I'd never felt so much pain in my life. I felt like my brain was violently pounding against my skull threatening to crack it open. I hunched over in pain hoping the blood flow to my brain would help the pain subside. It took a while but finally the pain and pounding ceased. My moment of pain was over but my body was still trying to recover from the shock. My breath came out in ragged puffs, but as time passed, it steadied and became less erratic.
Still in shock, I looked around the room surveying the scene. I was in a small, four walled room packed with six other people. There were three guys and three girls who all looked around the age fourteen; the same age as me. Where am I and who are all these people, I thought. Still affected by whatever I'd been drugged with, I felt my brain throb painfully. "Ow..." I moaned.
"Alex?" A voice called out. I checked around to see who it was. On the left wall a brown haired kid was looking in my direction with deep concern in his eyes. My head throbbed once more with intense pain as if it were trying to alert me of something. I looked at the stranger again sure that I was missing something. After struggling for a while, the realization finally dawned on me; that stranger was my brother. I felt so ashamed of myself. How could I have seen my own flesh and blood and not recognize him? Then again I couldn't really blame myself, whatever I'd been drugged with dulled all my senses and affected my mind. I tried to stand up and walk over to him, but my legs weren't up to the challenge just yet and I crashed back unto the floor.
My head spun.
"Are you ok?" Chase slid right next to me.
"Ya I'm fine," I said reassuringly.
"Are you sure? Because you don't look too good."
"Yes Chase! I'm fine!" I snapped unintentionally.
" Oh my bad. Sorry for caring." He turned away hurt and walked back to his wall.
"Common Chase, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'm just anxious and all this feels so weird.
"You're not the only one," he replied coldly.
After a few moments of silence I spoke again. "Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Ok, who brought us here?"
" I really don't know Alex."
"So what do you know?"
" I know that we've been kidnapped and we're being held hostage."
" Well there's a way out, right? A door or something?" This time he didn't answer me, he just gazed blankly at the floor. "Chase this isn't the time for your pettiness."
"My pettiness? Alex look around you, we're a bunch of teenagers stuck in a big metal box. We don't know anything right now so the best thing we can do is wait."
Although I may have thought Chase was being a jerk, I had to admit he was right. There was nothing to gain by arguing. The best and only option we had was to sit back and let this whole situation play out. Chase and I sat in silence, neither of us saying anything to each other. While we waited, two of the other people in the room woke up.
It took a lot of explaining and reassurances but in a few minutes I was able to calm them down and give them a summary of the situation. It wasn't easy considering I didn't know much about the situation as well. "So who put us here?" Asked the girl, still a bit shaken up.
"I wish I knew. I woke up here just like you."
"But why are we here? Of all the people to be abducted why were we the ones to be abducted? What's important about us?"
"I don't know. Maybe we weren't specially selected, maybe it was completely random. I'm just as confused as you and I think the best thing to do is to just patiently wait and see what happens." As soon as the words left my mouth I realized how much I'd sounded like Chase just a few minutes ago.
"By the way my name is Peyton, Peyton Corteś." She stretched out her hand in a friendly gesture.
"Nice to meet you Peyton Corteś. I'm Alex West." I took her hand firmly in mine and shook it.
"I'm Adam Harper. Charming guy and all-around badass." I grinned at Adam's smug comment. It was good that Adam could be humorous in such a terrifying moment. "It's nice to meet you guys."
"Whose the other guy sitting in the corner?" Peyton asked.
"That's my brother Chase."
Peyton's eyes widened in awe. "I thought you guys looked similar."
I looked at Chase carefully observing him. People always said Chase and I looked identical, but no matter how many times I looked, I never saw what they saw. Of course we shared a few similar characteristics like our blue eyes and dark blonde, but besides that, I couldn't see the resemblance. Sensing the attention on him, Chase turned towards us. "I don't suppose any of you know anything about your kidnappers?"
"Sorry I didn't really notice anything. The last thing I saw before I was drugged was the figure of a man. I didn't get to see his face because it was so dark," replied Peyton.
"Same here," Adam added.
"Right," Chase muttered and he went back to his brooding. Time passed in the little room and still nothing happened. Peyton, Adam and I had conversations about each other's lives to pass the time. Once in a while Chase would add to the discussion, but most of the time he was silent. After what felt like an our, some of the other people started waking up in a disorientated and confused state. We tried to calm them down as best as we could but it wasn't easy explaining that they had been kidnapped and they were being held captive by unknown people. It took some time, but we settled everyone and got the place calm. We went through everything we knew about where we were and who put us here. Even with all our compiled knowledge, we still knew nothing about our situation.
While we were in mid-discussion, everyone paused and once again the room was silent. The silence opened way to a new sound; the sound of heels against metal flooring. Everyone's ears perked up at the strange alien sound. At first the footsteps sounded faraway, but with each passing second, the sound got closer and louder until it stopped right behind the wall. There was a clicking sound behind the wall and a few seconds later, the once visible wall began to dissolve.
I could feel my heart banging in my chest with anticipation. Ever since I'd woken up in this place, I'd wanted answers about who brought us here and why. After waiting for so long, the answers to all my questions might finally be answered. I gazed eagerly at the fading wall, waiting to finally get some answers. Whoever was behind that wall would answer our questions, one way or another.
