Taken By Surprise

by Jessica Frances

  ***

  “Zoe? Zoe, wake up.”

  Someone touches my arm lightly and grudgingly my eyes open. Everything is blurry at first and it takes long seconds for my eyes to be able to focus.

  “Are you okay?” Charlie asks me, his face taking up my entire vision.

  I lean back and try to remember where I am. Charlie’s hair is damp and he’s wearing tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. I smell a waft of his body wash and I assume he must have recently showered. I feel a pull to move towards him, but luckily I’m too tired to move. I’m still lying down on the couch in the lounge area. I feel just as exhausted as when I first laid down here and wonder how long I’ve been asleep for. It feels like only a few seconds ago I closed my eyes.

  “What time is it?”

  “It’s six; time for dinner. What happened? You went to have your physical and then you just never came back.” Charlie stands back up straight and I get a better look of the room.

  “Stanley said you had a bad reaction to the needle. Are you okay?” Martha is standing next to Charlie now and crouches down so we’re face to face. I feel like her eyes are trying to burn a hole through mine.

  “I’m just really tired.” I quickly sit up and hold my hand out for Charlie to take. Being around Martha is making my skin crawl.

  Charlie takes my offered hand and helps pull me up.

  “Harold said you could experience some exhaustion. After dinner, you’re to go to bed immediately.”

  “You sure she’s not tired from staying up all night with Charlie doing the naked dance?” Rose teases. I hadn’t noticed her behind Charlie.

  “Shut up, Rose.” Charlie pulls my arm over his shoulder which makes me stretch out since he’s so much taller than I am. He has to crouch over just so my feet can still touch the ground. Luckily, the side being stretched out is my left side so it doesn’t jolt my bruised right side too much.

  How can I still feel tired when I have just slept for eight hours straight?

  “You sure you’re okay?” Charlie speaks softly so no one else can hear.

  “Yeah, I’m just hungry.” I haven’t eaten since yesterday and even that was just what I ate at dinner.

  “I wonder if we’ll both get to walk in here on our own one day,” Charlie jokes and I smile back at him.

  “Maybe tomorrow will be our day.”

  I sit down in what is now, I assume, going to be my usual chair and look down at the hot stir fry in front of me. It smells good. I start eating and then glance at both Rose and Will. They look tired as well. Martha has a plate of food, too, and is smiling sweetly at us while she watches us dig in.

  “So, how did you all enjoy your first day then?” Martha asks us.

  “It was absolutely splendid. A screaming match with Stan about a blood test this morning and then torture while you made me run all afternoon for a supposed fitness test.” Rose glares at Martha.

  “Don’t forget all the times you fell over during the fight training,” Charlie chimes in, causing Rose to turn her glare towards him.

  “I definitely won’t forget how I beat you every time we fought.”

  “I let you.”

  “You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Rose continues glaring at him.

  “What about you, Will? I hear you did quite well in the fitness tests,” Martha interrupts Rose and Charlie before they can get into a proper fight.

  Will shrugs, however doesn’t verbally answer Martha.

  “Stanley said you were able to run for five hours. They only stopped you because of the blackout that caused the data to be lost.” Martha’s eyes narrow briefly at Charlie, however seconds later she is all smiles.

  “Hey, I can’t always control when I cause a blackout.” Charlie shrugs.

  “Yes, we will be doing our best to change that.”

  We eat in silence then as her words put us all in deep thought. When will the testing start? What will it involve? How much longer do we have to get out of here before it’s too late?

  “Are my parents kicking up a fuss at home?” Rose asks Martha, curiosity and perhaps hope taking over her features. I haven’t known Rose very long, but she seems strong minded and independent. Right now, I can see a scared girl missing her home.

  “Rose, you aren’t allowed to call home and no matter how you manipulate this conversation that won’t change,” Martha snaps, breaking her caring facade briefly.

  “I’m not trying to manipulate you. I’m just curious how people are taking me going missing.” Rose starts to close up her feelings and I watch the scared girl disappear from her face as anger replaces the fear.

  “I believe your parents have been quite vocal, particularly to the press, about your disappearance.”

  Rose smiles happily when she hears that, but it quickly turns to a sad smile.

  “What about my Dad? Is he okay?” Charlie quickly questions Martha.

  “He is very worried about you, understandably so.”

  “Even if we can’t talk to them, can’t you get them a message that we’re safe?”

  “No, anything like that will have them asking questions and for their own safety they can’t ask those questions. Right now their grief at not knowing what has happened to you is keeping them safe.”

  I consider asking Martha about Mom, but I can’t bring myself to say anything out loud. Do I want to hear that she knows I’ve been taken and is worried sick? Or that she hasn’t asked any questions about my whereabouts and has assumed I’ve run away? They’re the only options really, and I don’t want to know which is right.

  Charlie looks at both Will and I and it’s an easy guess that he is curious as to why we never ask Martha about our own situations. I know what my reason is, but I look closely at Will and wonder about his. His eyes are carefully staring down at his mostly empty plate and the way his body is slightly moving makes me think his legs are bouncing up and down under the table. It’s either a nervous tick or he’s bored.

  Will is hard to get a read on. His appearance keeps changing to me. Sometimes he appears incredibly young and scared, other times he looks strong and older than me. His jaw is sharp and his eyes hard. His hair still looks wild, although for some reason it suits him. He is way too skinny, yet even without visible muscles he sends out a vibe of strength. He said on the first day we met that he didn’t have parents, so who does he have? Who is this boy that keeps so much to himself?

  When dinner is finished, Martha asks to speak to Will privately and I think I can guess what she’s going to be picking his brain about. I hear Drew’s words echo through my mind about not being alone with Martha, but I also don’t know what we’re supposed to do about it. While we’re stuck here we’re also stuck with her and at her disposal.

  They leave to go down the hallway, most likely into his room. Charlie helps me slowly move over to the couch. Having my stomach full of warm food is making me feel tired again.

  He eases me down and I close my eyes as my body starts to lean over until I’m partly resting on Charlie’s side after he sits down next to me. Our roles have reversed from yesterday.

  “You know you guys do make a cute couple.”

  “Shut up, Rose,” Charlie sighs, he sounds worn down and there isn’t much annoyance behind his words this time.

  “No, listen. Every great couple these days has a portmanteau, a blending of names. Yours are kind of boring, but I know one that works.”

  “No one cares,” Charlie growls.

  “Black Eye. Get it? Blackout and Third Eye.” Rose laughs and I would have rolled my eyes if they had been open.

  “Do you seriously have nothing better to do than think up stupid names?” Charlie complains.

  “Hello? We’ve been kidnapped and are being held prisoner in this hellhole, of course I have nothing better to do.”

  I can imagine the look Rose is giving Charlie and I let their bickering lull me to sleep.