In Between | Eren Jaeger

chapter 7 | hysteria

Week 1

Naturally, I couldn't sleep.

After crying my eyes out, I was in a state of inertia, yet my mind was running a hundred miles per hour and traversing through all possible directions and solutions I could come up with. If I physically couldn't do anything, I would mentally prepare for whatever awaited me.

I didn't know what the time was, but according to counting to myself mindlessly, I deduced that it was sometime late in the night, maybe even early morning, where the moon was setting and the sun was beginning to rise. By now, I would be hearing the annoying chirps of birds outside my window and the honks of cars zooming to get to work as quickly as possible. An amalgamation of sounds were my norm and now, all I heard was silence.

To occupy that silence, I spent some time thinking. I prayed that whatever had gotten to me didn't get to Ant either, that he was safe and sound, worried and stressed the fuck out, but safe nonetheless. It was one thing being kept in an unknown place, but it was another not knowing if my loved one was safe and Ant was all I had left of my family, Bea as well. I wondered how much time had passed since I'd been in here and if Ant was freaking out and had contacted the police— had it been more than 24 hours? Probably, but that didn't really matter. The police were more concerned with the ghoul crisis to worry about a missing adult, but Ant was as stubborn as a mule and would not take half-heartedness as an answer, I guessed that ran in the family.

And then, I thought about the possibilities of 'why me?'. Was it anything related to my past? Was it personal? Or were there other people trapped in here as well?— Who kidnapped me? That, unfortunately, seemed to be a question I asked myself one too many times in the past as well. When I went missing at the age of 12, Maven and I, along with 6 other kids weren't found until 9 days later but the aftermath left too many wounds that didn't need to be reopened right now.

I didn't know when, or how, but somehow I managed to fall asleep. Maybe the constant state of distress my body seemed to be in had tired me out, because the moment I closed my eyes for more than three seconds, I was out.

—

The sound of loud knocks and a muffled voice made me shoot out of the bed in an instant.

Knocks? I doubted my capturers were courteous enough to knock, let alone sound incredibly frantic and humane. I stared at the door sceptically, contemplating whether or not I should heed to their calls or sink back into my mattress and pretend that I didn't exist— but even I knew I was too restless to ignore the sudden change in events. I'd spent hours staring at the wall waiting for something to happen and now, it was finally happening. I wouldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

I put my shoes on and slowly walked towards the door, the knocks grew more rapid and frantic. It was clear that whoever was knocking wasn't going to relent and the voice became clearer, more feminine and desperate. When I pressed my ear against the door, I could faintly distinguish her words.

"Are you alive? You can get out!"

"I can?" I said to myself, my heart racing rapidly.

I didn't know what to do, I didn't know if the person on the other side was someone I could trust, but I could only assume that they were in the same boat as me and that I wasn't the only one here- judging by the other array of other voices I could hear from the other side.

If others were here, does that mean that our capturers were here as well or were we left to our own devices?

"Hey! Is anyone in there?!" The door vibrated against the side of my face. I made my decision.