"Oh look at me I lost my appetite again
Two cups of coffee but still can't get out of bed
Twenty texts and three missed calls from all my friends
But I won't answer them (I won't answer them)
My thoughts are getting catastrophic
And I can't tell all...
The alarm finally stopped after blaring for a full two minutes. A crowd was gathered in the middle of the courtyard around the steel doors through which Thomas was startled to realize they'd arrived just yesterday. Yesterday? he thought. Was that really just yesterday?
"Strange, huh? Felt like a week." Grace said to the boy who nodded in agreement.
"Now it feels like the past week has been two months." Grace said, shaking her head to herself as she sighed.
Someone tapped them on the elbow; they looked over to see Chuck by their sides again.
"How goes it, Greenbeans?" Chuck asked.
"Fine," they replied, even though nothing could've been further from the truth. Thomas pointed toward the doors of the Box. "Why is everyone freaking out? Isn't this how you all got here?"
Chuck shrugged. "I don't know—guess it's always been real regular-like. One a month, every month, same day. Maybe whoever's in charge realized you two were nothing but big mistakes, sent someone to replace you." He giggled as he elbowed Thomas in the ribs, a high-pitched snicker that inexplicably made Grace and Thomas like him more.
"Hey, they really did send someone to replace you." Thomas said in amusement and Grace gave him a fake smile before reacting over and punching his arm, but only with normal human strength.
"Ow!" He said and she laughed, this time a lot more real, and mostly because of the face he made when she did so, and when he fell from his chair.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She knew he was just being dramatic and trying to be funny on her account be cause he's done this so many times before the memory wipe she knew the different between his pretend pain face and his real one.
"You're so dramatic, Thomas." She said, shaking her head in amusement.
"But I got a laugh." He said, looking up at her as she laughed again and shook her head at the boy.
"You're stupid." She said with a laugh.
"And you're smart." He told her and she narrowed her eyes slightly at him, it was strange how he was starting to act like the Thomas she knew before,ad not like the Thomas he was now. "What?"
"You're acting like the old you. It's weird. A good weird, but still weird." She told him and he shrugged as he got back into his chair.
Thomas shot his new friend a fake glare. "You're annoying. Seriously."
"Yeah, but we're buddies, now, right?" Chuck fully laughed this time, a squeaky sort of snort.
"Looks like you're not giving us much choice on that one." Grace said. But truth was, they needed a friend, and Chuck would do just fine.
The kid folded his arms, looking very satisfied. "Glad that's settled, Greenies. Everyone needs a buddy in this place."
Thomas grabbed Chuck by the collar, joking around. "Okay, buddy, then call us by our names. Grace and Thomas. Or I'll throw you down the hole after the Box leaves." That triggered a thought in his head as he released Chuck. "Wait a minute, have you guys ever—"
