I

The Girl

Something cold and wet hits me in the face, forcing me awake. I gasp for air and realize it’s water. A bright light flashes in my eyes, and I can’t see anything beyond it. The back of my head is throbbing.

“Who are you and what do you want?” someone shouts at me. I can’t see him/her past the light. I try to move my hair out of my eyes, but I can’t. My wrists are tied to a chair. So are my ankles.

“Wh-what?” I mutter.

“Who are you and what do you want?” the voice repeats.

“I… I…”

“I told you,” someone else- definitely a girl- says. “This is useless.”

“We’ve only been talking to her for a minute,” the first voice says.

“She’s still a kid,” a third person says.

“Like we’re not?”

“What… what’s going on?” I ask. They continue to argue amongst themselves. “Hey!” I yell. It hurts my head, but I need their attention. “Hey!”

Someone turns the bright light off, and I can finally see my captors. One girl stands in front of me with a concerned look on her face. A man with a white beard and bald head stands behind her. Someone else leans against the wall with his arms crossed. We’re standing in an unfinished basement. One exit.

“Are you alright?” the girl asks. “I’m sorry about that. Peter can be extremely hardcore when it comes to an interrogation.”

“My name is Bennett Vandermeer,” the man says. “But everyone here calls me Vander.”

“It’s better than saying the whole thing,” the girl says with a chuckle. She seems young, fifteen at most. Her hair’s done up in a high ponytail, and her bangs fall into her face. “I’m Max. Maxine Fortescue.” She points to the person leaning against the wall. “And that’s Peter. Just Peter, because he refuses to give us a last name. Peter’s probably not even his real one.”

Peter grumbles from his spot on the wall. “You’re ruining a perfectly good investigation.”

“There’s nothing to investigate,” Max says, rolling her eyes. “She’s just like us.”

“No, she’s not. You know where we found her.”

Max waves her hand and scoffs. “Please. That’s not important.” She looks at me kindly. “What’s your name?”

“I… I…” I can’t seem to get a full word out. “I can’t remember.”

“You can’t?” Vander says. “That’s most unusual.”

“And my head hurts,” I add.

“I suppose that would be why there’s blood.” Vander touches the back of my head gently, and I jerk away from his hand. “Oh, I’m sorry, my dear.”

“It- it’s okay.”

“I just need to make sure you won’t bleed out.”

“Of… of course.” I feel disoriented, like the world’s turned upside down and I’m walking right side up. Almost like I’m swimming through gel that’s impossible to see through.

My vision is going blurry. What… What’s going on?

“Where- where- where am I?” I ask quietly. I can’t see the man- what’d he say his name was? - standing in front of me. He’s touching the back of my head for some reason. That girl- Mary? No, Max- is next to him.

Soon I can’t see anything and I’m floating through a blissful darkness.