Reanimated

Chapter 3: Change

I woke up with a start.
I looked around and found myself not too far from where I was before, but I had definitely moved. I was next to a forest. As I stood up, I noticed the carnival downhill was gone—and so was my class. My head ached and I had a mild pain in my stomach, but other than that I didn’t feel too different. From inside the forest behind me, I heard someone call out. “Hello?”
I turned to see a girl around my age. She had pale skin and blonde hair tied into two ponytails that hung off her shoulders. She wore a white tank top and a pink skirt that reminded me of a cheerleader. She also wore pink arm warmers and high socks. The strangest part about her was that she had pink designs on her face—but they didn’t look like makeup.

Her eyes widened upon looking at me, then she gave a look of sympathy. “I’m Ace.” She walked over and took my hand, “What’s your name?”
I stared at her for a moment. “Findley,” I answered. “Who are you?”
“I just said- Oh! You mean…” She trailed off for a second. “I don’t really know how to explain it… Why don’t you just come with me?”
She gestured towards the forest.
“Woah-” I backed away, “I’m not just going to follow some random person into the woods!”
Ace looked at me like I was an idiot. “Oh, I won't hurt you! I’m just taking you to see the others—Dain will know what to do!”
That didn’t exactly reassure me, but to be fair I did accept some random lady’s offer for “freedom” so… What's the worst that could happen? Besides, Ace seemed genuine.

I followed her into the woods.
Despite it being October, it looked like summer in the forest. The trees were lively and animals scurried about. Ace kept muttering to herself, something like he’s so young and not again. After a while, we reached a small rundown shack in a clearing. Which made me feel worse about my current situation.

Ace ran up towards the shack and went inside, I followed behind.
Inside the shack were a bunch of other people, all with similar face markings as Ace—but with different colors. Ace ran up to a tall man and hugged him. The man had dark skin and brown hair. His face markings were purple. He looked around thirty and had a kind smile. Though, once he looked at me, his face turned to shock.

He walked over to me and knelt down so we were at eye level.
“I’m Dain,” He spoke softly, “What’s your name-”
“He’s Findley!” Ace called out.
“He can talk for himself.” Dain sighed before looking back at me. “Findley, I know this is going to be difficult to understand but…” He paused. Just then, the other people in the shack crowded around me, mumbling amongst themselves.

Dain stood up and introduced me to everyone. There were three other people besides Dain and Ace. Dain turned to me and introduced me to the others. “You’ve already met Ace, but meet Liz, Tori, and Alon!” I turned to the group of people.
“I’m Liz!” She was also around my age and had green markings. She also had the same energetic vibe to her that Ace did.
“I’m Tori,” A tall woman with red markings walked over and shook my hand.
“Alon.” A boy, probably around seventeen, spoke. He seemed uninterested. His markings were black.

Dain let me know that he’ll explain more later, and that I should take time to relax—which was hard. I had just had this whole new situation sprung onto me without any explanation. I was pretty confused. I touched my head, which was still hurting a little, and noticed I was still wearing my mask. I took it off my head and examined it. It was a little scratched but overall seemed the same.
“Cool mask!” Someone spoke from behind me. It was Liz.
“Oh, thanks.” I said, tilting it to show her.
“The blue matches you!”
“What do you mean?” I questioned.
She pointed to my face, “Your markings! It’s the same shade.”
My eyes widened. It never occurred to me why I was being accepted into this group of people. I touched my face, but it felt the same as always. Before I could process that, Ace spoke.
“I know this is confusing,” She sighed, “We’ve been there! Though, it’s not too bad!”
“What?”
“Being one of us,” She said, like it helped me understand, “If you want to talk to someone on the newer side, you should talk to Alon. He came like—what—a month ago?” She pointed to Alon who was standing in the corner of the small shack. He had pale skin that contrasted with his markings. He wore a dark gray hoodie and dark blue jeans.
“I don’t think he seems too interested in conversation.” I pointed out.
“Oh, he’s always like that!” Liz pushed me towards him. “He’s weird—like you! You two will get along great.” She gave me a thumbs up. I put my mask back onto the side of my head and awkwardly shuffled next to Alon.

Alon glanced down at me for a moment, his expression seemed tired. He didn’t seem like a rude or cold-hearted person—just introverted.
“So, she got to you, too?” Alon spoke, which kind of startled me.
“The woman? So, everyone here went through the same thing?”
He studied my face, before shifting his gaze to the floor, “Pretty much,” he sighed, “If you’re looking for answers, I’m not the one. I only know the basics of all this.”
I looked around, examining everyone, “Yeah, Liz told me you only got here a month ago-?”
“Two months.” Alon corrected. It was basically just more awkward silence after that—I didn’t know what to say and Alon wasn’t too eager to start up a conversation. So, I just silently shuffled away.

Liz seemed to have forgotten about me, Ace ran around aimlessly, Alon didn’t seem up to talk, and I didn’t know where Dain was. So I felt pretty lost in the chaos. I wanted to try and get more information about my situation, but there was pretty much nothing to go off of.

Just as I was starting to give up, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
As I turned I saw the lady with the red markings from earlier—Tori.
“I’m sorry about all this, it’s not always this… Chaotic.” She said before giving me a gentle smile. Everything about Tori was elegant—from her attitude, to her markings. She seemed so out of place. “Your name is Findley, right?”
“Oh, yeah.” I felt awkward.
She laughed a little, before guiding me into the kitchen—well if you could call it that… It was just another corner of the rundown shack. The kitchen had one of those cheap grills, a microwave, along with a rusty counter. There was also a long wooden table with a few wooden chairs—The dining table, I assumed. “Sorry, I know it’s disgusting but it’s all we really have. Besides, the grill has only caught fire once! And now Ace is banned from touching it!” Tori gave another smile, this time a little nervous.
“Oh, it’s okay.” I let out an awkward laugh as Tori urged me to sit down at the table. As she opened a small cooler and grabbed some food and drinks, I thought about how odd this place was. Everything felt surreal and, well, kind of gross. Despite this, I felt calmer here than I’ve ever been. For some weird reason, I liked how messy everything was; it felt genuine. Much different than the fake life I had before—I found myself feeling content.

“Oh darn,” Tori sighed, “This is the last bit of food we’ve got. It’ll do as a snack, but we’ll need more for dinner.” She turned to me.
“Oh, I don’t really need to eat-”
“Nonsense, everyone’s always hungry after...That-”
I hadn’t noticed until she said that, but I was actually pretty hungry. Also, I was starting to get pretty frustrated with everyone dodging the topic of what I was going through. What had happened? Why are we all here? I wished someone would just tell me.

“Alon,” Tori called out, “Could you go out and get us some food?”
Alon glanced at her, “Why do I have to?”
“Please?” I was expecting there to be more of an argument there, but Alon just rolled his eyes and walked over to Tori as she grabbed a small box and began rummaging through it. “Ah, fifty bucks! That should be just enough for everything. We’ll have to get more another day.”
Tori handed Alon the money, and he flashed her a concerned look—which surprised me a little. Alon pocketed the money and left the shack. I honestly began to feel a little sorry for these people.

“Sorry about that,” Tori chuckled as she turned to prepare the food.
“Oh, it’s fine. You really don’t need to apologize so much.”
“I feel like I should,” She turned on the grill, “This must be really confusing for you, and I just want everybody to feel welcomed. So, please, if you need anything, let me or Dain know.”
“About that,” I took my chance, “Could you tell me what actually is going on with all this? Like, what's happening?”
Tori didn’t answer for what felt like forever. “I don’t know how to explain it. I’m really sorry. Dain will explain it to you, but he’s just procrastinating.”
“Why? How bad is it?” I felt uneasy.
“It’s really not that bad-”
“Then why can’t anyone tell me anything!?” I instantly regretted yelling. I braced myself to be yelled at, but Tori never raised her voice.
“It’s just hard to talk about. You’ll understand, I promise.” Her tone was sad—tired.

After a little while, Tori called out to Liz and Ace and placed three sandwiches on the table, one for each of us. The sandwiches tasted amazing. I had never really had sandwiches before, since my parents always made me eat these plain and passionless meals made by personal chefs. I guess Ace noticed the shock in my face, because she leaned over and said, “Tori makes the best food! Nomatter what it is!”
Liz nodded, “Mhm! Tori is fantastic at cooking!”
I smiled—I couldn’t help it.