Firefly

|Ch. 20|

The guards continued with their tight grip on my arms as we made our way up the vertical stairs. The huge doors slowly opened as the familiar hallway opened up into my view. I noticed a commotion starting down the hallway as a group of guards surrounded a high pitched screaming girl. I watched as she struggled shrieking at them to let her go. The guards holding onto my arms cautiously gazed at her as I passed by. I watched as her helpless face sprung into pure shock as she saw me pass by.

I gazed right into her eyes as she desperately looked into mine for a sense of hope. I turned back towards the guards as they opened the doors to my compartment. I trudged in as the doors shut with a slamming thud.

Who was she? She definitely did not look like someone who worked here. Was there possibly someone else like me out there? I could sense in here eyes that something wasn't right. I desired to figure out who she was, if anything, she could always be my way out of this horrible prison.

Suddenly, a tiny latch opened in the door as a tray of neatly placed food was pushed through. I got up slowly from the bed, staring at the mixture of potatoes and a salad. I picked up the fork and ravenously began to eat. I didn't realize how starving I was until the scent of the buttery fluffy potatoes began to sink into my nose.

I swigged down the amount of water that was left in the cup and pushed away the empty tray from me. I tapped my fingers on the cold marble tiles letting the coolness tingle on my fingers. I slowly got up and laid down in the bed staring at the lights as they gradually began to dim. I blinked my eyes as I could begin to feel my eyelids becoming heavier each time I tried to force myself to stay awake.

I awoke to the sound of commotion coming from inside the walls. I shifted straight up in bed blindly searching around the room for some kind of weapon to defend myself with. I stared up at the red blinking security camera and back at the room squinting my eyes trying to see what was in front of me.

Suddenly, I heard a tapping on one of the vents located on the wall adjacent to me. I quickly grabbed the metal rod holding the pint of medicine gripping it tightly. I peered my eyes trying to focus on the vent. With a soft thud I heard the vent fall down. I pulled back the rod waiting to throw all my force into whoever was coming into the room.

I saw a blurry person coming out from the small vent trying to catch their breath. They landed with a thud on the floor as I walked slowly up to them rearing back the metal rod preparing for whoever was laying in front of me.

A girls face looked up at me whispering, "Woah there, I come in peace."

She scattered backwards on her butt away from me holding her screwdriver in front of me trying to fend for herself. My eyes adjusted to the darkness as I focused on her cowering face. It was the girl I saw earlier being dragged into some room. What was she doing in here?

I stared up at the blinking light from the camera, slowly lowering the pole from my hand and placing it on the ground.

"Don't worry. They aren't watching at this time. I know when the watcher leaves to go somewhere every night. We are good for the next 15 minutes," the girl stated.

I pointed to her screwdriver questioning, "How did you get that?"

She looked at the screwdriver that she was still pointing at me and gently dropped it down beside her.

"Once you've been here long enough, you make a stockpile full of stuff, just in case," she said.

"Just in case of what?" I asked stepping back from her.

"Well, I am due anytime this week to be killed. So, I may as well go out with a bang. Am I right?"

I quivered away from her not knowing what she was going to do to me. I didn't know whether she was trying to be my friend or kill me.

"Who are you?" I questioned.

"Oh, how silly of me to not introduce myself. I am Megan. I'm guessing you're here for the same reason as me."

What was she talking about? I thought I was the first person that had ever broke the rules. That couldn't be possible that she took off her necklace as well, or was it?

"Look, I know it's a lot to take in right now, and you probably think I belong in a psych ward or something. I just don't want you to end up like the last guy."

What was going on here? There were multiples of us that existed?

"The last guy?" I probed.

"None of that matters now. All that does is that I am here to help you and me restart our lives and leave this place," Megan specified.

She slowly got up from where she was standing and stood closer to me looking me straight into the eyes. I couldn't tell whether to trust her or fear her.

"I'm Maddie, so how did you end up here?"

"Took off my necklace. I fell in love with a different guy than my soulmate. Funny thing is, I hadn't even found my soulmate, yet. It's just that when you fall in love with someone so hard, you just know."

I nodded my head realizing exactly how she felt. Sure, I had that bond with Brian but it didn't compare anything to the way I felt when I was with Alex. He made me feel like a somebody when no one else would. I just wondered if he was looking for me or if he even cared about me anymore.

"I thought I was the only one," I mentioned.

"I did too. They make us believe a lie that no one has had the nerve to take off their necklace. But, people have been doing it for centuries. They just try to scare us by telling us no one has done it yet to try to prevent people. I guess it didn't work on us, huh?"

"So, Mrs. Holiday really wasn't lying when she said that law enforcement was going to get involved," I mumbled.

"Huh?" Megan said confusingly looking at me.

"Nothing, so how do you plan on getting us out of here?" I asked.

Megan seemed to be concentrating trying to portray her mastermind of escape. However, nothing came out of her mouth. The silence was left there for what seemed like an eternity as she aimlessly looked around the room trying to collect her thoughts.

"That is something I haven't quite yet figured out. I am close to finding out how to exit this building without them finding out. But, they have a strict lockdown on us in here with a guard around every corner. We would have to be heavily armed to even leave this hall of the building and I don't think you're ready for that yet."

"I'm not ready for that? What are you trying to say?"

"Just give me a little bit of time. We will figure it out. Until then, pay attention to everything and do not act strange at all around them. They can tell," Megan stated.

"I'm sure they could, considering they were hauling you off."

Megan looked at me up and down and her eyes widened as she looked at me nervously.

"Oh crap, he will be back in 2 minutes. I have to go," Megan said quickly squirming back into the tiny hole.

"When will I see you again?" I asked watching her heave her legs into the cramped space.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. I'll see you," she echoed.

I watched as she quietly inched her way into the space crawling into the darkness.

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So now we have a new character named Megan added to the picture! What do you think her past is? Would you trust her? Dang y'all this is getting too good! And we only have 8 more chapters left and the book is done!! AHHH!