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Chapter 1 - 107

   He woke up in the bathroom, tied loosely by sewing thread to the tile wall. The boy tugged at it, still in the stall. The thread fell upon his face as he looked upwards at the white plastered ceiling with confusion

   “Where am I?” he hoarsely whispered.

   “Where am I. Am I. Am I.” His voice bounced off the tile. He rubbed his reddened hands and looked at his arms. He didn't look much older than when he’d- His thoughts broke off. When was then? Who old was he? He looked down at his clothes. Plain. Very. Plain. White T-shirt with awfully horrid stitching and a pair of jeans that had a huge lump in it. The white-shirted boy pulled out an aging bit of cloth that was wrapped around a thin object. The cloth fell away and he heard two small objects hit the ground, both of which he ignored in order to gaze at the small metal object. It fit into his hand perfectly, the many sided thing.

   The boy just looked at it in surprise, thinking hard. Who was he? With a slight sigh, he nearly put it in his pocket. He brushed his shaggy hair out of his face, feeling like he’d done this only a million times before, bending down to pick up two things: one was an odd looking flash-light with buttons all along the sides of it; the other, a peculiar watch.

   “Curious. Very…” He thought for a moment. He loved words. Suddenly, that knowledge of a person he barely knew anymore, rather than this hollow, blank self, blossomed.

   “Unusual,” he finally decided upon the word, beginning to fumble with the lock. He seemed to appear simple and plain but that suited him just fine. Who wished to be-?

   A girl’s scream echoed around the room and the boy pulled his pale, thin fingers away. He heard the screams continuing and felt himself gulp, looking at a tiny, barely visible space where the door and stall wall met, a perfect spot to just peak through.

   He saw a bigger man leading a teenage girl with dark complexion and dark hair who had dried blood on her arms and hair. She was shouting loudly, both in pain and protest as the guard grunted, shoving her into a stall ahead of her. The guard let out a very loud laugh before hobbling out.

   The boy eased the door open slowly, glancing out nervously as he snuck out towards the girl’s stall, his bright, gold eyes examining the lock. His brain seemed to take over completely and he pressed one of the buttons on the flashlight and a long hair pin came out of the end where the bulb was. He immediately began working at the odd lock that certainly wasn’t usually on any normal stall. He worked with the hair pin until the door opened.

   The kid turned, her purple, almond-shaped eyes flashing with rage at the boy and her hand went to his neck. He began to choke as she continued to squeeze at his neck. She obviously thought he was one of those guards, or she was simply crazy. He hoped it was the first one.

   “Perri? Periculum?” called a voice behind them. Perri paused before she reluctantly let go and starting backing away from the boy. “Oi! It’s time to go, you animal!”

   “My god, Vi. Gladius. I’m on my way,” the girl snapped before making a slashing movement across her neck and pointing at the boy on the floor. “Watch yourself, new kid. Guys, where’s Pax?”
   The boy blinked as the girl followed the voices out, coughing a bit as he continued to try to catch his breath. What was this place? The boy grabbed the stall wall beside him and pulled, getting to his feet. Well, wherever he was, it didn’t seem to be one he’d likely enjoy staying for long. He decided he might as well seize his chance and try to make a run for it like the girl, Perri. He snatched up the objects he’d dropped to the floor and stuffed them into his cargo pants’ pockets.

   The boy decided to go the same way the girl had gone running towards. The girl had seemed to know what she was doing. Definitely more then he knew. He tried running out of the bathroom but ended up in a long hall filled with pipes, steam and a grated bridge of a floor. He didn’t really know if he could even call this thing a hall. It seemed more like an accident that it was there in the first place and didn’t even look like it was that sound of construction.