Chapter Five: Arielle's POV

Shae, Arielle, and Donnie make an unexpected discovery

Chapter Five

Arielle

      On my hands and knees in the dirty, cobwebbed vent, I could actually see open sky as blue as a robin’s egg.  I quickly clambered out of the vent only to be shocked by something even more astonishing than seeing the sky after such a long and torturous confinement.  On either side of me stood large, looming rock walls, probably close to two hundred feet high, creating a canyon with a long sandy path.  One might expect that was quite a shock to the system, but the walls were not what my eyes were drawn to.  With the palms of my hand, I continuously rubbed my eyes to make sure that I had not imagined the impossibility of what I was seeing. 

            Behind me, two male voices were questioning each other over the appearance of the sky, and they hastened out of the vent only to be silenced at what resided far in front of us.  Shae moved to my side, and whispered in awe, “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”  Nodding in the affirmative was my only response, because what I was seeing was too unbelievable to be true.  Shae held out his hand and I gladly gave him the gun back.  “How is this possible?  I know for sure that there are none of those,” Shae pointed to the magnificent, knee-shaking structure that had caused the three of us to be dumbfounded, “in Chicago.”

            Shaken out of my speechlessness at the mention of Chicago, I questioned Shae, “What do you mean in Chicago?  Weren’t you picked up in Boston?”

            His hazel eyes clouded in confusion and he shook his head.  “What are you trying to say, Arielle?  Weren’t you picked up in Chicago like me?”

            “No, I wasn’t.  I live in Massachusetts close to the Boston Metro Area…so what you are telling me is that you are from Chicago?”  He nodded.  “How’s this possible?”  Everything about this place�"wherever we were�"was impossible.  Turning to face the unusually quiet Donnie, I asked him, “Donnie, where are you from?”

            For a moment, he said nothing, his eyes still glued to the out-of-place structure.  Then he answered, “Atlanta, Georgia.”

            Shae shook himself out of his confusion.  “Arielle, whoever these people are, they had the ability, meaning money, to take each of us from a different city to bring us here.  Who knows what they have planned for us?”  I watched his eyes stray to the structure, once again.  “Who knows where we are?”  He paused, deep in thought, before continuing, “Even if we make it through this experiment, we are all so far from our homes, maybe they never meant for us to…”

            “Go home.”  I finished Shae’s statement, because I could tell the anger inside him was about to reach a boiling point.  As they say, the s**t was about to hit the fan.

            “If we are still in America, we have to be in the southwest.”  Donnie declared, shocking both Shae and I out of our anger and despair.  He walked over to one of the rock walls and laid his hands over the surface.  “Do you see how red this rock is?  Well, the southwest is famous for it.  The Grand Canyon is made up of this here red rock… So I am guessing if we are still in the US, we are in one of four states: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona.”  My mouth was wide open in shock at this type of information coming from Donnie; I had not expected it.  Looking sideways at Shae, I also saw that his mouth was dropped in wonder.  Donnie smiled one of his innocent child smiles.  “Hey, I watch a lot of TV and there was this special on the southwest.”

            “And you watched it?”  Shae asked in disbelief.

            “None of the other channels were working that day, so that’s all I had.”  Donnie explained.  Now, it made sense and the world righted itself, knowing that everything was in order and Donnie was not some closet genius.  “Well, it’s either that or…”  The three of us returned our stares to the immensely large structure.

            “Or we are in Egypt,” I stated as my eyes rested on the large pyramid that the pathway led to.  It was hard to believe and absorb the fact that there was an honest to goodness pyramid, standing in front of us in all its one-of-the-seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world glory.  Ancient Egypt had always fascinated me with its gauzy linen dresses, kohl eyes, and braided wigs.  Being a daddy’s girl, my father indulged me in my enthrallment with Egypt and hired a tutor to tell me stories and myths of Ancient Egypt.  My tutor, Pauline Bourdain, regaled me with stories of ancient queens such as Cleopatra and Hatshepsut that ruled Egypt without a man to verify her power.   As a young, spirited child, I was thrilled to hear that women could rule in their own right�"to be their own masters. 

