Field Investigations

Chapter 17: Exploring

I sat on my bed, staring at the dark grey clock on the wall as the minute hand circled continuously past the Roman numerals etched into the clock face. Next to the clock, there was a large bookshelf, the top of which pressed up against the high ceiling. I shifted my weight. The mattress was comfortable, more than the one I slept on at home. Too comfortable, really.

Ten o' clock. That's when John told me dinner would be. It was seven thirty-four, according to the hour and minute hands rotating around the center of the clock. I had two and a half hours and nothing to do.

Apparently, there are other members who's rooms are attached to mine, but according to John they're all taking classes at the Academy right now. I'll meet them later at dinner. At least, that's what John told me before he left earlier. Once we got to the room, he'd only stayed for a minute before he'd received a message on his phone and told me he needed to go. And since he left, I've just been sitting here, watching the clock and waiting for something to happen.

How long would I be in this place? Being in this room made me feel like I was on some sort of vacation. I never really went on vacations, but this place was exactly what I thought a hotel room would be like. If it weren't for the way I was brought to this place, I think I'd be happy here in this spacious room. That was a big "if", though. I kept reminding myself that no matter how cozy the room was, this place was like a prison. I was a captive here, and I couldn't let myself forget that.

And the funny thing was, my kidnappers were captives as well. I believed Kenna now. There was no doubt in my mind that she had been kidnapped and brought to this place just like me. Maybe, in some way, that should make my situation better. At least it wasn't like the people here were evil. If anything, though, it only made this place more unsettling to me. Kenna, Douglas and John truly seemed to see no problem with capturing people and bringing them to this place against their will. It didn't seem like they were being forced to do this. No, the way that they acted I completely believed that they were making a conscious choice to be a part of this organization. John had said earlier that the people here were allowed to decide whether or not they wanted to stay, and based on the way he talked about the AFS, it seemed to me like he was being truthful. I found it hard to believe, though, the second thing he'd said about how nobody had chosen to leave before. Wouldn't the other people here feel the same way I felt?

Then again, a part of me did like this place. Earlier, on the bus, when I was talking with Kenna, I'd felt for the first time like I had a friend. And on the tour, in the cafeteria, I had been able to picture this place as being kind and welcoming. For a second, I had pictured this place as a place I wanted to be. Even now, in this room, in the back of my mind, I'd thought multiple times about how comfortable this place was. I didn't want to admit it, but I could imagine liking this place enough to make the choice to stay.

I stood up. John hadn't said that I needed to stay in this room, and I couldn't sit here any longer. Pushing the door open, I stepped back out into the hallway. It was time to figure some things out about this place for myself.

First of all, I needed to learn how to get to the elevator. We hadn't gone down many hallways earlier, so it should be easy enough to retrace my steps. The door to the room had been on the left side of the hallway, so I turned right. I was getting used to the purple carpet and the light that left every part of the hallway at the same brightness, but I still found the silence, well, disquieting. I felt better now that I was out of the room, though. Freer. And even though a small voice in my head was telling me that I shouldn't go around the building alone, it was overpowered by the need to be moving, to not give myself the chance to think too much about my situation.

I reached the grey door at the end of the hallway and pushed it open, trying to remember where I needed to go. This door had been on the right when we'd approached it earlier, hadn't it? I turned left, not entirely sure that I was going the right way. I wasn't going to gain anything from second guessing myself, though, so I set off confidently down the hallway.

After a few minutes of walking, I saw the sliding glass doors that led onto the balcony ahead of me in the distance. I had forgotten that we'd come to the dormitories from the side of the hallway opposite to the elevator. I sighed, turning around to undo my mistake and head back towards the elevators. I didn't get far before I saw a tall woman with dark skin and short, braided hair stepping out of a door a few feet ahead of me. I panicked for a second before I managed to convince myself that I had no reason to be afraid. I was supposed to be here at the AFS, and nobody had told me not to wander the halls. Even if I wasn't supposed to be in the hallway right then, the woman didn't know me. She had no way of knowing that maybe I shouldn't have been there ahead of her.

For a few, quiet seconds, she kept going down the hall, not seeming to notice me. Then, though, she turned her head to look straight at me, her eyebrows scrunching together as she stopped walking. She tilted her head to the side.

"I don't think I've seen you around headquarters before," she said. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, her lips stretching into a friendly smile. "Oh, wait, I'm sorry. You must be one of the ambassadors from Brazil."