The Pieces of Vengeance

The Dark Room

I jolt awake, my muscles feeling taut and sore. My bleary eyes try to make sense of all the grey colors surrounding me. I hate grey; it reminds me so much of... No. I will not go there today. I need to figure out what the heck is going on. I vaguely remember the glare of a screen glowing directly in my face. Oh yeah, I was finishing some extremely overdue homework. I inhale long and deep through my nose. I can smell faint traces of something strange, but not unfamiliar. I frown as I try to remember where I have smelt that before. A sharp memory invaded my mind, which I tried to squash, but it was too late. A tub of pills next to my mother's bed. Her unconscious face. The only time when she was happy and peaceful.

My mother used to smile and murmur. "One pill a day keeps the doctor away." Too bad more doesn't.

Movement from the corner of my eye brings me back down to earth with a cold, hard smack. The cold of the concrete floor begins to seep into my skin, and I roll over, my arm digging into my stomach.

"What the heck?" I murmur. "Where the heck are we?"

Strip lights illuminate the room, and I notice words so red they burn my eyes. Typical of them (my captors?) to use natural red iron oxide to scare me. I read the words over and over again before taking them in.

Past to past, games to games, gather the keys to avenge James.

My eyes stare at the words until they are etched into my brain. I shake my dirty blonde hair out of my face, trying to make sense of what was going on. James is dead. He died a month ago. Some swimming accident or something. I didn't know him well. I didn't talk to him. Apart from the times, he followed me home from school and chucked cans of beer at my head, yelling nerd and laughing at me with his mates. Ok, I'm going to be honest. I hated him. I still feel those pangs of rage whenever I think about how he treated me.

Someone gasps, and I twist my head to look at them. There are other people here. There are other people here. I am not alone. Thank goodness. I do a quick headcount and find that there are three girls and a boy with glasses who are now staring gormlessly at the message. I wonder if he is near-sighted or far-sighted. I'm about to ask, but then a clearing of someone's throat distracts me. I look over. One of the girls was in her pajamas, the silky kind. I smirk at her. Someone obviously forgot to tell Sleeping Beauty that this wasn't a pajama party. I survey everyone else's clothing and cringe at the flamboyant yellow t-shirt I am wearing. Another girl was huddled on the cold, dark floor, her long dark blonde hair hiding her face. I notice all the attention in the room had shifted to the last girl, her soft facial features framed by her pale hair. She has her mouth open in a small 'o' and is glancing wildly around the room.

"Are you alright?" The girl with the dark blonde hair carefully approaches the last girl. Seriously? Her 'mental well-being' is not the most pressing issue.

"Never mind her being all right. What is going on? Who are you guys? What do you want?" Sleeping Beauty rambles, her eyes darting around the room. She leans back slightly, composing herself.

"Calm down, Sleeping Beauty," I say, smirking at how her eyes narrow at her nickname. "I don't know what's going on either."

A murmur of 'same's echo around the room, although I notice that the dark-haired boy stays silent.

"Does anyone know what this means?" demands Sleeping Beauty. We all stare at her, silent. "Fine," she says and strides over towards a door. A door? How did I not notice that before? "Let's just leave." Sleeping Beauty twists the door handle firmly and steps through the frame. I get the distinct impression that Sleeping Beauty is used to being followed. That makes sense. Her eyes command everyone's attention all the time. We all step through the door frame like soldiers; carefully and quietly.