Under The Table (3)

"And she talks."

A low chuckle followed the words, reverberating through the quietness which was lingering in the air. The girl raised her face and looked straight at the young man who was sitting next to her. He was staring back at her with a faint smile hugging the curves of his lips.

"Of course, I do." She added meekly, her words barely a whisper yet the young man was able to catch them.

"Of course, you do. What's your name?" His lips curled up more in a wider smile as he questioned her about her name. "Oh! My name is Blake." He hurriedly added, realizing his mistake. It would have been rude to question the girl about her name without sharing his own.

"I-I… I don't know." She muttered.

"Huh?" For a minute or two, Blake continued to stare back into her forest green eyes. He was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to make of her statement.

"Yeah…" She trailed off, not knowing herself how to carry on. She, herself, was at a loss much more than the man sitting next to her. "I don't know my name." She continued. This time, her voice was more resolute.

Bringing her hands close to her face, she wiped her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hand. She blinked her eyes multiple times to clear off her field of vision as she kept her eyes fixed on Blake's figure.

"Do you have any idea about why you don't know your name?" After seeing that her emotional state was getting better, Blake decided to question her.

"No." She shook her head sideways. "I only remember opening my eyes in that place one day." She added to clarify her answer.

"What do you mean?" Her words only added to Blake's confusion. The more she carried on with her story, the more baffled he was left.

"I just found myself waking up in the room which was allotted to me for the duration I had to stay there. It took me a while to figure things out about the place and what those people were actually doing there." She took a pause and inhaled, filling her lungs with the misty air.

Even though she was no longer in that awful place, recalling about the events wasn't easy for her. It was like living through them all over again. Shivers ran down her spine as she thought about the days she had spent there. Every day she was to face some new faces while missing the old ones. Each day she spent there appeared to be a new round of torture for her mind.

"So, you know nothing about who you are? Or where you come from?" Blake mumbled only to see her shaking her head in a no. "Is there anything at all which you can share with me?" He continued when he saw that she had no plans of carrying on with her words.

"All they told me was that I'm sixteen year old, and that I was some sort of an important package. What I could tell from their behaviour towards me was that they definitely had plans to somewhere else unlike the other kids. They even mentioned how I won't even remember being there once they were done." She answered.

Blake continued to hold her gaze as his mind processed her words. He didn't know what to say to her to make her feel any better. He couldn't even place himself in her shoes. To be that young and not knowing anything about yourself including your own name, he couldn't even find a word to describe what she might be going through.

"Oh!" That was all he could force out of his mouth.

"And I had this locket on me when I woke up. I wonder why they didn't take it." Seeing that the young man had nothing much to say, she continued. Her fingers found their way around her neck and pulled the chain out which had at some point slipped inside the baggy black shirt she was wearing.

Blake leaned his head forward as she showed him the chain. The rustic copper colored chain had a flat oval shaped pendant dangling which was of the same color. A single lily was engraved in the center of the oval.

"Why do you think they would do it? Leave it with me?" She questioned him.

Blake, who had his eyes fixed on the locket, finally tore his gaze away and shifted his attention back to her. He found her looking intently into his eyes. Though her lips were not moving, her eyes were filled with questions along with the hope that he might be able to answer some of them.

"People like them do things as they are asked. Since you were the only one whom they were taking along with them, I assume that it was a part of some task. They wanted to get it done even when their lives were at risk. What I can tell you from that is someone probably wanted you alive, but somewhere far away?" Blake answered her truthfully. He laid his thoughts on the matter out before her.

Hearing his words, the girl heaved out a tired sigh. She didn't know what to make of his words. Should she be happy that someone wanted to keep her alive? Or should she mourn over the fact that they wanted to send her away without any memories of who she was?

"I can look into the matter for you, see if I can dig up anything about the identity of the person who's behind it all." Blake continued after seeing the disheartened look on her face.

"Thank you so much." She muttered only to get a shake of head in response. "And I am sorry for troubling you. I should have stayed up in the room." She continued. Her words reminded Blake of the main thing which had been bugging him since the moment he found out that she was on the lowest underground floor.

"How did you end up here?" He threw a questioning gaze in her direction.