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[peachy keen-]

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It all started when twenty teenagers were dumped in a building with endless rooms. They were confused; couldn't seem to remember
how they got here. Things were going ... okay, until one night, exactly ten days later, one teenager would disappear overnight. They
would be there when they went to sleep, and when everyone woke up, they would be gone. One kid every night. Sometimes the oth
ers would find little bits of the missing kid's clothing or something they were carrying, but never anything else. That all changed anoth
er ten days later, when a voice was projected into the building. 'I know you're confused, and that's okay.' the voice paused, and there
were several empty moments before it spoke again. 'Things are going to get difficult. Those closest will turn against you. There will
be ... tests. Those of you who survive will be rewarded.

You have ten days to survive. Good luck.'


10 xxx 9 xxx 8 xxx 7 xxx 6 xxx 5 xxx 4 xxx 3 xxx 2 xxx 1

[peachy keen-]

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characters:

beckett ♂ → leader → hard-headed, sharp thinker → 18
olivia → ♀ → 2nd in command → mature, intelligent → 19

aspen → ♀ → kind, stubborn → 16
hayden → ♂ → childish, witty → 15
opal → ♀ → pessimistic, anxious → 15
erric → ♂ → rebellious, close-minded → 17
heather→ ♀ → compassionate, naive → 14
atlas → ♂ → tinkerer, smart → 18
rose → ♀ → fiery, bossy → 16
pidge → ♀ → gentle, bubbly → 12
[url=wip]l[/url]arkin → ♀ → traits unknown for now → 6-7?

[peachy keen-]

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chapters:

prologue. [added october 14th]
chapter 1 [added october 15th]
chapter 2 [added october 17th]
chapter 3 [added october 21st]
chapter 4 [added november 8th]
chapter 5 [added november 10th]
chapter 6 [added november 15th]
chapter 7 [added november 22nd]
chapter 8 [added december 31st]
chapter 9 [added january 7th]

[peachy keen-]

I’m writing in this journal in hopes that someone will eventually find it, or I’ll live to bring it home … wherever ‘home’ is. I can’t seem to remember.

Two weeks, six days (20 days). That’s how long we’ve been stuck in this ... house, if you could call it that. I’m here with ten other teenagers. There used to be more of us, but they’re … gone. Anyways, we’re trapped in a building. A building with so many rooms, so many doors, so many windows. The top of the building has a glass ceiling, so we can keep track of how many days we have been trapped in this gloomy prison, or at least I think that’s the purpose of it. Kind of torturous, if you ask me. This place isn’t all bad, I guess. I mean, there’s slots in the walls that food is shoved through. It reminds me of pig slop, but I can’t complain. You know, this place would be better if it was painted a different color. Green or blue, or maybe a pastel purple. But no. Everything’s grey. Everything. It’s depressing.

I think our minds have been … semi-wiped when we were dumped here. I remember faces, but I can’t match names to the faces. The faces are blurred. I remember to going to the theater, but not who with. I remember birthdays, but not who I shared them with. It’s enough to drive a person crazy. It almost has.

Anyways, so now I’ll write about the kids here. They’re all teenagers, like me. First, there’s Beckett (19 years old). He’s the overall leader. We didn’t really vote or anything, he just is. He’s nice enough, though if you don’t agree with him … yeesh. He’s also really, really sharp. He can think his way out of any situation. Although he can be a bit harsh, he never leaves anyone behind.

Then, there’s Olivia (18 years old). She’s the self-proclaimed second-in-command. She deserves it, I suppose. She’s extremely loyal. She’s more mature than anyone here – even Beckett, even though he’s only than her – though her maturity makes her a bit … boring. She really intelligent, too. I think she has a crush on Beckett.

Next, we have Hayden (15 years old). I like him. I don’t love him. I mean, he’s a good friend. He’s so childish that it makes him slightly immature. Olivia doesn’t like him because of this, but I think he’s spunky, though you should never trust him with anything important. He’s always cracking jokes, and can make the sourest person laugh.

Opal’s next (15 years old). She’s extremely anxious, and jumps at any sound. I’m surprised she’s lasted this long. She’s also very pessimistic, always making comments like “we’re all gonna die!” She’s obnoxious. I really don’t like her.

Erric’s up next (17 years old). Now, Erric is not the type of guy you want to get in an argument. He’s flat down scary. Half the time he looks like he’s going to murder me, and the other half of the time he’s too busy picking a fight with someone. I don’t think he takes a liking to me. He’s a rebel, and doesn’t take orders from anyone. He’d be good in a fight against anything we run across, though.