            “I guess we have to go in there,” Shae pointed out to an opening at the top of a dizzying set of stairs that led halfway up the pyramid.  “We should probably get going, because I have a feeling we wouldn’t want to stay in this canyon at night.”  For once, I did not argue with Shae for taking the lead, so we set off along the lonely, sandy way.  Holding true to his personality, Donnie ran circles around us, causing Shae and me to chuckle at his antics.  My laughter surprised me; I did not think it was possible for me to laugh in this situation.  Rachel and my brothers sprang into my mind, and my laughter died.  They were probably wondering where I was and thinking the worst: that I had abandoned them like our mother.  These thoughts steeled my resolve to somehow�"someway�"make my way back to them.

              Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Shae was glancing up the rock walls and studying the tops to see if anyone or anything was waiting to ambush us.  He was ever vigilant, which made me glad that if I had to be in this place, at least I had Shae by my side, whether he was yielding a gun or shooting at snakes.  Even though he was still a stranger, I was grateful for him, but that did not mean I could trust him.  Doubt rang in my mind, reminding me Shae saved me, because his life depended on it.  I would watch him to see when, or if, the time would come and he would leave me defenseless or…to die.

            “Hurry up, slow pokes!”  Donnie yelled from his vantage half way up the stairs.  Taking steps two at a time, Donnie bounded up the stairs, impatiently waiting for us.  Step after step, I was quickly worn out by this massive staircase; I had no idea how Donnie ran up the stairs within a few seconds without huffing and puffing for breath.  By the time I reached the top, I was doing exactly that.  My thigh high stockings had taken quite a beaten, because there were rips and tears underneath all the dirt accumulated from our long trek through the canyon.  Shae, like Donnie, did not seem to be gasping for breath and I inwardly cursed his perfectness.  “Finally, you two got here!  Let’s go in!”

            “NO!”  Shae and I screamed in unison as Donnie disappeared into the pyramid.  The boy was going to be the death of us, by running into situations with unknown parameters.  Against our better judgment, Shae and I ran after Donnie.  Upon entering the pyramid, the steel door slid into place behind us, essentially locking us in.

            “Should have known that was gonna happen,” I commented to Shae, who just gave me a thank-you-captain-obvious stare.

            “Shae!  Arielle!  Look food!”  Donnie screamed with childish enthusiasm, interrupting the stare down between Shae and me.  Turning our attention away from each other, we saw a banquet hall table laden with food in a sterile room with steel walls, which were eerily similar to the starting cells we had been in.  Food was too much a temptation to Donnie, who sat down and began grabbing exotic fruits and succulent duck breasts and started eating.  I did not make a move to stop him, because I was too busy checking the room for a way out and only saw another door on my right hand, which was closed with no handle.  There was nothing else inside the room beside the table, food, and chairs, except for a vent high above us.  No escape through a vent for this round. 

            Coming to the same conclusion as me, Shae raised his eyebrows at me in askance at the arrival of some much needed sustenance.  We sat at the twelve seat table in chairs opposite each other.  The table’s centerpiece was a straw picnic basket that begged to be open.  My hand reached for the basket at the same time Shae reached for it.  Our hands brushed in an almost intimate gesture, which caused us to retract our hands instantly.  I felt my cheeks flush in remembrance of our kiss and I could tell from Shae’s face that his thoughts had wandered in that direction as well. 

            Donnie sensed our awkwardness and grabbed for the basket and opened it.  He pulled out the letter with the usual wax seal of the all-seeing eye wrapped in a strand of DNA.  “Here,” Donnie handed me the letter, blatantly ignoring Shae, which made his eyes lower in slits. 

            I ignored Shae, and ripped open the letter and read out loud, “Eat.”

            “What else?”  Shae asked.

            “There is nothing else.  That is all it says.  What do you think, partner?”  With my usual smart-alecky ways, I asked Shae with a dazzling smile that I could tell made him momentarily speechless. 

