Found Book One

A Real Meal

I sit down on the floor of my cell, "I can't, I can't," I mutter. There are too many people to many things that could go wrong. I take a few deep breaths before I stand and shake my hands to loosen the tension in my joints. "Okay, just go," I say.

I move to the stairs and meet a girl with strange eyes and golden hair. "Um hey is there anywhere I can get cleaned up?" I ask her.

She nods with a smile, "Yeah, there's a washroom down the hall and to the right. And until your clothes get washed there's a basket in there for newcomers."

I nod to her and walk away, I trail down the hall and into a light blue tiled room with shower heads and pumps and buckets of water. I look around to make sure no one else is here. I grab a towel from the shelf in the corner.

I look up at the windows, at the very top there's blue stained glass. It sends specks of color all over the room, I smile to myself before I walk over to the shower stalls. 

I walk into one of them and lock the door, it has all the soap I could need. I strip out of my clothes. Goosebumps erupt on my skin when it makes contact with the cool air of the echoey bathroom.

I pump the lever a few times and sun-warmed water flows down from the pipes. I let out a laugh and spin in the water. The light colored floor turns brown from the dark dirt  from months of running.

I lather soap into my hair and watch the bubbles slide down the drain. I quickly turn off the water and dry myself with a towel before opening the stall and walking to a basket filled with clothes.

I dig through and some things that will fit me I take them into a dry stall. I throw on the outfit and look around the room.  I go back out, I begin to walk toward the door. "Hey," a boy's voice says.

It's not  the squeaky one from the hall. I turn around and reach for my knife, it's not there. "It's me," he says, "I told you I wasn't gonna hurt you." 

I nod, "Is this yours?" he questions. Panic rushes through me as he holds out his hand to reveal the hunting knife Daryl gave to me when I was young.

"I think you dropped it when my dad chased you," he chuckles. "Please just give it back," I whisper.  Carl nods and kneels down, he slides it across the tile to my feet. I bend down and pick it up. 

I rush out of the room and run up to my cell, and lean against the wall. I sink to the floor with a small sob. No one is safe until they prove otherwise.  

 I curl up on the cold floor, I wrap my arms around myself and close my eyes. I drift into a restless sleep.

The clang of metal jerks me from my sleep. I pant and squint in the darkness of the cold room. "Who's there?" I whisper to the shadow on the other side of the sheet separating the two of us.

The person doesn't say anything but they slide a tray of food under the makeshift door. They stand there for a moment before walking to the left.

I scramble to my feet and pull the sheet back but no one is in the hall. "Thank you," I whisper hoping that whoever left me the food hears it. I stand there for a second longer before I go back into my cell. 

I sit back on the floor and notice that there's a lantern on the tray I flick it on to see the food in front of me.

I smile at the raspberries that are arranged in a heart, I pick one of them up and pop it into my mouth.

I savor the sweet and tangy taste before I open a small tupperware bowl. The smell of warm soup inside makes my stomach grumble.

I snatch up the spoon and munch on the carrots and meat in the warm liquid. I notice a piece of homemade buttered bread. I grab it and tear chunks off to dip into the soup.

I quickly eat the meal and glance back at the raspberry heart. I munch slowly on the berries watching the heart disappear.

"Thank you," I whisper again, leaning my head against the stone wall.

"You're welcome," a muffled voice answers me this time, I smile lightly and slide back to the floor this time with my back to the wall. Everything in this place seems real, it seems like it could survive for a while. 

But you can never trust that other people don't want what the people here have built. There could always be someone, anyone can be strong enough to take a place like this.