Next, we have Heather (14 years old). She’s so compassionate that when I stepped on a ladybug once, I saw a tear, which is pretty pathetic. This girl really shouldn’t be here. She’s naïve and gullible. If you told her there was a 50 foot chocolate bar waiting around the corner, she’d most likely believe you. She’s just strange.

Next is Atlas (18 years old). He’s a cool guy. Not too hard on the eyes either. Atlas loves to tinker with inanimate objects. We found a broken watch once and Atlas tinkered with it for an hour and voila! It was fixed. He curious, and loves to see how things work.
Okay, now for Rose (16 years old). She thinks she’s the queen of the world. She loves to boss us all around. She’s bossy, has a bad temper, and her worries are about is how her hair looks. I take a very strong disliking towards her. I think everyone does. But, eh, every Rose has its thorns, right?

Lastly, we have Pidge (12 years old). Because she’s the youngest out of all of us, everyone feels the need to protect her. I feel bad that she’s here. She should be home, with her parents and siblings. But Pidge puts a good spin on it. She’s bubbly. I really like her.

I don’t know who put us here, but I do know we’re getting out, and when we do, I am personally going to see that person put in jail, left to rot. What they did to us was just cruel. Plain cruel.

- Aspen

[peachy keen-]

[i hope you guys like this chapter! it took me awhile to write, and rewrite. i know i'm not really a great writer, but i'm passionate about it, so please, if you're going to criticize me, do it kindly. posting is welcome. <3]


Good luck. The two words hung in the air like thick fog. They spun like a mad carousal in Aspen’s mind, dizzying her. ‘Good luck.’ Right. She’d like to ‘good luck’ me right into the hospital. She doesn’t mean it. She wishes us dead; why else would she stick us in this … place? Aspen thought to herself, full of spite.

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder. Aspen smothered a gasp, turning to the figure. Olivia. “What?” She snapped.

Olivia drew her hand back sharply, giving her a bewildered, sharp look.

“Sorry. Just kind of … on edge right now.” Aspen drew in a sharp breath, pressing a finger to her left temple. “What do you need?”

Olivia’s annoyed expression dissolved. Suddenly, she looked forgetful, or lost. “Oh, um, nothing.”

She was acting odd, but that was the least of Aspen worried. An awkward silence settled between the pair of girls. Aspen scoured her brain for something, anything, to say. “Uh, I think I’ll go collect our lunch.” She decided after what felt like an eternity, even though it couldn’t have been more than a minute. Their food usually appeared through a slot in Room 5. They had numbered the rooms they found with a black marker. Olivia nodded absently. Although she was looking at Aspen, her eyes were cloudy, and she seemed to be gazing right past her. Aspen pushed the girl’s oddities aside, jogging over to Beckett, who was deep in conversation with Atlas. Either her eyes were teasing her, or she saw the faintest of smiles from the younger boy when he saw her.

“Hey, Beckett. I’m going to collect our lunch. I’m assuming everyone is hungry.” She regretted adding the last sentence as soon as the words escaped her mouth, knowing that everyone was a bit shaken up, and probably not in the mood for eating, though they did need to get something into their bodies.

“Okay, be careful.” Beckett answered halfheartedly, not really paying attention to the girl, but just as Aspen turned to exit the room, he gripped her arm. “Oh, I almost forgot. Take Hayden with you.”

Ugh. Aspen nearly sighed aloud. Sometimes Beckett reminded her of a paranoid mother hen, though she knew he was only looking after them, even though he had barely three years on her. Begrudgingly, she nodded, and as she made her way over to a portion of the group, her mind began to wander. Hayden wasn’t the worst person Beckett could have paired her with. He could have been cruel and chosen Rose or Erric. Hayden was nice – a little annoying at times – but a good friend.

Before she reached the group, Hayden plowed into her. “Whoa!” Aspen squealed, stumbling backwards, and falling on her backside.

“Oh my gosh. Aspen, are you alright? Here, let me help you.” Hayden blubbered, sticking out his hand. She grabbed it, pulling herself back up onto her feet. “I’m so, very sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you – I was pushed.”

“Yeah, right.” One of the girls – Heather – muttered, grinning slyly at him.

Hayden’s cheeks tinted pink. Aspen, embarrassed, ignored the comment, and smiled at the boy. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m going to collect our lunch. Beckett wanted me to take you along.”