            Regaining his capacity for human language, Shae brilliantly replied, “Eat.”  My stomach rumbled in response as I gazed across the table.  Some of this food I had not seen since my father’s death, before my family was ousted out of our home.  Plates were filled with duck breasts, ribeye, shrimp cocktail, and various other poultry, meats and fish.  Dozens of bowls were filled with mangos, kiwis, bananas, and more fruit than I have seen in such a long time.  Most people these days would never taste most of the exotic fare that was on this table.  I suspected Donnie never had duck before, but he was chowing down on the duck, while in his other hand he held a half eaten prickly pear.  On the other hand, Shae was a bit more reserved, but you could see the look of hunger in his eyes; he piled food on his plate, and began to dig in.  Not wanting to think anymore, I, like the boys, piled my plate high and just enjoyed the food.

            Quite awhile later once our hungers were satiated, the three of us sat there with our stomachs full for the first time in a long time.  We wanted to just sit there and let our food digest; alas, we were not that lucky.  The door that was to the right of the table opened basically telling us that our little respite was now over.  We are to move on.  Of course, Shae was the first at the door to investigate what lay ahead. 

            Getting up from my comfy chair, I joined Shae at the newly open door.  All I could see was pitch-black, nothing was visible.  With this experiment, we are never able to look before we leap, we just have to act first and question later.  This time I was not going to let Shae lead, so shoving him to the side, I stepped into the passage, instantly disoriented because of how dark it was.  All I heard was Donnie stumbling over Shae and the door clicking shut behind us. 

            “I can’t see,” Donnie whined, but he was shushed by Shae.

            “Listen…”  Shae whispered before going silent.  So that is what I did, I listened.  Something in this place had a faint rasping breath, which caused shivers of fear to tingle down my spine. 

Standing still, something brushed past my arm and I yelped out, “Shae or Donnie that is not funny!”

“It wasn’t me,” called out Shae from the other side of the room.

“Or me,” confirmed Donnie, who sounded to be in the same vicinity as Shae.  This did not comfort me and heightened my fear.  I could not see and something else was in here beside the three of us. 

There was a small commotion and fumbling in Shae’s direction and I loudly whispered, “What the hell are you two doing?”

“I am trying to find a light switch or something like that,” answered Shae.

Again, something rubbed up against my arm, freezing me to my spot.  “Shae,” I softly called out afraid that I would alert whatever kept moving up against me.  A breeze of wind rushed past me, which ruffled my hair.  Again, I called out in a loud whisper, “Shae, there is something in here.”

“I know.  Just stay still…”

“Shae!”  Donnie screamed as I heard him collapse to the ground with a loud thud that sounded a lot heavier than what Donnie weighed.  Snarling and grunting came from whatever tackled Donnie, who was screaming out and crying.  I heard Shae swear as he continued his search for the light switch, for how could he fight in the dark?  Hearing Donnie’s cries spurred me into action, because Donnie reminded me of my brothers, so I could not let something happen to him.  The inhumane growling led me to Donnie’s position just as my vision was blinded by white sterile light.  In a quick second, Shae was pulling the attacker off of Donnie, who was whimpering in the corner with several superficial scratches on his face.  Shae threw the attacker across the room and pulled out his gun; with his head, Shae motioned for me to join his side.  Donnie’s attacker pulled himself off of the ground and stood his ground before us. 

I gasped at the knowledge that the attacker was a boy our age or a little younger, yet there was something off about him.  His wild eyes never lingered anywhere for too long and all of his visible skin had ragged deep scars.  The boy’s hair was thick and matted and smelled like feces and urine, which made me wonder how long he had been here in the dark.  Even though Donnie, Shae and I were dirty from the day, our clothes came nowhere near to how dirty and disheveled as this boy’s clothes.  He reminded me of those feral children you sometimes hear about through the grapevine; my heart went out to him.  How had this boy wound up here?  Was there anyone looking for him?  Had this boy ever experienced love?  The last question almost brought tears to my eyes, because my intuition told me this child never felt love, but had been only used by the inventors of this heartless experiment.

This poor child was as old as Donnie or one of my brothers; I took a step towards the boy, who jerked backwards away from me.  “It’s ok.  We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Shae said through gritted teeth, and he gripped the gun harder.

