As the box-blonde woman walked past me with the child in her arms I couldn't help but stare at the spectacle. As I watched them pass by, the little girl noticed and waved at me before disappearing behind the cafeteria doors. I turned my head to gauge the reaction of the people still around only to notice two new people walking towards those double doors. A man and a woman, the woman had curly black hair while the man had long hair that was stark white.
/How could a person's hair even get like that at that age?/
As unnatural as I wanted to think it looked, it seemed real. The white-haired man had an arm over the woman's shoulder. As they walked towards the cafeteria doors the guy nodded at me while the other ignored me completely. Rude.
As I watched them walk past me the man from earlier, Gale, cleared his throat to quite obviously regain my attention. As I turned my eyes to him he looked down at me, seemingly able to read my irritation at the brief passing.
"It's ill-advised to get tied up in your emotions over him, he's like that with everyone… Well all of us except Knox, but don't worry, he's harmless."
/Him?? That white-haired man seemed friendly enough, it was the woman who I had an issue with./
I gave him a confused look before he continued talking.
"Perhaps, there is more bothering you, have you eaten yet? You were coming out of the cafeteria, but to my knowledge, it should've just started."
As he finished his sentence he trailed off to look at his wrist, maybe he was used to a watch being there and he was trying to check the time. Were these people on some kind of schedule? I didn't know. As his cheeks reddened in embarrassment he shook his head slightly before he looked back at me and motioned to the cafeteria doors, almost asking me to follow him, I did. At this point, I wasn't going to ignore the possibility of learning more about these people who have all allegedly been kidnapped and were just so clearly distraught over it. As we walked back into the cafeteria it was more than clear that these people had been used to coming here on some kind of a schedule, the table seemed to fill up as more people were beginning to arrive.
I returned to my seat next to Axel, and the newly moved Arlo who sat on the other side of me. The smile on his face didn't look out of place in the slightest, even in this situation. I looked at the other people eating food from what I could assume was their own respective paper bags. I couldn't help but notice the amount of leftover empty seats.
"Who sits there?" I asked Axel, pointing at a few empty seats further down the table.
"It depends on who feels like coming down to eat," He started. "Most of us are already here though. I'm pretty sure there are really only two people who haven't shown up yet. But they should be here soon."
I looked closely as I watched him look into himself trying to come up with something else to say. He didn't have to though. The noise from the other people talking provided enough of an ambiance at the table so that it wouldn't be weird if he reentered the ongoing conversations and I returned to being a quiet observer.
"Have you met everyone yet?" He asked me suddenly.
"I don't think so... at least according to you." My reply ended more coolly than I had intended.
He deflated, visibly deflated at my words. I had initially assumed his maturity was simply more internal based on his clothing but maybe there was just a lack of it within this man to begin with. Nonetheless, I felt bad, it seemed I hurt his feelings slightly.
"I didn't mean it like that, I had just made an assumption based on what you said." I tried to reassure him.
"Oh. Awesome!" He seemed to be over it.
/Was he a man or a child?/
As I returned to simply observing the table I noticed a man with dark black hair and eyes occupying one of the seats, smiling and talking with the people surrounding him. He was quite the handsome guy, but I hadn't even noticed he came in. He was sitting across from Gale who was helping the little girl with her food. Honestly, it was as if his whole demeanor had changed. He was so bright, while she on the other hand seemed quite comfortable with him naturally. Maybe they knew each other, especially since children don't typically adjust to situations like this easily. The blonde woman who previously was with the girl now sat by Shawna who seemed to be more awake than she was before. The mood was light and as they spoke with each other I was able to pick up on a few things while listening to the group.
One: They'd all been here for roughly three or four days because two: they all woke up at different times. That was strange, why couldn't they see that was something to be wary of. Number three was that everything was scheduled, they had a time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the lights also turned on and off with a schedule meaning someone was keeping track of the time for them. That opened up more possibilities that went beyond what I'd learned from the hour I'd been conscious. The fourth thing shocked me further than the third; apparently, all the doors were locked besides the cafeteria doors. They seemed to let it slide out so casually too.
"- and don't even get me started on the privacy issue," Priya said, That's how it started.
"What?" At that point, I didn't understand what was being implied.
The red-haired woman, whose name I learned was Yono, started laughing.
"You're definitely not one to talk, do you know you talk in your sleep?" she had said pointedly to Priya.
Priya had let out a noise of indignation before turning the conversation onto Axel.
"It's not my fault, I didn't even know I did it, unlike him," she points out. "Axel literally makes it a habit to try and keep talking until HE is tired."
I turned to face the man next to me, his face was as red as the hair on his head, it was quite funny.
"HEY! Nobody said it was a problem before, I would've stopped!" He basically shouted.
"Haven't you realized that the only people who sleep on your floor sleep weirdly?" Luther butted in.
"How is that my fault?" He squawked "I already said I would've stopped!"
By then I had started putting the pieces together but I needed verbal confirmation.
"How long have you guys been here?" That was what I asked.
"Well, it's really different for every person, " Axel Started "For me it's been about… Three days?…. Yeah, definitely Three."
He seemed unsure but Priya seemed to nod in agreement to his claim.
"The alarms didn't start until the day after though." She said
It looked like she was thinking hard about it before bringing it up.
"The first day was rough, everything was a mess. There was a lot happening and I didn't know any of these guys yet, plus that made things like sleeping awkward," she said finally.
So they were strangers at first. Great. That piece of information seemed to quell my anxiety slightly. But I needed to know more.
"What do you mean?" I was curious, and I wanted answers.
"Well, it's hard to sleep in a room full of strangers… Well, a hallway of strangers. But after getting to know them it wasn't that bad."
"We wouldn't've had to if the doors weren't locked." The girl, I think her name was Florian said… well pouted. I hadn't pegged her for a pouter at the time.
"The doors are locked?" That was my question, not a great one but it got the job done.
It was Arlo who answered me.
"Yeah, you didn't try to open your door? That's the first thing I did." he laughed.
They all started laughing like some inside joke was just said.
I hadn't found it funny, I didn't understand how they could talk about everything so casually. They made it all seem so easy like nothing bothered them. Maybe it didn't, and that, well it was scary. How could none of them feel how I felt? And just like that, they slipped back into casual conversation afterward. It was always casual, how they spoke, how they ate, how they moved, it was like they were on a vacation. A vacation I didn't want to take.
The fifth and last thing I learned was less striking and didn't feel as noteworthy as the other three, and that was that there were only twenty people in the building including myself. It was good to know what the headcount was but it didn't mean anything, at least not as things were. It wasn't like these people were going to leave anytime soon. In fact, it was almost like they were enjoying their time here. As I began getting lost in thought a loud buzzing sound filled the room before-
"ATTENTION GUESTS LUNCH IS NOW OVER, PLEASE EXIT THE CAFETERIA."
It was then when the people at the table started getting up, they seemed used to the cue and began throwing things away and leaving. I looked around at them leave but it was Arlo who was trying to get me to leave the quickest.
"Come on! I'll show you around the building, hurry up!" He started, pulling me out of my seat too.
Axel kindly grabbed my empty containers and threw my garbage away.
/Wait… empty?
… Huh, I guess I ate it./