Chapter Two

"Get away from me, you creep!" A girly voice screeched, and I let out a sigh of relief. That scream wasn't some creepy ghost-wraith-thing coming to murder me. It was just a girl, in the same predicament as the boy and I were, plus only God knows how many more were in the darkness surrounding the three of us.

My first instinct was to trust this girl, to help her. She was probably just as afraid as I was, maybe even more. Okay, probably not more, but whatever. As far as I knew, she could be thinking that we were those men that had taken us from our homes, however long ago that was.

"Hey," I began. "Those men took us from our homes too. Are you o-"

"No! Not that!" More scuffling sounds came from the ground, growing slightly more distant, as though she was backing away. "The way your skin felt when you touched me! It's so... it's so dry! Have you ever used moisturizer?!"

My jaws clamped shut in utter disbelief. Here we were, in a life or death situation- a situation that looked like we were leaning towards death real fast- and she was complaining about my dry skin?

"Hello? Is someone going to answer me, or am I going to have to ask again?"

I gave a great, big sigh, and began to feel around me for a way around her. If this unfeeling brat was going to act like she was sitting at home in her mansion, then I was getting as far away from her as possible.

"Oh, Jesus, nevermind. You've probably spent this whole time thinking."

The boy stepped in. "Actually-"

"Oooh, hey there," the girl cut the boy off with an innocent tone. "I can't see you in this horrible darkness, but I can tell from the sound of your voice that you're a real cutie!"

"Are you flirting with me right now?"

"Do you want me to be?"

"Actually, I d-"

"How about you both shut up and look around for others?" I suggested with the snarkiest tone I could muster. I was so over this girl and her constantly acting like nothing was wrong, even if I had literally just met her. My first impression had clearly been wrong. She was definitely not the most scared one here.

The boy certainly never finished his sentence, but the girl kept on blabbing.

"If my mother heard you say that, you'd have to fill in for our maid for 6 years. Especially since you said it to me. Not that it would be much different from the work you undoubtedly do in your peasant cottage." She paused for a second as if to catch her breath, and then sniffed loudly. "God, not only do you not use moisturizer, you smell like cucumber, too. Ugh! Do you have any idea how last season that is? It's winter, and that is so a summer scent."

Unsurprisingly yet concerningly, this girl didn't even know her seasons. It happened to be especially concerning considering that the men in the suits were coming after her. I mean, really? Her? I might even be able to understand me, despite the fact that the only reason I wasn't curled up in a corner right now- besides the fact that I'd have to look for one for an hour or two before finding one- was so I didn't seem like a 4-year-old in front of total strangers. Nevertheless, I was quite inclined to give a smart response to her error, before I decided against it. It was best to just take the stupid- and, quite frankly, odd- insults than to make a big deal out of it. It would simply be sinking to her level, when what we really needed to be doing was searching for another person, assuming there was one. There had better have been. If I was to be stuck with the two I had found so far, I would rather die.

"Can we... ugh, let's please just try and find a way out of this instead of commenting repeatedly on how ugly I am?" I wasn't exactly self-hating or depressed, but everyone has their insecurities, of course, and it didn't exactly feel nice to be constantly berated.

"And that attitude is what gets you where you are today."

"You mean perseverance?"

"Umm, English please."

Another sigh. It was already stinging my throat to exhale so deeply and so often. I could only imagine how much more miserable my life was going to get once we finally got out of here. Wow, look at me being all optimistic. I said "when" instead of "if". Next thing you know I'll be blowing crap up and telling the people that brought us here cheesy punchlines before burning them to death. Ha, ha.

Alright, that's more than enough chatter for now. "Okay. You, boy-"

"My name's ParkerMason Kelstof, but you can call me Parker. Or just by my full name. I really don't care."

"...alright then. Well, Parker, please-"

"O.M.G.! What an adorable name!"

"Oh, rea-"

"Shut up!" I attempted to slow down my breathing and calm myself, though the heat and non-visibility weren't helping. At all. "What will it take to get you people to actually help me?"

"A pack of mint gum, lipstick, and new people to work with." The girl paused a moment and then gave a laugh that was obviously intended to be cute. "Except you, Parky."

"Are we at the stage of cute nicknames?" His tone was unreadable.

"Do you like it?" she purred smoothly. I'd be slapping the heck out of her if I could see her. God, she was so annoying!

Instead, I opted to shoot my hand out and attempt to touch either of them so we could stick together without having to follow each other's voices. I struck one person, and the fabric of that person's shirt felt like Parker's. Since I couldn't be certain, I asked, "Hey ParkerMason, is that your shirt I just punched?"

He gave a chuckle. "Yep. That's me."

More sure of myself now, I stepped towards him, turned my back to him, and began to search for the girl with my free hand. I was ready to just give up and leave her there when I realized we still needed to help her up. "Stand up," I called to her in the general direction I felt she was. She responded with a large thud indicating she had fallen. There was no need to suppress the smile on my face as I heard her fall for obvious reasons, and I relished the small victory. Despite my joy, I needed to get moving and stop fooling around. After finding her shoulder blade I helped her up, and while it took more tries than Parker, we finally got her up and ready.

"I didn't need your help," she had hissed at me over and over again while I helped her, clearly proving that yes, she did need my help. I never responded, choosing to simply ignore her and give her help so she wouldn't injure herself.

Sometimes, I really hated having to be the mature one, even in my family at home.

Oh, right. My family.

The words were like a blow to my soul, making me want to crumble and stop breathing and just plain die. My lungs felt like mush and my brain had surely melted, but I held on to my sanity with all my might I had left, and eventually my heartbeat slowed and I was able to relax.

One problem at a time.

Once we got her up, whatever her name was, our certainly sorry-looking trio began to make its way in the direction we thought we hadn't gone before. It seemed honestly useless at first. In fact, we were just about ready to give up and wait for them to come to us when they did.

I had opened my mouth to tell my colleagues my thoughts as a figure, probably a person, rammed into us from behind. All three of us collapsed on top of one another with me on top. I felt hot air being breathed onto my upper forehead, and I punched my hands in that direction with as much force as I could muster in my weakened state. I connected with something with my left hand while my right hand caught only air, and a sharp grunt could be heard near where I assumed I had made contact.

"It's... nice... to see that you're finally... awake," a voice stammered.