Never Forget

Chapter 1

I slowly open my eyes, and the room is dimly lit. I slowly sit up, and prop my hands up on the squishy mattress. I turn my head and see that the only thing that is on this mattress is a pillow. My eyebrows wrinkle at the fact that there isn't even a bed frame.
Why is this room so dark?
Then I realize, the only light source there is in this room, is a night light sticking out of an electrical outlet. The lightbulb inside is almost out, it's blinking repetitively.
Curious, I look up at the ceiling, and see that there is no fan, or lightbulbs up there.
Only the night light.
I move my eyes around the room, and realize how obscure this room is. There is no windows, a very short ceiling, maybe about 6 ½ ft. The thing that scares me the most is that there is no door.
My eyes start to water, and tears flood my face. I'm full of fear, and, if there's no door, how did I get here?
I'm so confused, scared, so full of emotions.
I stand up, and stretch. For a brief moment, I feel happy. Then when I notice some of the other items in the room, it snaps me back to reality. It is a tidy room, but with lots of items. The bed, or more exact mattress, is on the side of the room. To my left, there is a desk with almost every art utensil I can think of, sharpies, pencils, etc. To my far right is a closet that is unopened. I can't help but wonder what is inside, but fear stops me at that moment, so I continue to look around the room.
Straight ahead of me, I see that there is a dresser, with a hairdryer and a curling iron on top. I get the feeling that this is a girls room, plus the dresses and pink jacked on the chair propped up against the dresser. Next to the dresser is a bookshelf, full of books, papers, journals or notebooks, and the zit medicine catches my eye.
"Is it going to hurt?" I ask shly.
"It will, but your strong. You've broken 5 fingers, your arm, and both legs," The lady pauses. "If you can survive all that, you can do this." She smiles down at me.
By her eyes, I can feel the care and love she has for me. She leans down and gives me a hug.
I feel tears streaming down my face as I snap back to reality. Who is that woman? Why did I hug her? Do I know her? Why am I crying?
That's the only memory I've had since i've woken up 10 minuets ago. Or was it 10 minuets ago?
So many questions, I'm amazing myself. But I get the feeling that this is familiar.
I flick my wrist up, expectation to see a watch, and there is only a very old watch. The analogue clock is about the size of a dime, with a leather strap around my thin wrist. My brain tells me I've never seen this watch before, but my heart tells me that I have. Then I realize that I'm only confusing myself.
I shake my head to shake off the thought. I try to clear my mind, close my eyes, ant take deep breaths. I try to go through some questions I have over with myself, going easy on myself.
Ok, how did I get here?
I don't know the answer.
I squeeze my eyes tighter in my head, trying to think harder. I get the feeling that this isn't working for me, and hasn't. But I don't give up, I keep thinking. I take deep breaths.
Come on, I think.
I can't think of anything, and slap my hand on the mattress in anger.
Why can't I remember?
I try to think of simpler things, like my name, where I'm from. I pause in my thinking and realize, I don't even know my own name. The only thing I know about myself is that I'm a girl.
I get the idea that if I look in the mirror I might be able to tell my age. I scan the room swiftly, and can't find one. I put my hands in my lap, and play with the texture I am feeling. I look down, and see I have sweatpants on, and a grey t shirt with a sassy saying. Then I have another flashback.
"Come on, come on, wear something nicer than this," Says a women, as she stares at my shirt.
"Ok, I'll put on a t-shirt, is that better?" I say sassily.
"Yes. And you can wear a sarcastic one, if it makes you feel better. But be kinder to me please. Your growing up to fast, I won't always be here."
"But I'm still a teenager. I'm not old yet." I remember that I smiled slyly.
She did as well.
I come back to reality, once again confused at this. But then it hits me, I'm a teenager, or when ever this memory happened. No wait, it was recently, because of the shirt comment.
So I must be a teenager.
After I figure this out, I feel more confident. I stand up, and look for a way out.
Ok, so no doors, or windows.
What about a vent?
I look under the desk, don't find one, under some trash, and clothing. Nope. I look under the mattress, and there it is, a black vent. It's about a foot tall, and a foot and a half long. It has a slider, where you can open and close the vent, I figure because you might not want the cold or warm air if it's coming through. Not big enough for me to crawl through, but maybe to signal someone. I lean the mattress against the wall, and realize how heavy it is. It must have been expensive, but worth it. But who bought it?
The anger rises up inside of me again because of how little I know.
Deep breaths, I think. Then I make a promise to myself that I won't ask anymore questions, so I won't get so angry, and confused.
I move my gaze to items that I might be able to use to call attention to myself. I stand up, and walk around the bed, across from the closet.
My curiosity beats my fear, and I open the closest. My eyes widen to what I see. Over 15 dresses, so pretty. I push the dresses aside, and find a coat. I push that aside as well.
I don't know how I thought I could find something loud in a closet, unless were talking loud clothing.
After I slid all of the dresses aside, my eye catches something shiny, that looks like gold but slightly darker. Maybe a type of silver. I slide my hand over it, feel it and discover it's metal. Maybe its a handle, I think. But my mind moves on and I move my hand around, and feel the wood with my fingers. It's a very nice kind of wood, with painted designs along the side. I see that the wood is a big square that would cover the hole. I move back to the gold like shiny thing, and I feel that it is shaped like a handle. I pull it as hard as I can, and I hear a rip. I lean over and see that part of the handle ripped off. Scared, I very carefully continue pulling, but this time with both hands.
Creak.
I smile at that result.
I loudly whisper, "Yes," fighting the urge to scream in excitement. Then I remember I'm a teenager, and I need to act proficient, intelligent, and mature.
I yank it open, and see the dark hole.
Luckily this one is big enough for me to climb through.
I go head first into the hole that is in the shape of a ut with my hands ahead of me.
I can feel the darkness on my skin, and a chill goes through me. I realize I have open toed shoes on, because I can feel the coldness cover my toes.
I must have been crawling for 5 minuets, and I start to get the feeling that it might never end. In the distance, I can see a speck of light.
In excitement, I crawl faster. I can feel my limbs starting to hurt, and I trip every once and a while, but don't give up.
When I reach the speck of light, it belongs to a room. I stick my head through the hole, and below me is a step stool. I sit on my butt with my legs sticking out and I shove it aside with my feet. I've been 5'6 for almost a year, so I don't need a stool. Or rather, don't prefer one.
I slide out of the hole, turn around and see that there is the same wooden door that I opened on the other side. I lock it close. Wishing that I'll never turn back. I turn dramatically and explore the room. It looks like a room that's badly taken care of. There are papers all over pinned to the walls, and a clock that should belong in a basketball court, (for it has a little fence blocker in front of the glass). The room has a slight hum because of the old lightbulbs inside of the protector. There is trash all over the floor, the walls are painted grey with unpainted splotches of off white. It kind of reminds me of a jail, but it can't be.
There is a desk that's trashed with a beaten up chair. When I walk toward the desk to see what's in the drawer and the bookshelf next to it, I hear footsteps. Out of fear and reflexes, I look for a place to hide. I find a hereby closet that's narrow, but tall enough for me to slip through.
As I close the door, I breathe in the smell of smoke, and feel the coats on my back.
Their smokers, I think.
The footsteps approach and I can hear them come closer to me.
"I don't think we should kill her." I instantly assume they're talking about me.
A man says. Based on his voice, I can tell he's in his late 20s. And that's only if I'm correct.
"Why not?" Another guy says. He sounds like an old man. I wonder what they both look like, probably like smokers.
"Gruff," the 20 year old says rudely, trying to get his attention. "If we kill her the rest of her family will wonder where she is. Since her mother and father are dead, if we kill her too then her aunts and uncles are going to wonder where she is."

