Escape

Chapter 2

I woke up to the sounds of chattering from above me. I slowly opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the all too bright lights shining down on me.
"Is she dead?" A boy's voice called out.
"She's breathing!" Another voice announced, definitely a girl. Everyone cheered.
I tried to sit up but I could not find the energy to do so, so I lay back down.
"I'll help you up!" an eager voice offered, extending a hand.
I took it and with the help of a few other people, I managed to sit down on the bed.
"Oh good, you're okay!" A tall, muscular boy, about two years older than me-16, came over. His bronzed body leaned against the wall, and I knew that he was the leader, at once. I looked around my surroundings at I saw many different people in the room.
"I think we should introduce ourselves." He announced, and so everyone did.
There were a total of 12 people, about the same age. Six boys and six girls, including me.
One girl started first. Her black hair was tied up into a messy ponytail. She tucked her fringe behind her ear, revealing fierce blue eyes. "My name is Rianna Yung," she addressed the whole crowd confidently, "and this year, I am twelve years old." I gasped. Twelve! And she was tall, I estimated 157cm, in the least. I was just about 6cm taller than her, if that were true. Her body was slender, reminding me of Eryn.
Then, a red-headed boy stepped forward. He had gentle green eyes sparkling with life and a mischievous grin as he looked at me. "Hey..." he said, the smile still etched on his face, "My name's Jonathan Reese, age 14, what's yours?"
"Rinco Jemma Fayes, age 14 too." I muttered. Being an introvert, it was quite overwhelming to meet so many new people. Plus, this guy gave me flutters in my heart when I looked at him. His eyes, I wanted to stare at them forever. Lost, I was, in this land of...
"Ooh! Hi Rinco! You can call me Nay, Nathan, or Than, or Jona, or Prankster...."  This took me out of fantasy. He kept going on about the names I could call him when a boy with jet-black hair interrupted.
"Nathan, it's my turn!" He whined, punching Jonathan in the arm. I could tell they were very good friends. His eyes were black too, and he was as skinny as, well, me.
"Wyatt Lee Kaijie from SINGAPORE!" he announced, and then adding in, "15 years of age."
Singapore? Was it in China? My memory was fuzzy. But the name Singapore was so familiar. His accent sounded the same as everyone else. I just smiled.
Then after that, a small girl with blond hair and blue eyes came forward. "My name is Kin Yeh and I am 8 this year." She muttered, finding her black converse shoes very interesting. "Rinco." I told her, elated. Maybe I had found someone like me? But she was so young, the exception of the group.
The fifth to introduce herself was a girl wearing a pink top tied around the waist with shorts that were ripped at different places. She was wearing a pair of converse shoes.  She flipped her brown hair and stared at me with her green eyes. She had this very stuck-up look and immediately hated her. I told myself to not judge a book by its cover, and waited for her to introduce herself.
"First thing. Are you wearing your grandmother's clothes?" She asked, looking at my tie-dye boycut teeshirt in disgust. I suddenly felt self-conscious. "And are those your pajamas?" She pointed at my worn-out brown sweatpants. Hey, those were my favourite sweatpants!
"Introduce yourself, don't be rude!" The leader told her.
"My name is Emmiera Kaylene Olivia Neverlee and I am 13 years old." Emmiera muttered, rolling her eyes. Man, that was a long name. And forget not judging a book by its cover. She was perfectly hateable, from head to toe, even on the inside.
One boy sensed my uncomfortable-ness and came forward to introduce himself. His brown eyes. His ruffled light- brown hair, his pearly white smile. The all too familiar scent of cinnamon.
"Ernest?" I asked, unable to believe my eyes.
"Ernest Kieran Naylor to be exact." He replied, flashing one of his smiles and chuckling to himself.
"Ernie!" I squealed embracing him. Ernest K Naylor, missing for a week. No one could find him. He was as good as dead, but here, standing in front of me was Eryn's brother, Ernie, well and alive!
"Rinco." He replied, giving me one of his bear hugs. He was like an older brother to me, because I did not have one. I was a lonely, only child, with only my books for company. It was just a miracle to see him here. Eryn was depressed. The whole Naylor family was depressed. And now here he was. I just can't.
The leader then introduced himself as Reagan Jansen and he was sixteen. He was the oldest of the lot, and it made sense that he would be the leader of whatever they were doing right now. If they were doing something. Where did they come from anyway? How did they even appear?
The others introduced themselves, one as Duffy Dan-12 years old and he was a boy. Another boy who was actually in his pjs, was 15 and his name was Ken Glen. Wow it rhymed. A 14 year old girl introduced herself as Vanessa Kan and we became fast friends. The last one was a plump but happy girl. She munched on a donut as she introduced herself.
"My name is Bernice-mm this donut's yummy, Olie-I wish I had more, Yerling." Bernice said, pausing to make comments on her wonderful donut.
"Ew, Bernie Fatty,  you're gonna make yourself sick!" Emmiera exclaimed. Bernie Fatty? What kind of nickname was that?
"Can I take a look at your note?" Reagan asked me. I took the note from the bed and passed it to him. He seemed really polite to ask for my permission first, he could have just taken it while I was out.
"This is it guys! And gals!" He exclaimed, looking very pleased and relieved. I wore a puzzled look on my face. What is it?
"We got the Base?" Ken asked, bouncing up and down in happiness.
Upon hearing that, there were murmurs of excitement among the people. "The Base," Vanessa told me as she saw that I was very lost, "is the place we start the Quest." And Vanessa explained to me about everything. It all seemed so unreal but she cleared all my doubt, made me believe everything. This was reality and I had to face it.
Apparently, I could not run away from this task, named 'The Quest' by the fellow 'Questers'. Which meant all of us here. All of us were going to our best friends house and got separated like Eryn and I did in some form. Then the same thing happened, just that the notes were different, giving them information of their Quest. They then found themselves in another person's house and then went all the way here. The last house. The Obstacle House. This was it. We have to save our best friends who were captured at the front of the house. And what about my family? This was one whole big mystery I could not solve.
And I did not want to solve this frickin' mystery.
Under the leader's command, I packed a bag of the daily necessities I would be needing for this trip. I did not have much food, but the others had gathered some from the kitchen of other houses when they got there. Reagan also explained that we needed some weapons.
Hmm, weapons. How was he expecting that I had something? I mean like, the guns were kept very safely, totally not in my room.
Then I remembered.
The Sword.
The sword had been my grandfather's and my father let me display the sword as long as I did not use it. I let Eryn keep it for a week. She too, proudly displayed the sword.
This was an exception.
I got a stool and took the sword. I took the covering, revealing a gleaming bronze sword. The Questers looked at me with awe.
"So I take it that you're a master at this?" Emmieria said, raising an eyebrow.
"N-no, I didn't even try that thing!" I told her, feeling stressed. Am I supposed to know how to use a sword at fourteen?
"Well, you'll be useless then." Emmiera scorned.
The Questers gasped.
"Emmiera! That was very rude of you!" Ernest cried, horrified. Emmiera might be mean, but she definitely could not say that!
Emmiera blushed and she looked very embarrassed. Somehow the thought of being told off by Ernest made her a little..... hm, oh I wonder.
I was really grateful to Ernest for that as I tried doing some moves with the sword until I got comfortable with it. I got to practice with Emmiera keeping her mouth shut.
Turns out, Vanessa also had a sword so we got to be partners for now.
And we are prepared to step into the maze.