Waking up

My eyes were heavy, but I managed to open them. Thick chains weighed down both of my legs. Two thick cuffs were attached to my ankle. It was tight when I pulled at it.  The floor was cold to the touch and damp. The damp floor must have had a soot or oil in it that stuck to my hands as I tried to stand up. I decided to turn over instead. I felt the coldness from the floor. My eyes locked with blue eyes. His pupils were darkened. Blonde hair covered part of his face, which probably got messed up in the journey to wherever we were. His eyes were glaring at me for some reason. “Hey!” The guy scrambled to get away. He had cuffs that prevented him from going very far. “Who the f**k are you?!” He stated it with the same fury and confusion that was in his eyes. He reminded me of someone I couldn’t place. He looked caucasian. Back to work very little reaction the He looked to be close to 6 feet with lean muscles and nice abs, no homo. He didn’t look like the type of guy you’d want to mess with. “Are you f*****g deaf?!”. He wasn’t alarmed anymore, but his body looked tense. His shoulders were stiff, based on that I thought that he probably would take a minute to crawl to me for a fight. I hoped that it wouldn't come to that. I tried to look as non- threatening as possible. I shrunk back and widened my big brown eyes in fear.  There wasn’t any need though because I didn’t  know where we were or how we got there. I didn’t even know the answer to his question. “I don’t know..”, I tried to think back. I didn’t have enough time before we heard a rustling. Someone else was awake. There were 5 other teenage boys, I realized in surprise. There was a slight groan before the guy sat up very quickly, probably realizing where he was.

 “Where are we?”, the kid, who just woke up, asked. Zach’s eyes were now off of me and on the guy out of reach because he laid beside me. I prefer that he was on the other side of ab guy’s glare. I decided to take the time to look around thoroughly, so that maybe I could figure out a way out. That hope went on deaf ears. Each of our chains connected to the same metal bar that was bolted to the brick wall. There was a small, chipped desk into the corner of the rather large warehouse looking place. The desk had no chair. There was one of the old library lamps sitting in the corner of the desk, almost taking up all the space on the desk. The ceiling was old and had cracks in it. The rest of the walls, except the one behind us, was yellowish- white. There was a door, but it was bolted with a thick rectangular, metal lock. The guy was now rubbing both of his eyes and yawned. The abs guy and I both waited for him to finally realize he wasn’t home anymore. “Where am I?”, the sleepy guy asked again. The tone was a little more calm than abs, which was a very welcome surprise. He finally noticed us. I had taken that time to look over his features. He was small and frail, like he’d blow away if there was a big gust of wind. He had curly red hair that almost covered a pair of light green eyes. Freckles dusted his nose and cheeks. He backed up slightly. “We don’t know either”, I said that as if it would calm him down a little. The kid looked scared still, but less tense. His shoulder slumped a little. I took my win and let abs guy take over. “Great… so, no one has any clue where we are or who put us here,” the abs guy finished. The scared kid seemed to tense again. I felt somewhat responsible for letting him speak. “What’s your name?” I asked both of them while changing the subject. In hindsight, that was the one question I should’ve probably avoided, but it was too late now. “Conner”,  The red head spoke meekly. The abs guy rolled his eyes at the question. He looked at me, eyes narrowed and said “You first.” I look down. It seemed a little embarrassing to not know my own name.

 I finally spoke up. “Jared.” The words just came out. I didn’t know them well enough to let them find out how vulnerable I was. I lied. My name isn’t Jared, I had no idea who I was or why I didn’t remember. “Cool. Zach,” He looked much better when he smiled. He pushed back his blonde hair and looked down at me with more of a smirk than a smile. His canines were cute. Ewww, not cute but cool. No homo. I seemed to say it a lot that day. A loud yell interrupted my non homo thoughts. Another guy had woken up. “What…the f**k?” The new guy was the four one of us to take a glance around.The new kid seemed to finally notice us. Just like everyone who woke up here, his eyes widened. His jaw dropped slightly. I would have thought it was pretty funny if we were in a better situation. “Where are we?” The boy asked us. “We’ve already been over this.” Zach rolled his eyes once more. “We don’t know,” He seemed to say it with a more serious tone, maybe even a little scared. Of course he was, though. No matter what he said, he woke up here just as confused as the rest of us. We reintroduced ourselves for the new kid’s benefit. He said his name was Aaron. He sat on the other side of me. “So, how are we going to get out?” Aaron spoke once we were finished. That seemed to tick Zach off again. His piercing green eyes focused on Aaron. “If we knew, don't you think we would be trying it?” He said it through clenched teeth. I reached to grab his arm, but I stopped myself. His arm had an ocean design down it. I started to second guess his age, but he looked about my age. He just had a tattoo. I didn’t even know the guy, but I knew it wouldn’t help even if I did hold him back. I looked very short and skinny compared to him. “Sorry.” Aaron said that probably trying to de-escalate the situation.