At this moment, it feels like a knife stabs me in the chest.
My mom, my dad.
Are gone.
I want to sob and sob, but I know that if I let it out, they'll hear me, and might hurt me, or worse. I continue to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"But they might not know the difference. They think she's missing anyway." Says Gruff. I can tell by his voice that he's trying to make the other guy understand.
"Well," starts the 20 year old, "If we kill her, she's out of the way."
"But if we kill her, it's one more reason to put us in jail, if we get caught."
"But we won't. I have this." I don't know what the 20 year old pulls out, but I bet it's a gun.
Fear rushes through me, at the thought that they might kill me.
I hear the men walk out of the room, still talking but inaudible to me. I sneak out of the closet and peer into the room that the men went in. It is messy just like this one, but reminds me of a hospital. I see white beds in there, trashed floors, and the same colored wall. I look for another place to go. The guys are in the room next to this one, and I'm not going to go there. I don't know what lies ahead of me, and I'm not willing to find out.
I finally decide to just go back through the hole to the strange room. I quietly open the wooden door, and climb through. I crawl back to the other side, and climb out with a sigh of relief.
I've been breathing lightly for too long.
I sit on the off white mattress, and let my tears and my sadness out. I cry because I miss my mom and dad, and after realizing that I didn't close the door on the other side, so they could know I've heard them. I feel horrified.
I've never felt so scared and depressed in my life.
I sob for what feels like hours, and can feel my face burning after so many tears, with many still coming.
Over my tears and ugly sobs, I hear heavy footsteps. I sit up and my eyes are wide open, but it's too late to hide.
The door opens, and a 20 year old stands with a murderous look on his face. His face softens slightly when he sees He walks over swiftly to me, and grabs me by the neck and pins me to the wall, with a gun to my head.
"Where's your family?" He says very harshly.
I gasp for air. I try to get out the words, can't breathe. Eventually he understands me and loosens, but his hand is still on my neck ready to kill me at any given moment.
"I heard they were dead."
"Heard from who?" He has a look of shock on his face.
And I know instantly I shouldn't have said that.
Now he knows I was there.