Dara – "No matter the situation, never let your emotions overpower your intelligence." – unknown
This is not good. The sky is dark with night and my eyes are heavy with tiredness, yet my whole body feels restless. And now, we're part of some experiment? I no longer feel smart. I feel pretty stupid.
"Now what?" asks Bee.
"We get some sleep. We'll decide tomorrow." Orders Max. Harlow offers her house as refuge. The huge mansion is bigger than any of us has seen. They have a huge library filled with so many books!
"We can have our own rooms. Sorry the house is a little small." They say as we're led up the huge stairs. A little small? They must be joking. No one says anything.
"Or we can stay in the living room?" they say. We all nod, none of us fancy a night alone after the experiment news.
"Our… most logical move is to have shifts, to keep guard." I say as everyone finds a spot in the massive living room.
"Agreed. Dara and Nakia, take the first watch." Says Raven and I heave myself up and walk outside to the front steps. A few moments later, Nakia joins me.
"This is… weird, right?" I say. They nod and sigh. Their blonde hair covers the front of their face.
"What's your… thoughts on the group, so far?" Nakia asks unexpectedly.
"Um… I don't know." I say, unsure. My square glasses steam up as the cold air makes my breath turn to smoke.
"Max, she feels like she needs to be a leader to feel in control. Bee, she's overly happy to hide her fear. Harlow isn't as snobby as they think they are, obviously they are forced to dress like that. Raven failed at something, now he feels like he needs to prove to us and himself he's not a criminal." They say as if reading a textbook.
"Oh. And what about me?" I ask.
"You want to impress someone. That's why you never stop studying." They state. It's definitely… strange being with someone who doesn't have a filter.
"Nakia?" I say without evening knowing why.
"Mhmm?"
"Why us?" I say quietly. They sit there for a minute not speaking.
"I don't know."
The next day, Max had decided that we'd try the pod and fly out of here. We race towards the land where we left the pod, only to find it was gone.
"Ok. Dara was there any more pods when you went?" says Max, trying to stay calm.
I shake my head. She kicks a rock and shouts something I can't write.
"Now what?" asks Raven quietly, but I can tell he's panicking.
"Please make your way to your first test. Follow the yellow lines." Says and automated voice. Sure enough I look down and spot yellow lines leading some place on the left.