A Hope For Escape

Part One

Stone walls. Stone floors. A large, metal door that takes up an entire wall of the small room. Cold, lonely nights. This was all 15 year old Naomi knew her whole life. She was kidnapped as an infant from the very hospital she was born in.

The only human interaction she had were a few others her age who shared the room with her, and a middle-aged woman named Sheila who comes in with food and a bucket of water for bathing. She also had a speaker and microphone built into a wall so outsiders could communicate inside.

Payton was the oldest out of the five of them living in the stone room. He had dirty blond hair and soft blue eyes. He and the others left the room during the day, but never Naomi.

You're not old enough,

Staff workers would tell her on the speaker.

Be glad you don't,

Joshua, the medium skinned boy would scoff before leaving.

It'll be your time soon,

Sheila would hum to her while brushing Naomi's deep brown hair.

Naomi didn't know what the others were doing while they were out all day. She'd try asking Payton, but he didn't talk much and when he did it was always very, very faint. Sheila would come in and tend to her during that time, helped her clean herself, brush her hair, keep her looking presentable.

The other teens left the room early in the morning, and returned late at night, always waking Naomi up. Shen noticed sometimes they'd be trudging in. Once, Simon, a pale, lanky boy, came in covered in blood. He looked as if the color had been drained from his skin. No one knew Naomi saw that every night. One day, Naomi was called for on the speaker while everyone else was eating lunch; the only break they got each day.

"Naomi.  In three days time you will be turning 16." The speaker announced.

    Payton dropped his spoon and it clanged on the ceramic bowl.

"Does that mean I can leave the room with everyone else?" She pleaded. Curiosity was becoming too much for her; she had to know and no one would tell her.

    "It does. You'll begin prepping for the experiments the day you turn 16." Came the answer.

"What experiments?" Naomi questioned. The rest of the teenagers had gone silent and stared at the floor they were sitting on.

    "Really bad ones." Payton whispered. The facility once kept him chained up for days and refused to let him sleep-they would beat him if he fell asleep- "for science".

This would be all Naomi would know until she died. Payton was determined not to let Naomi face the harshness that was everyone else's reality.

"You'll find out in due time, child," was the sickly sweet response on the speaker,  "and everyone else, finish eating quickly. You are needed for stage two immediately." Static was the only sound in the room for a few moments after the speaker was turned off.

"We need to get outta here." Payton stood up.

Everyone else looked at him like he was crazy.

--A/N: I know it's short, I hope the second part will be longer. What do you think? Cover and Title will be added later, if anyone has title suggestions feel free to share! All feedback is welcome!