The Haze

-- Chapter One --

~~^picture of Nala^~~
~~(This picture was found on Pinterest, so I can't find the
person's name to credit this picture)~~

Warning: not proofread yet. Will do soon, but feel free to comment any errors you notice

~Nala~

Light. Overwhelming, bright, light. Where am I? I try to shake my head and look around, and when I do this, my vision starts to clear up.

I'm sitting on a grassy patch of ground next to some huts? Are they houses? As I glance around, I see other people. People I've never seen or met before in my life. Everyone looks from the ages about sixteen to twenty-something.

One of the said people comes over to me. She is almost the exact opposite of what I look like. Her face is bright and cheery, and this girl had long, brown, almost dead straight, hair reaching her lower back. This girls eyes are bright blue, somehow managing to shine more than she does.

"H-hi! I'm Cloud. You can call me Clo though. It's a unique twist on a common name! And hi. It's good to see you're awake. Some people were starting to think that you were dead," she chuckles nervously. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. You know, just waking up next to random people in a place I've never been to before." I say, not trying to sound sarcastic, but it totally turns out that way.

She seems extremely obnoxious and bratty, probably coming from a rich place and spoiled parents before coming here. One look at her clothes confirms my suspicions.

Clo chuckles softly to herself. Who does she think she is? I'm here, in a random place, and she wants me to make small talk with her? Girl, I don't think so.

Mental note, Nala: pretend to be trusting of them, but trust. No. One.

Right after I briefly answer, she bends over to sit next to me. Then Cloud whispers "you know what's weird? I can't remember anything about myself except for my name." She then pauses, finally, to let me talk.

After thinking about how stupid and gullible she is, I actually realize something, she's right. My memory, my brothers, all gone. Like, I know I have a mom and dad and brothers, but I can't remember their names or even personalities. All I know is that my name is Nala O'Shea, I'm 19 years old and very confused about everything.

The girl notices that I'm spaced out, so she says "Um, so I'm going to go talk to other people now. There are beds in the hut that everyone is going to sleep in, one for everyone. I suggest you walk around and talk with everyone, and figure out where you're gonna sleep. Okay, bye." She pauses, to take a deep breath, and then leaves.

I lay on my back on the ground for about ten minutes, letting all of this new information settle in, then decide to do what Cloud suggested, look around. Rolling over to my front and then stretching, I get up.

I turn over and look to face the guts I saw earlier. A few people are near there, and I walk over to inspect the huts. The huts are normal sized, and there are five of them.

Once I've walked in, I turn around, looking in every crevice. The first hut consists of a few refrigerators and lots of cabinets, and after opening them, I see what they face inside. The cabinets are all full of various foods from all different types of cuisines.

There are also various tools in a closet located opposite of the door. I pick up a sharp blade, with a leather covering on it, and slip it on the inside of my pants, so no one else can see it but me. Also, sitting on a cabinet is a cool pocket knife with various blades attached to it. I take my first knife out and sit on the floor for a few minutes, trying to engrave something into the pocket knifes exterior.

After about 15 minutes, I am satisfied with the abstract lion I have carved and next to there is the word O'Shea. Yes, I carved my last name into a pocketknife. But, as long as I don't tell anyone my lady name, I can recognize this knife and no one else will be able to.

Once I slip the pocketknife into my jeans pocket, just barely big enough to hold it, I step out of the hut and move on to inspecting the other ones. As I leave, not looking where I'm going, I crash into a girl.

"Sorry," I say, and look up to inspect what she looks like, and if I could befriend or make an enemy of her. This girl looks Filipino, with her tanned skin, and dark brown, almost black, hair. Her light brown eyes look at me harshly, and a smirk goes across her face. She looks slightly older than me, maybe 20 or 21, but is very petite, probably only 5'2".

Despite how small she is, you can tell she's been through stuff. Her face is very tough, and to top it all of, she carries a wooden spear, wrapped in various bandages.

She only nods in response, what, am I not good enough to even get an 'it's okay'. Suddenly after, a tall muscular boy, probably about 5'11", comes up to us. His features are similar to hers, so I think they're related in sobs way. He goes to the other girl, and puts his arm around her, smiling. The girl scowls and light punches him, not intending to hurt him. But once he notices me, his demeanor completely changes.

He eyes me suspiciously "who're you? You weren't being mean or doing anything to my-" he gets cut off, as the girl punches him harder, it clearly hurting this time.

"Sorry, I'm Zeus, and this jerk," he says motioning to the silent girl "is my twin sister Zhara." Zeus pauses, looking at Zhara as if he's asking her for permission to say something. Zhara nods and Zeus bends down and whispers in my ear.

"She's mute. But we're keeping that a secret, and apparently, she trusts you, so that's why I told you." He sighs, clearly not being happy to be telling me this.

I was confused on why Zhara confided in me, even if it was through her brother's voice. We'd just met, and yet she basically told me her life secret. It was cool and made me feel important, I'd try not to let her down on expectations.

"Oh, sorry, I haven't said anything yet. I'm Nala. Nala O'Shea." I felt they deserved to know my last name, even though they'd know the pocketknife belongs to me if the twins would ever see it.

"What do you guys think is going on here?" I say, my voice barely reaching a whisper.

"Honestly, we have no idea," Zeus admits, and in turn, all Zhara does is shrug.

"Okay. I'm going to look around and ask people." I say, pausing to think "you guys wanna come?"

"Zhara's getting tired and-" Zeus pauses, as Zhara punches him. She then proceeds to motion to something "Oh! There are three sleeping huts. One of two people, and two of three. Zhara wanted to ask if you'd bunk with us in one of the threes."

I was shocked that they'd want to sleep with me, so I just nodded. Zeus then showed me which was ours, and I carved on the outside 'Full'. Smirking, I turn to them and nod "I'm gonna head out now. Peace!" And then I put two fingers to my forehead and solute off. The twins do the same.

I realize it's getting late. I'll have to meet the others tomorrow. Vaguely, I remember four other people that I saw in the beginning that I haven't met yet. Those people I'll go and meet tomorrow.

As I turn to leave where I am, I caught a glimpse of one of the peoples faces. He was one of the people I hadn't had the chance to meet. This boy had shorter brown hair, and looked similar to another boy that I'd seen earlier. They're probably brothers.

What struck me most was his eyes. They weren't an unusual color, like green, or even blue, or even particularly pretty. But the color was the exact same color of mine, brown hazel with green centers and flicks of blur in them. His eyes matched mind and they were.
Staring.
Right.
At.
Me.

<***>

**Author's note: Thank you so much for reading. The picture is what Nala looks like! I tried to find the actress/person to not copyright, but it was off of Pinterest and I couldn't find a name. Also, I did divide it into two, because it was getting long and boring. Action will come I promise. You'll just have to stick around for it 😉 Again, thanks. Please vote if you liked the first chapter! Ciao!**