 It did seem to calm Zach down a little. His brow unfurrowed. A slight rustle could be heard. The sound seemed to come from beside Conner who was by Zach. Aaron, who was beside me, took a peek around me. He squinted to see who it was. “Bro..?” Aaron looked confused. Zach and I looked the same way. Brothers? That’s too weird. Maybe it was because they were in the same place at the same time or, really, the wrong place. More groans came from his brother’s direction. “Finley. Finley!” Aaron’s voice rose. Finley looked confused at the familiar voice. “Aaron?” Finley asked yawning. He opened his eyes and took a minute to look over the scene. “I’m happy about your family reunion, but does anyone remember anything?” Zach asked while continuing to roll his eyes. “A*****e…” I whispered it, but unfortunately he still could hear me. “Speak up.” Zach narrowed his eyes and looked down at me. I wasn’t nearly as tall as him. I was small,but I was still a guy though. I narrowed my eyes. It probably didn’t look as intimidating as his glare, but I was pissed. “What the f**k is your problem?! You’ve been a dick this whole time! You’re not the only one scared!” I took a breather. When I finished I felt better, but I also felt in danger. I was going to die. I tried to flex my muscles and looked away, expecting a punch or slap. It never came though.

 “I’m sorry…” He looked away immediately after saying it as if he was embarrassed. I smile a little to myself. It was cute. I shook my head to shake away the thought. Nasty. The last guy was still asleep. Who the hell could sleep this long on the damp floor and with the noise we were making? He was beside Finley. As if reading my mind, Aaron asks Finley I wake him up. Aaron had a thick head on curly brown locks with brown eyes. He was more muscular than his brother. Finley was more lean muscled with a darker set curls, but the same shade of brown in his eyes. “Hey buddy, wake up…” Finley shook him and waited a minute. He didn’t even respond. Finley started to shake him harder and not stopping this time. He was scared. He bit his lip. When there was no response even when he shook him so hard, silence filled the room. Anyone could read the atmosphere in the room. Finley checked to see if he was breathing by putting his finger under his nose. A sigh was followed by 5 more. He was alive. He was just a heavy sleeper. “Thank god..” Conner voiced all our thoughts.

 “It’s not working.” Finley said a little panicked. “Stop it, then”, Zach spoke up. “He’s not waking up. So what? How are we getting out of here?” None of us knew, but Zach knew that.That dick didn’t know either. “The bar seems to be the loosest object to break”, Aaron suggested. “Oh, yeah? How are you planning on doing that? Hulking out?” Zach said sarcastically. “He was just trying to help.” I said it hoping a miracle would happen twice and he would apologize to him. He ignored me and continued looking at Aaron. “Even if we all pull it, it probably wouldn’t even budge.” Aaron shrugged and just brushed off  his nasty comments. I wished I could do that, so he didn’t irritate me so much. “Do you have a better idea?”, Aaron said while looking at Zach expectantly. Zach finally quieted down, looked down once again. I’d definitely vote for Aaron for leader as long as he can get Zach quiet sometimes.

 “Idiot..” I had accidentally said it out loud. This time there was complete fury in his eyes. He was mad and I had the feeling I wasn’t getting out of it. He swung, but I scooted back. His fist flew passed me. His arm pulled the chain hard. All of the chains shook. The bar above us creaked then came crashing down. Zach quickly looked at me then pulled me to him. I fought him by slapping his chest. I didn’t know what he was doing at the time. He held me firmly. His body shielded me from the bar. Everything slowed down. I closed my eyes and buried my head in his chest, clutching on to his shirt with some kind of band on it. It was only because I was scared though. I heard the bar when it hit the ground. I looked up to see dust blocking my vision. It must have been from the floor. A warm red liquid dripped on my arm. At first I thought it was mine, but it seemed to be coming from Zach’s arm. He must have gotten hit on his shoulder instead of my head. I immediately felt bad. “H…Help!” I struggled to get the words out, but when I did I couldn’t stop. 

 “Help…Help..Help!” My voice echoed throughout the room. I coughed from the dust filling my lungs. I began to see a faint outline of a person in the distance coming closer. I yelled louder. “HELP!” He ran over. It wasn’t a teenager. It was a grown man with dark skin and a shaved head. He bent down. I looked at him in shock and pain. As he pressed a needle into the vein in my arm. It made me cold all over and sleepy. My vision began to get blurry. The room then went dark.