Mason Wakes Up

Separated from their mother by a devastating avalanche, Mason and his child sister Maizy awake in an unfamiliar city, unlike any known to them. As they search for answers a chilling truth unfolds.

Jarring thuds shook Mason from the blackness, beckoning him into the faint, grey light. In time with the deep pounding, dark figures raced past his weightless head. There was a momentary sensation of floating, lifted above the ground upon dense clouds, before a sharper light flitted through his blinking eyelids, slamming him into an awakened - and deeply alarmed - state. "Maizy!"

As if propelled by a spring board, he leaped up in the unfamiliar bed and violently kicked the blankets away from him. The sound of his own voice, calling out for his sister was loud, yet perturbingly flat. Mason froze, took in the change, and felt his heart begin to race in his chest. The damp cavern of the tunnel was gone, and in its place was a cubic, cloudy hued room, with a single glass pane on the adjacent left wall to the translucent sliding door. Conrad spun around to face the mussed bed he had flailed his way out of. "Where am I..." he breathed "...where's Maizy?" He stumbled to the window, pressed his sweaty palms against the smooth, cold glass.

What he could recognize he absorbed thirstily; grass, sky, plants, and yet even these things were alien to him. The bold brilliant colors caused him to squint, and there was an unearthly feeling to the high reaching trees, which lined the shoulders of what looked to be roads. Unsettled, Mason shifted back away from the window and turned for the door.

Ffffwhip! It snapped open, a smooth masculine hand pressing it into a slat in the frame. Trailing the long, knobby fingers was a man of fair height with equally tall features. His long nose jutted down like the smooth face of the precipice which separated Mason's own home from the Pass. Beady grey-blue eyes quivered behind clear glass spectacles which he seemed to stare deeply into as he approached the startled young man. "Mason, I'm glad to see you've rejoined us. How are you feeling?"

The boy peered around, uncertain, now, that he was the only "Mason" in the room. The man was glancing in his direction, and yet seemed to be focusing on anything but him. "Me?" He finally said, pointing a thumb to his own chest.

"I understand that this can be disorienting, but I assure you everything will be just fine. I'll prepare for your discharge ." He began to back out of the room, but Mason grasped for him, unnerved by the man's words. "Discharge? Where am I? Where is my sister? Where's...?"

"Mason." The halting demand seemed far too assertive to have come from the soft spoken man, and yet his eyes were now nailed to the boys face. "Your sister will be waiting for you in admitting when we release you. Like I said, everything will be fine."

It was not as assuring as the man may have thought it to be, but Mason was left silent, unable to decipher his circumstance. The door shut as swiflty as it had opened and he was alone in the room once more, the bedding still loosely scattered about the grey tile floor.

Author's Note

This is a revised version of a book I have been working on for some time. This would be the first part of the second or third chapter. Previously I revealed much more and woke the character in a different setting. I have decided to play more on the mystery element of this story instead. The sister's name has been changed from Madeline to Maizy, I may change it back. For context: The children live in a mountain home with their mother. It is separated from the nearest town by a large precipice, which has an abandoned rail tunnel running through it. As an added note, their father was killed in the tunnel ten years prior to the beginning of this book.