She wandered passageway after passageway following the strange smell. Mice began to be more prominent. But those were the only clues she had. “Please, I need you to talk. Anything. I hope you can year me.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in the renewed silence. “Please don’t leave me alone.” It was hard to even tell how loud she was being now. Was that person still searching, or had they given up?
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t…
She faintly heard the other girl scream. “Shit.” Something went wrong, she went the wrong way. Orchid opened the door and a strange scent overpowered her. She continued down a darker hallway using a small flashlight to guide her. Her family always made fun of her for being so prepared. “I will find you.”
The darkness, the little noises, the phantom touches, all seemed more overwhelming after that brief brush with humanity. She shivered, more from fear and hope strangling her than from cold. “Please,” she whimpered, “don’t leave me alone.”
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here…
The stairs led to a hallway that turned abruptly back. Orchid moved quietly. There was another door, smaller this time. Were she not looking for it, she would have missed it. “Can you still hear me?”
She couldn’t hear the other person anymore, and panic gripped her. What if that person got caught? What if they were just lying in wait to get anyone who tried to help her? “Don’t leave me alone!”
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s…
The lock popped open. Thankfully, Damon had taught her something. The doorway was dark and cautiously she walked inside. “I’m inside. There are stairs. Do you hear anyone other than me?”
She listened hard, so hard her head ached. Or was that an ache from something else, dehydration, hunger, drugs? She didn’t know. “I can hardly hear you now. Muffled. But no one else.”
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s dark and small and smells funny and I think there might be rats or mice or something.” Her voice was starting to spiral up into fear, and no matter how hard she tried to control herself it didn’t seem to work.
She tried the door. Locked, of course. Orchid tried to calm her nerves as she pulled a knife from her pocket. “I found a door and I can pick locks. I’m going to try it. Who are you? How long have you been stuck here?”
“I don’t know. I think I’ve lost track of time. I can’t see any light, I don’t know how many days have passed.” Perversely, hope made the fear worse as well.
“Someone, help me, please. Anyone.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t…
“Okay, um, you should still probably stay low key. Just in case.” Orchid knew she was close. How close was the question. A small doorway was to her right. A possibility.
“I can’t do anything in here anyway. I can’t see, it’s dark and small and smells funny and I think there might be rats or mice or something.” Her voice was starting to spiral up into fear, and no matter how hard she tried to control herself it didn’t seem to work.
“Someone, help me, please. Anyone.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t…
She puzzled the situation. Her dad and Damon were the geniuses, not her. But this girl needed help and Orchid wasn’t about to abandon her. “I’ll find you. Somehow.” There had to be some entrance somewhere. Something that led down.
No one had come to tell her to shut up for a long time. In the dark, she didn’t know how much time had passed or even what day it was — had she lost time somewhere? “I don’t hear them any more.”
“Someone, help me, please. Anyone.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at…
Orchid followed the voice. “Keep talking so I can find you, okay?”
A sound from elsewhere caught her ears, and she shrank back in the cage. If she kept talking, who else might hear? It took a long moment before she scraped up enough courage to respond again. “I think someone else is here.”
“Someone, help me, please. Anyone.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at her. She wasn’t even sure she was still calling out. Maybe she was imagining it. Her own voice, or the other. “Help me, please.”
“Okay, where are you?” She definitely heard the girl this time. Instinct kicked in. If she had learned anything for stories about John Watson, it was to act quickly.
That was definitely a reply to her. “I don’t know. It’s dark. There are bars … I’m in a cage.”
“Someone, help me, please. Anyone.”
Orchid heard a soft voice. She couldn’t understand what it said, but it sounded scared. “Hello?”
The reply wasn’t faint, but she wasn’t sure it was directed at her. She wasn’t even sure she was still calling out. Maybe she was imagining it. Her own voice, or the other. “Help me, please.”