“Shut up, Shae!  Can’t you see he’s scared?  Put the gun down, NOW!”  The force of my voice worked on Shae as he slowly, hesitantly lowered his gun.  With a voice that I used with young, frightened children, I sweetly asked, “What’s your name, hun?”

This time the boy did not jerk away from me, and he allowed me to approach him.  His eyes languidly traveled down my body, which made me grateful that I was wearing Shae’s jacket.  Maybe he was not as young as I thought he was.  He reached out a hand towards the zipper of the jacket, but before he could touch me, Shae shoved me behind his muscled body.  “Don’t touch her,” Shae growled.

I smacked Shae’s shoulder, and moved around his body.  “Why’d you do that, Shae?  Haven’t you noticed that this boy hasn’t seen another person for a long time?  Look around you…this place reeks of urine and feces.  There are animal bones scattered around the floor,” I pointed out to Shae.  The room was another of those cells that these experimenters seemed to love, with the usual one vent and the next door we had to figure out how to get through.  “I’m sorry about him,” I cajoled the boy as I nudged my head in Shae’s direction, who grumbled something about stupid girls as he went to check out Donnie.  “My name is Arielle, what’s yours?”

Surprising me, the boy answered in a scratchy, obviously unused voice, “Participant 743 is what the father called me.”

Confused by his words, I moved on to the next question, “How did you get here?”

The boy began maniacally laughing and repeated over and over: “The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.”  I tried to quiet him but he kept repeating the sentence over and over, laughing as he did so. 

There was no way for me to get through to him at the moment; I went to Donnie to make sure he was ok.  “Are you ok, Donnie?”

“The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.” 

“Yeah, but that guy is crazy!”  Donnie exclaimed in his childish voice, but he smiled up at me, which in turn made me smile.  “What’s he doing now?”  Shae and I turned from Donnie to see the boy, Participant 743, using his fingers to paint with what I think was his own crap on the walls. 

“The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.”  The boy continuously chanted.

“All right, I am done, Arielle.  There is a reason why we are in here, and he must know something.”  Shae stalked over to the boy, who was sitting in his own filth, and shook him.  “What do these people want?!”  Fury rose up in me at the way Shae was treating this crazed boy, and I was about to stomp over to Shae, when the boy flung out his hand and struck Shae.  Startled, it took a moment for Shae to react, before he backhanded the boy, who flew across the room.  The boy, quicker than he looked, got up to his feet and rammed his head into Shae, who fell on his a*s.

“Shae!”  Donnie and I cried out as the boy kicked him over and over again, but Shae kicked the boy’s legs out from under him.  Shae straddled the boy and began punching him, while the boy chuckled, but there was something wrong about the laughter. 

“The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.”  The boy sang throughout Shae’s punches.

Again, the boy used his head and head butted Shae, smashing him into the wall.  Grabbing his gun from the waistband of his jeans, Shae pointed the gun at the boy, who only laughed harder.  Once the gun was drawn, I thought the fight would be over; however, the boy was fearless and ran into Shae, who was startled by the boy’s suicidal actions.  In the scuffle, the gun was thrown across the room.

“The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.”   

Hand to hand, the boys fought each other; each trying to gain the upper hand.  One of the boy’s hands slipped, and I thought Shae would immediately overpower him, but this boy was stronger than he appeared.  A glint of light flashed off of the deadly looking blade the boy had produced from his holey jacket.  He began pressing the blade up against Shae’s throat, and I heard Shae gasping for air.  I had to do something, but what?  A quick survey of the room produced nothing that I could use to stop the madman boy.  Then my eye caught sight of something black and metallic�"the gun!  I ran to the gun and picked it up; although, I was unsure of how to hold it or shoot it.  Still, I had to do something, because Shae was struggling for his life.  Donnie was useless; he was plastered to the wall in frozen fear. 

“The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.” 

