When I woke up, the only noise I heard was a soft tapping on my door. I stretched my arms out over my head before letting my feet hit the packed dirt floor. Shoes, I thought. Where did I put my shoes? As I walked to the door, I found them. Rather, I tripped over them. This darkness thing may be arder than I thought. I fumbled in my pocket for the small flashlight, and wound it a couple times to turn it on. Then I opened the door.
“Hi,” Kira’s bright voice greeted me. “I just thought maybe I could show you around a little more, then maybe you could come get breakfast with me.” She smiled eagerly, pushing a strand of light brown hair behind her ear.
“I could probably use a tour of the place, since you all don’t make maps. But how about breakfast first, ok? I’m starved.”
“Aiight. Then I’ll show you around. And you’ll need a job, too. You’ll probably be a harvester or a runner. So – to breakfast?”
“To breakfast.”
After breakfast I caught up with maddie, who was talking to a dark haired boy named Kenny. I walked over to them, and Kenny started to leave.
“What’s up with him?” I asked.
“He doesn’t like you. Says if you and zion become something, he’ll go soft and we’ll all be screwed. See, fromw hat I’ve heard, zion’s the best-“
“ONLY!” Kenny shouted from a different breakfast table.
“-Only runner they’ve got, which pretty much means he’s got no conscience. So if you were to get to him-“ Kenny was nodding profusely at that point. “-we would all starve.”
“Oh, great. Sounds like a headline- Hidden caves, Secret lives, Forbidden love. Tonight at nine on Sci-fi.”
“Ah, no. That’d be Eureka, and it’s on Wednesdays.” Kira interjected.
“Definitely Tuesdays.” I replied.
“And you would be so sure because…” Zion interrupted.
“Because it’s my favorite show and I keep up with it. I once got the schedule all screwy and thought it was on on Wednesday nights so I didn’t watch it ‘till Thursday.” I won the argument.
“Anyway… time for the grand tour a la Kira.” She said, gesturing toward the hallway. “Seeya around, punks!” And with that, we were off.
As I soon discovered, the caves, or as Kira referred to them, catacombs, were vastly tiring to walk the lengths of. Then Kira started talking.
“So, I, ah, saw you eyeing my ‘good pal’ Zion earlier. Whaddya think of him?”
“Ah… well, I’m new here, so I don’t think it’s my place to-“
“Shut up! I mean, come on. That boy is hot with a capital S-E-X-Y! He’s just… too normal for me.” She said, scoffing.
“Oh. I get it. You asked him out, he said no. Now he doesn’t talk to you?”
“Yeah… how’d you-“
“Happened to me once. December, 7th grade. Big mistake. THEN he started, get this, started telling people he was going to KILL me! No reason, either!”
“I’m sure he had a-“
“The only actual reason had occurred like two months before!”
“Ohmigawd! LET ME FINISH MY GODDAMM SENTENCE! Jesus, girl, you talk more than I do!”
“funny. I couldn’t get her to say a word to ME.” Zion had snuck up on us from behind while we were talking. I wondered how much he’d heard.
“oh, by the way,” Kira started, “what was that kid’s name?”
“it was… Zane. I think. But it was like 3 years ago. I’m sure he doesn’t remember me now, wherever he is.” I took out my cell. 3:25. it had been less than 24 hours since we had arrived, but I wasn’t ready to leave. We once again reached the room I was in, and I was good and ready for a nap. As I drifted off, I could have sworn I heard someone whisper:
“it was always Zion. And I didn’t want to kill you.”
But it could have been a dream.
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