“Oh, good. I’m hungry.” Hayden agreed hastily. “Let’s go.”

They made good time. Hayden insisted on passing the time with corny jokes and stories. Aspen uselessly attempted not to laugh at them.

“Here it is!” Hayden announced finally, pointing at a door marked ‘5’. Aspen flinched, surprised. “Come on, Aspen.” Their food came in packages and containers. Usually it was either brown or soggy bread with some disgusting jelly, chewy meat, or some sort of goopy soup. Today they were gifted with all three plus some sort of chocolate dessert.

“They must feel bad for trapping us here, so they gave us an abundance of food,” Hayden offered, shrugging his shoulders carelessly.

“If they truly felt bad for sticking us in this dump, they’d let us go back to our families,” Aspen retorted, the sentence barely a whisper. The boy either didn’t hear her, or ignored her.

“Come on; let’s take this back to the others.”

Hayden agreed. They were barely able to carry all of the packages and containers, even though they split it between the two of them. They soon figured out that they would no longer be able to jog without a package slipping from their grasp, so it took about twice as long to trek back to the main room.

As soon as Aspen and Hayden stepped into the room, someone shouted: “Look – food!” Then, there was a rush of hungry teenagers engulfing the duo, and the food was gone in minutes, even though it looked nor tasted any better than pig slop.

Afterwards, Aspen took her journal out, numbly making her way over to one of the corners of the room, flipping the leather cover open, lightly tracing her thumb over the yellowed pages. She’d had this journal clutched in her hands when she had woken up here. Beckett was barely able to pry it from her. There were several entries from before she had been sent here, but nothing earth-shattering or important, though if she had told Olivia or Beckett about it, they would probably go nuts, analyzing every word with the utmost care. Aspen was just carving the first word into the journal with her pen when a shadow passed over her head. She looked up, seeing Atlas standing over here, peering down at her.

“Oops; did I scare you?” The brown-haired boy questioned, tilting his head ever so slightly.

“Nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Atlas grinned, scooting next to the girl. “Sorry. I’ll try to be less ghost-like next time.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.” Aspen grinned, running her fingers through her tangled mess of magenta-colored hair.

“So, what are you doing?”

“Full of questions, aren’t you?”

“You gonna answer my question?”

“Uh, it’s just my diar …” Aspen stopped herself abruptly. Atlas cocked an eyebrow, giving her a look that shouted, “what?” All of the sudden, ‘diary’ sounded like a 5-year-old’s term. “My journal.”

“Cool. Can I see?” Atlas reached for the leather book, but Aspen jerked it away, shaking her head stubbornly.

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you two done flirting yet? Because we’ve got a real, actual problem here!” Erric’s snide comment cut Aspen’s and Atlas’ conversation short.

Atlas jumped to his feet, his round green eyes wide with what seemed to be panic. “What? What is it?”

“Look for yourself,” Erric sneered, pointing a finger towards the door, which everyone was barricading. Aspen’s blood ran cold when she realized what was seeping through.

Water.

[peachy keen-]

oh man, thank you so much, skamp! ^-^
you're an amazing writer and this means so much coming from you.

[peachy keen-]

thank you, and yes, i'm hoping to become a published author someday. writing is one of the main things i enjoy doing, though i still need to build up a lot of skill before i can pursue this. c:

[naturalharmony.]

this is great so far! can't wait till you write more. c: reminds me a little of the maze runner books.
and I love your writing style, keep it up! <3

[peachy keen-]

[thank you so much! ♥ and yeah, i was inspired to write this because of those books. :)]

Aspen scrambled to her feet, sprinting over to the door and the mob of teenagers blocking it. “What do I do?” Her voice was strained, her breathing ragged. She pressed her back against one of the walls for support, afraid that she might fall over if she trusted her own legs, which felt like jelly at the moment.

“Just help us!” Olivia snarled. The girl’s back was pressed against the door, her feet pushing against a chair for better leverage. Aspen felt as if her feet were glued to the floor. Olivia, so frustrated that you could see it burning in her dark eyes, grabbed Aspen’s arm and shoved her against the door. “Hold it!”

“What’s happening?” Aspen croaked out, ignoring the dull ache in her forearm caused by Olivia’s inhumanly long (and sharp) fingernails.

“We’re not completely sure, but I think the rooms are filling up with water.” Beckett answered in a matter-of-fact, almost monotone tone, sounding oddly calm, considering the circumstances. Aspen wondered for a brief moment if he was being sarcastic in his comment.

