Time is Ticking

Chapter One

It all started in a dark attic, small amounts of light shined through the tiny windows. They were adorned with ratty old curtains. It was so dark that you could only see the silhouette's of everyone else.

All twelve of us had been locked up here for a week now, occasionally being brought food on a silver tray.

There was the constant sound of water dripping, from what I presume to be a broken pipe. Along with the smell of rotten fish, which basically put you off the food.

Sometimes the others tried to talk to one another, but you could tell by the way they held themselves back that they didn't want to get to comfortable Because getting comfortable meant that you would stop looking for a way to escape, you'd be accepting the fact that you were trapped.

I did not want to come to that, so I kept to myself and hardly communicated with anyone. Even though I felt rude doing so.

Whoever was keeping us locked up here had something horrible in store planned. And that thought alone scared me a lot. They had chained our hands to the floor, on individual trap doors. Keeping the length of our chains to a minimum.

Over the week, I noticed that there was six boys and six girls here, including me. Several times I had scanned over everyone, trying to decide whether we all had something in common. Something that could help me figure out why we were here.

There was this one boy who just sat there, most of the time he just kept his down, picking at the thread of his jersey, ignoring the penetrating stares of everyone around him.

We had made eye contact a few times, his gaze would travel over my face, as if trying to take in every small detail. I eyed him with curiosity, tilting my head to the side, which he mimicked. Once he looked satisfied with his findings, a small smirk appeared on his lips, then he faced the ground again, zoning out the world.

One thing that I had noticed over time was that everyone who was here were the 'Outcasts.' The ones that no one cared about. We were the ones that no one would report missing. No one cared about us.

There was this one day though, it was different to all the others. The person who had kept us locked up here for roughly a month now entered the room, no ski mask covering his identity this time.

If you had of seen him walking down the street, you would think he was just a normal guy, not someone who had twelve teenagers locked up in an attic. You would think that he had a lovely wife and two equally beautiful children.

He sat down in the middle of the circle, talking to each of us individually. Asking strange questions about our past and what we loved the most, along with several other questions about our lives.

When he sat in from of Evan- the guy who liked to stare at me- he didn't say anything. They both just stared at one another until Evan spoke up, "Just bugger off, you're not doing yourself any favours talking to me." Our capturerer eyed him carefully, waiting a few seconds then stood up and headed towards me.

As his figure towered over me, he looked down and scanned over me, nodded his head then walked off. Odd. Why did he not talk to me?

Shrugging it off, I glanced over at Evan, he was already staring at me. The way he usually does. As if I am some incredibly complex puzzle he is trying to figure out. His eyes gleamed with something different today, playfulness. Huh? "Are you okay?" I asked him, to which he smirked. Again.

"That's not the question you should be asking me, my dear." I gave him a quizzical look, before deciding that he wasn't going to give me a proper answer.

Then I slumped down, pulling my knees up to my chest and closed my eyes, trying to get some form of rest. My eyes flickered open for a second, to see Evan's eyes still trained on me. So I turned my head the other way and closed my eyes, not wanting him to watch me sleep.

"Maiya..." A quiet voice spoke.

"Maiya..." The voice got a little louder.

"Maiya..." This time something hit me on the head, it was a small rock. I tried to rub my eyes, but was restrained by the chains. Goddammit.

"You may want to see this," the voice who woke me up was Evan.

He motioned his head to the inside of the circle. I let my eyes focus a bit more. Infront of everyone was a number, going clockwise. One to twelve.

My eyes shot up towards Evan, "A clock?" He nodded his head.

"Don't ask me, I'm unsure myself."

We all looked around curiously. What did he want with us?

Suddenly all light disappeared from the attic, and the numbers lit up.

"Time is ticking, children."