The World Out There

Chapter 1

The floor was damp from a dripping pipe, connecting the cracked porcelain sink to the rest of the house's plumbing. A single flickering light bulb cast an eerie yellow glow across the cool tiles on the floor and the plain white tub glistened with pools of water in its bottom. A crack ran from the top of the tub across the length of the bathroom floor, seemingly cutting the room in half with the jagged edges of the tile poking outwards. The tile was crusted with blood most likely several years old, though hard to tell as the girl across the room had cut her foot on it multiple times in her many years of being locked away.

Rosa had been trapped in the tiny bathroom since she was thirteen years old, when her adoptive mother had discovered that the young girl's talent for singing was far more beautiful than her own. The child had been shocked when the woman had led her to one of her old abandoned estates, locking her away in the bathroom out of jealousy. There, Rosa had lived for four years, no sunlight nor outside communication other than the first day of each month when her adoptive mother would bring her food rations.

The young girl of seventeen had skin as pale as snow, almost white. Her ocean blue eyes glowed against the silver shine of her hair – hair that hadn't been cut in several years and wrapped around the width of the bathroom twice. Hair that was so thick, it confined Rosa like her own home-made shackles and made it difficult to move. Though it wasn't as if there were many spots withing the room to actually move to.

It was the days when her mother came to visit that kept Rosa sane, though at every passing minute she could feel herself slipping over the edge. The horrible woman wasn't much company, as she really only dropped off her rations and collected the old ones, but the chance to see another real human being kept the fair-haired girl from writhing in the clutches of insanity. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Rosa looked out the window solemnly, watching the leaves on the trees across the clearing blow in the soft breeze. The sun was shining a golden light that was barely peeking into the dank bathroom where Rosa stood, warming her face. She smiled, smelling the sweet scent in the air.  Looking out the window was her only source of entertainment, and admiring the nature around her had become somewhat of a daily ritual. It was relaxing, she decided, a way to let her imagination run wild and pretend she lived out in the world like everyone else.

More often than not Rosa pretended that she was a princess, imagining herself in a pink dress upon a pure white horse that was strong and fast. Behind her would be a prince, her prince, the man that would rescue her from her life of solitude. His hair would be midnight black to match his royal stallion, his eyes as blue as the ocean and a smile that lit up the room. And his smile would be aimed towards her, filling Rosa with a warmth that she had never felt before.

Perhaps the dream was silly, for whenever Rosa snapped out of it she would feel foolish. It would never happen, her life was so unfortunate that she had learned to accept that happiness was just something that was not meant for her. And maybe she was right, but it did not stop her mind from wandering.

Day in and day out Rosa found herself pleading to the forces of nature to send a tornado so that she may be swept away to some place better. She could go and live in the forest amongst the animals, living off nuts and berries and happily singing herself to sleep under the twinkling stars. She would cry, then. Cry out of joy to finally be rid of her horrible mother. Cry for the wonderful freedom that she had.

But right now all Rosa could do was hope. Every day she would wake up and use all of her strength to pull on the large steel door, and every day she would fail. The pale girl would fall back against the floor and weep, then would pick herself up and brush her incredibly long hair with her thin fingers. She would sing, then. Notes of mourning and lost dreams would pour out of her mouth across her dry lips, carrying itself out the window to be lost by the wind. And every day she would sing a new song.

Rosa looked at her hair now. It was pale and dirty, too long and thick to be washed, and her slender fingers she ran through it were covered in blood from the cuts on her arms. It wasn't healthy, no, but Rosa enjoyed the pain that came from rubbing her arms across the jagged tile. It gave her a dizzying satisfaction that brought her back from her insane thoughts, yet also made her feel real. Made her feel normal. She wasn't just some freak locked away from society, she was human. She could bleed and feel pain just like everyone else.

Perhaps this was why the wretched girl became addicted to the sweet pain that came from her arm, the blood pooling from the cut that she had inflicted. She enjoyed rubbing the sticky red substance on the floor around her as a reminder that she was human, and the blood proved that

And maybe that was why a few months from then the boy that had crawled through the window to look for shelter in the midst of a storm had looked so startled. Was it the fact that the house was not empty as he had suspected? Or was it because the young girl laying on the floor was covered in her own blood and seemed to be giggling? It took the boy a minute before he approached the girl, running a shaking hand through his brunette locks.

Gently he tapped her on the shoulder, pulling back quickly as she hopped to her feet and screeched. "Oh my- Who are you? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" As quickly as she had gotten up, the girl fell as she tripped over her silver hair. Hair that appeared to cover almost the entire floor of the room.

The boy backed away cautiously, though there was no way the girl could do him harm. She was small and malnourished, her legs wobbly as she tried to regain her balance. She looked around furiously for something to fight with but found nothing. The boy just stared. "My name is Kyle Burr," he held his hands cautiously in front of him, "and I was just looking for a place to stay out of this storm. I thought the house was abandoned, I swear!"

The girl looked at him curiously before slumping back to the dirty floor, mumbling to herself. Her shoulders shook, whether from cold or fright he didn't know, and her eyes appeared unfocused. Finally she looked back up at him. "Can you help me?"

"What?" The darker-haired boy was taken aback.

The girl trembled and reached to cover herself with her hair, closing her eyes and speaking almost too soft that Kyle had to strain his ears. "Please?"

It was only then that Kyle realized the state of the room. The floor cracked and dirty, along with a dripping sink and dirt-caked tub. And the door - oh God the door. It was steel and appeared to be sealed shut, impossible to open unless you were on the outside.

"How did you get in?" The girl asked quietly, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

The boy gaped, only then discovering that what he thought was a rope hanging out the window had been her hair. He shuddered and ignored the question, looking at the door. "How am I supposed to get you out. And how on earth did you get here in the first place?"

The girl gave him a look of pure agony before releasing a wretched sob. "My adoptive mother locked me in here, but she'll be back here tomorrow. She brings me food at the beginning of each month."

Kyle felt a tug of pity towards the small girl, a voice inside of him vowing to help her.