“STOP!  STOP!”  I screamed, but the boy either did not hear me or he did not care.  There was no other choice�"it was Shae’s life or the boy’s…I closed my eyes, squeezed the trigger, and screamed my lungs out.  The sound of the bullet leaving the gun seared it sounds on my mind and soul�"I would never forget that sound or of the sound of a body hitting the floor.  For several agonizing moments, everything was quiet, and I dared not open my eyes.  I no longer heard the boy’s chant: “The father�"‘factor�"lies, be careful of his eyes for those tell lies.”  There was a slight tugging of the gun, which caused me to open my eyes into Shae’s hazel ones.  Relief swept through me that he was not dead, but then was replaced by the guilt that I killed the boy. 

“It’s all right, Arielle, let go of the gun now.”  I had not realized I was still holding the gun; but when I did, I released my hold on it, letting it fall into Shae’s hands.  Once I released the gun, I almost fell to the ground, but Shae caught me and held me in his arms as he whispered in my ear that everything was going to be all right.  But, he was wrong.  Nothing could ever be all right again…not when I murdered someone.  I had sinned and taken a life, which went against the Holy One’s commandments.  No longer was I innocent…the boy’s lifeblood was on my hands and I would be doomed for all eternity.

“The next door opened,” Donnie whispered quietly afraid that I would fall apart, which I wished I could do.  My body began to feel numb and I felt like I was going to pass out, but Shae kept his hold on me as we stepped through the next door.

Author's Note

I have co-wrote this story with Dog Meat Todd. All of Arielle's POV chapters have been written by me, Vanessa Rico; and all of Shae's POV chapters have been written by Dog Meat Todd! Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Reviews

[Blue Moon Ice Cream]

That was a shocking and very unexpected end! I couldn't believe that Arielle shot the boy. I thought this chapter dragged a little bit when they had first entered the room with all the food, but it was enthralling once the action picked up. There are a couple places where you need to go through and change " into --; so annoying, I know. Where it says "my resolve to somehow"someway"make my way..." it should be "my resolve to somehow--some way--make..." The realization that all of them came from different places and didn't know where they were was surprising; I hadn't even thought about where the test was located.

One other tiny thing that you might want to consider changing is "There was no other choice"it was Shae's life or the boy's...I closed my eyes" to "There was no other choice--it was Shae's life or the boy's. I closed my eyes..." I think replacing the ellipse with a period would make it more dramatic, because usually shorter sentences increase the suspense.

This was another awesome chapter, though! Can't wait to read more.

[Fairytale]

Ooooooooohhhh, this is getting exciting! I like the action and the fact that Ariel did something a bit dark. I found it added dimension to the character. I'm beginning to like the new addition, Donnie. Two characters are great for an adventure, but I am noticing more and more how a third character adds texture and dimension to a story. The story is flowing so nicely and keeps me glued, yet there is one rule of thumb that I myself struggle with and, that is to show the story rather than tell it. A tricky feat, but well worth the effort. Great job deepening Ariel's character with her past with the ancient stories which seem to lead to the strong femine character that is part of her. I like it! And I like it more the more I read! Thank you for creating such an enjoyable work.

[melissa]

Wow I don't blame her I would have done something to save shae to

[Farrah Grahm]

I know I'm a bit late in the game especially to suggest what I'm about to. I think the pov is all wrong. I think because this story is so dependant on action that a third person narrative would make the narrative richer and sound a lot more natural. Still its just a suggestion

[SheWhoWillNotBeNamed]

Oh it was worth the read if only for the ending. It's starting to get the speed I expected. I liked it!

[Naomi Roseღ]

:O I am so hooked!!!!

[Cody McGeary]

Another good chapter. I like how the action never slows down. Every new room is a new adventure within the bigger adventure. I like it.

[Crystal Kelly]

Wow what a great chapter. The words used here to describe the imagery was just amazing. Great work.

[Kevin Horsley]

One thing I forgot to add was that in the room with all of the food, I would have had one of the characters - possibly Shae or Arielle - stuff their pockets with some of the foods for the journey ahead. Might be worth considering, but then you probably already have it mapped out how this is progressing.

[Kevin Horsley]

This was a very strong chapter which has progressed the story much, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am enjoying this journey.

Just one or two grammatical things I picked up on but I'm sure you'll get these in the editing.

[MR_BERG]

Great character with the wild boy. You create a huge twist with the girl being the killer, rather than Shae; the reasons don't matter yet.