“They’re trying to drown us?” Atlas’s question came out in a gasp. He only receiving a shrug from Beckett.

“They did say there would be tests,” Aspen hummed, more to herself than to anyone else. No one responded.

By now, the water that had seeped through the cracks of the door was lapping at Aspen’s ankles. Panic bubbled up in the girl’s chest, but she kept herself calm as she spoke. “Everyone, listen!” People turned their heads. “This isn’t helping, so here’s what we’re going to do. Barricade the door with these chairs, then search for a way out.”

“Nice plan, Einstein,” Opal sneered.

“Do you have a better idea?” Aspen shot back fiercely.

Opal didn’t answer, only rolled her eyes.

No one dared challenge Aspen after that. They made their selves very busy with stacking and weaving chairs up against the door. The deed was done fifteen minutes later, and it looked pretty decent, though the icy liquid was now up to Aspen’s calves. She forced herself to breathe evenly, her gaze sweeping the room, frantically searching for a way out. There were windows, but they had been warned to stay away from them. Once, the group had smashed one of the windows on the first day, desperate to get out, and the kid closest to the window had been sucked out. They hadn’t messed with the windows from then on.

“What are we going to do?” An unknown voice cried out desperately. Aspen’s head spun. She wanted to curl up and cry. She probably would have, if there wasn’t more than a foot of water on the floor.

“We could break the –” Someone suggested.

“No.” Beckett confirmed stubbornly, already knowing what they were going to offer. “Too dangerous.”

“It’s too dangerous in here, too, smartie,” Erric muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear, though no one answered. No one had the mental strength to fight back.

“Then, what are we going to do?” Pidge asked, tucking a wet strand of her messy chocolate hair behind her ear. The girl was the youngest one here – only twelve years of age, but could be mistaken for someone older, both in appearance and in personality.

“I don’t know,” Beckett admitted, sounding defeated. How could these people be so cruel? Did they expect the group to act like adults? Soldiers? Well, they were neither. They were normal, average teenagers. They couldn’t possibly expect them to know what to do at times like these … could they? Were they seeing how far they could be pushed? How long it would take before they cracked? Before they all died? The dark thought made Aspen shudder.

“Then I guess we’re all going to die here, huh?” Rose spat out spitefully.

“Shut up.” Olivia hissed between clenched teeth.

“Don’t tell me what –”

“I said, shut UP!” The girl practically screamed the last word. Her chest heaved.

She did.

Several long, drawn out minutes dragged by in total silence, with the exception of hushed whispering some of the group shared. It was so still that you could hear the drop of a pin. The water was now up to Aspen’s waist. Finally, she decided to speak up – give them a little pep talk – seeing that no one else was willing. “Guys, we can’t just give up.” A feeble attempt, but an attempt all the same.

“What’s the use?” Someone mumbled.

“She said there would be tests. This must be one of them. They’re testing our strength; seeing what makes us tick. What we can handle. If these … people wanted us dead, they would have made it so there’s no way out, but I don’t think they want that. Sure, they may not a care if a few of us die – as cruel as that seems – but …” Aspen bit down on her bottom lip so forcefully that she tasted blood. She really did not know where she was headed with this.

“She’s right.” Beckett filled in. Aspen wished his gaze was on her, so he could see her look of gratitude. “Come on, everyone. Let’s search for a —”

Before he even finished his sentence, an excited shout was heard from the other side of the room. Heather. “A door! Another door!”

Heads turned. Sure enough, there it was. “How could we have missed it?” Pidge wondered aloud.

“I’m sure it wasn’t there before. Absolutely positive.” Olivia sounded flabbergasted.

“Me too,” agreed Aspen.

“Should I open it?” Heather questioned, nervously toying with a frayed string on her shirt. “Water’s not leaking from it.”

“Okay, open it.” Beckett nodded. Everyone made their way over to the door. The only sound was the slish, slosh of water being tossed about. Heather eased the door open a crack. Nothing happened. She opened it fully. Another room, completely empty, stared back at them. Everyone herded in as quickly as they could.

Aspen was aware that it was only midday, but she collapsed on the floor, drifting off in mere seconds, too tired to care what anyone thought of her.

[peachy keen-]

“Nice plan, Einstein,” Opal sneered.


hahhaa! loving it ♥

haha, thanks. :) so glad you're enjoying this. <3
oh, and also, if you have any tips / criticism, i'd love to hear it! i'm always looking for ways to improve. if not (or you're too lazy xP), that's fine too. c: