Trapped

Chapter 3

trapped

        Ashley woke up surrounded by light. The room she was in was small, maybe it was actually a box. It had just enough room for her to sit down with her legs crossed. The box glowed white, she must be in the same type of box as that boy. Slowly Ashley reached out her hand and touched the wall of the box. It was smooth like glass. There was no point in the glass that looked like there was a light, the whole thing just glowed white.

        “Hey!” she shouted loudly. Ashley started kicking and punching uncontrollably. She started to loose her mind trying to find a way out of this box.

        How can a company just put people in boxes. How can her father be involved in all of this. The entire time Ashley spent fighting herself inside of the box, the box never actually moved or got damaged in any possible way. Her box was solid which is why she tried even harder. As she punched the side of the box one last time parts of her arm went through as she hit it. At first Ashley didn't notice it until she realized it was the inside of her arm that hit the wall.

        In the corner of her eye she saw her arm disappear but during a fit of fear you can see many things. I guess you can feel many things also. Ashley was sure the wall missed her entire hand and most of her forearm, but did hit about half way up. The box on the other hand seemed in perfect condition. She sat there without making a sound, just rubbing the arm that seemed to have disappeared for a moment.

        She was sitting there for what seemed to have been a couple hours wondering about her arm. She went through her entire memory of the day and all the unusual stuff that went on. The entire Vasquez family understood something could happen after they found that man with the camera. But no one thought it involved being inside a white box. What really was Trulife? What was this company he worked for? Ashley's parents told the children that Trulife was a nonprofit organization trying to help the environment. If that was true then, what was this giant building for?

        Sitting there wondering about all the different things that have happened over these past couple months she never thought about the most important thing. If her father is here, why would she be in a box? She couldn't hear anything out side of the box and didn't think any one would be able to here her from inside of the box. So she just sat there in the box.

        Then when she was half asleep the lit up box started to dull. Trying to prevent herself from nodding off she heard voices in the distance. She woke up instantly when she realized what was going on. Finally someone was here to talk to her.

        “It's alright, you could come out now,” a familiar voice said. “Just take it slow, we don't want another mix up with the guards do we?”

        What was she to do? She traced her hands around the box trying to find the way out. After a few moments she pushed straight up and the lid came off. The lid melted in her hands and dripped down back into the box.

        She stared straight at the man surrounded by guards. It was the same man from earlier. He reached out and offered her a hand.

        “I'm sorry about all that, hopefully we won't have to go through it again. Why where you looking for Jeremiah, Ashley?” He asked of her.

        She looked into his face and got the same feeling as before. Tears started to fill in Ashley's eyes then she cried out, “because he's my father.”

        “Dear there is no need for all that crying, come now let us take you to your room so you could rest up a little. You'll have supper with Jeremiah tonight.”

        The man grabbed Ashley by the wrist gently and led her down a hallway. There seemed to be no decoration in this hallway, no drinking fountains or even clocks in this hallway. It was a few doors down but there was her door, the one with the label 'B4' on it.

        “Alright here's your room. You won't be able to leave at your own will yet, but maybe we could work up to that one, alright.” The suited man said to her as he directed Ashley into the room. It was a pretty nice room actually. There was a bed with soft blue sheets, a chair and light. It looked as though there was a bathroom in the corner and a small kitchen on the side. “Do you remember any of this Ashley?”

        “No..,” she paused, “no I don't. Should I?” was the last words she was able to say before he shut the door on her. Quickly she jumped at the door and punched it a few times but this door seemed very sturdy. Slowly she backed away, confused. Sitting on her bed, she thought. The amazement she felt about all the hours trying to figure things out over whelmed her.

        “How will you handle the dinner tonight?”

        “I don't know, she has become a newlifer as planned, but...”

        Ashley was able to hear whispers through the door. When she was punching the door she thought it must have been sound proof. For some reason she was able to hear these people talk.

        “Why does she have Ashley's memories all of a sudden, doctor?”

        “There are people working on that right now Mr. Vasquez. We put a block on the memories so we could create the new ones but something must've went wrong.”

        “Try to figure it out by tonight. I'd like the answer before I have to eat with that monster.” With that mentioned all the other words started to fade away. She sat with that last word echoing in her mind, monster. How can this little girl be a monster?

        She went into the room in the corner hoping there was a mirror to look into and there was. It was a small bathroom but it had everything necassery for one. Especially the mirror. She looked in to it to try to see what would make her a monster. She saw nothing. She pulled her shirt down around the neck to see if anything was there, but still nothing. She stripped herself entirely naked and looked at herself in the mirror, still nothing. Looking at herself she wondered what these men where talking about. They talked about her in a way that made her feel as if she wasn't her. But this was definitely Ashley's body. It even had the gross mole she hated.

        There was nothing monstrous about her at all actually. She smiled at herself, told herself how cute she thought she was, and got dressed again. Heading out to the room she looked at the Trulife clock. She had a lot of time till her dinner date with daddy or at least the man that should be daddy. So she decided to crawl under the covers to rest up a little. The bed was soft and comfy which made it easy for her to far asleep.