ASUNDER (I) : tmr newt

05: I'm Confused

 

5 Leo

It is still dark when I wake up. The ground is soft, and it sticks to my face by the dew that clings to it. Peeling my face off the ground, I can feel the dirt that hangs on my skin, and with a quick raise of my hand, I brush it off.

I couldn't tell you what hour of the night it is. When I look back towards the house, I notice the fire and the party around it have completely disappeared. Its warmth is no longer in the air, and neither is its energy.

I sniff, before coughing as I pull myself off of the ground. Last night wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Avoiding the party and the boys along with it proved to be a very easy task, since they were all pre-occupied. Besides, the garden was empty and I was free to explore it.

In this black moment, time stands still. On her feet, I don't move, don't even breathe. There is no one else up, as I look around searching for a sign of another living being. There are bodies strewn about on the ground around the fire, as well as some in hammocks farther off from the centre. I manage to be on the very outskirts, sleeping only a couple meters from where tomatoes grow from the ground.

Light cracks over the walls, and time seems to begin rolling again. It casts a glow over me, as I must stand in the far west of the field. The light manages not to hit the plants at first. They are in the shadow of the stone walls that surround us, keeping me trapped.

The grass looks bright, almost yellow in the soft light. Even if the sun is moving, it finally feels serine. Maybe it's not time stopping I'm looking for, but solitude, and the peace in it. So far, the people around me have proven to be nothing but chaotic.

But when the sun kisses me, I feel as if I could breathe in this field for more than a minute.

A loud banging sounds stops me from my thoughts. For a second, I think I've been shot from the way my body freezes and my hands clamp shut. My feet sink into the ground, trapping the soles of my boots deep within the earth, and I only sink deeper with every passing thought.

Rough scraping, unlike the metal of the box that brought me here, fills the area. Something is being ripped to shreds, and torn apart, and it is so high pitched it rattles my brain. It hurts, but I cannot flinch to cover myself. I cannot even move.

The wall breaks apart before me, massive block tearing open, and just now I realise how they must have closed. Something is ripping them open, and maybe it is one of those monsters that Dawn found in that maze.

I do not scream, but I find the ability to run. It jumps into my feet, and they spring back as I sprint away from the walls. There is nowhere to escape and nowhere to breathe.

My body rams into something hard and I knock myself over. It's my shoulder that hits the ground first and then I am able to roll on to my back. The loud sound has stopped. Suddenly it's just me in this field again.

"What are you shucking doing?" A boy grunts beside me.

I turn myself up and over, to see the boy who sits on the ground next to me, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sorry," I manage, as I realise I must look like a crazy person. "It's just the walls."

"Right, you were locked up last night when they moved," he sighs. When he moves up I watch him crack his back. He doesn't extend a hand to help me up, and it some ways I am grateful for it. Only been here maybe 12 hours and I'm already running into people and behaving like a lunatic.

"Sorry." I repeat, but he shrugs it off.

"I never did get your name," he begins.

"Leo," I nod to him.