n •

Aliyah November 2, 2007

"Hey, do you know where Evangeline is?" I ask the girl sprawled out on the floor next to me.

She shrugs, smiling. "Probably with Thomas. I'm pretty sure she's his favorite." Her smile turns into a frown.

I look around the room, trying to find another thing to talk about. "Sooooo, your name is November?"

She turns her head to look at me in my eyes, her wild orange hair flying over her shoulder. "Uh-huh! November is a cool month!"

I scrunch up my face. "Really? Nothing fun happens in November!"

"November is my birth month! My birthday is on November 16th!"

I giggle. "Oh, cool! Do you know what day it is now?"

November scoffs. "Of course I do! It's..." She brings a finger to her lips. "It's..." She shakes her head. "I would know if the employees or Thomas put a darn calendar somewhere!"

I tilt my head. "What do you mean? There's a calendar in Thomas's room."

November stares at me blankly. "I've never been in there. He only takes girls in there when he's..."

I look at the ceiling, knowing what she's getting at. "Well, it's November 2nd. Just thought you should know that." I mumble.

"Oh! Thanks for telling me that." She says before silence fills the room.

"How old are you?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Seven going on to eight, I guess. You?"

"Seven."

"Whoa, I'm finally older than someone!" November exclaims, throwing her arms in the air.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"All my friends are older than me. Now I'm older than one of them! Ha!"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever..."

We lay on the floor in silence for a few minutes. Then I finally take a deep breath and ask a question that's been lingering in my mind for weeks. "What's up with the Fight or Flight room?"

November goes limp. "It's...It's to test us. I thought that was obvious."

I turn my face to look at her. "Well, I know that, but I can't help but feel like there's something else about that room."

November taps her fingers on her stomach. "Well...it's mainly for...proving who deserves to be here."

"Deserves to be...here? Like, here in the lab?" My eyes widened. "Do we get to go Upstairs soon?!"

November sits up. "No. We're not going up there any time soon."

    I tilt my head, confused. "What do you mean then?"

    November takes a deep breath. "That room...is for determining who gets to live and who is worthless. Whenever two or more girls are becoming useless to Thomas or they attempt to...get away, he puts them in Fight or Flight and orders them to...kill each other in a span of five minutes. Whoever survives gets to continue living and is given a second chance."

    I tense up. "W-Why...Then why were we put into the room?"

    November lowers her head. "I've been wondering that, too."

    I shake my head wildly, my vision fogging up. "No! I won't let that happen anymore! There has to be some way-"

    "Aliyah...girls have tried to escape before. And guess what? They died slowly in agonizing ways. We're stuck here, Aliyah," She turns her head over her shoulder to look at me. Tears are streaming down her face and her eyebrows are furrowed. "Why can't you get that through your stupid head?!" She cries.

My throat feels like thorns are poking at it as I try to hold back tears. "O-Oh...I'm sorry...I didn't..." I'm at a loss for words.

I hear November sighing, then she moves her body to face me. "I-I'm sorry. It's just...you seem so...innocent. You don't deserve to be here."

I shake my head. "Hey, don't say that!" I sit up and place a hand on her shoulder. "None of us deserve to be here. But I promise some way, somehow, we will get out of here. No matter what."

November stares at me with a surprised expression. Then she breaks into a smile. She wraps her arms around me and pulls me close to her. "You're an awesome person, Aliyah. I hope you know that." She whispers.

I quietly giggle. "Well, lucky for you, you'll always have me."

We both laugh, clinging on to each other as if holding on to dear life.