We were the last ones to leave the cafeteria. Once we closed the doors behind us a little click came from the handle and just like that it was locked. As much as I wanted to know what was going on behind that door, my attention was on the crowded group waiting for an elevator. There were two elevators. How long would it take to get everyone to their desired floor? Apparently a long time. When the left elevator opened the only thing I could make out was a woman screaming.
"- and THEN what would happen-... huh? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? We missed it AGAIN!"
/Again?/
Someone must've replied to her because she kept going.
"OF COURSE WE DID, they're ALL standing here! This is the last time I'm waiting on you I SWEAR. Last time we were late, this time we missed the WHOLE THING!" And she kept going.
Outside of her yelling the rest of the group seemed to find it funny and they were laughing, I couldn't see her or who she was yelling at but I could guess that this was an often occurrence. It wasn't until people started entering the right elevator that I could see what was happening. The handsome man from earlier was handing them two brown paper bags which the woman took from his hands gratefully.
"Thank you Lin, it's great that some people know how to be considerate of others." She said to him then returning to give the person she came down with both a hard glare and his own brown paper bag.
The man she was with looked rather tired, he barely had his eyes open, but he still managed to take the bag anyway. The two were quite the duo. One full of energy and the other just barely hanging on. The white-haired man who also seemed to be conversing with them gave the loud girl some cutlery tools and napkins which sparked quite a dramatic outburst from the woman.
"You too Knox! It can be so hard dealing with him sometimes, you've gotta teach me how to get a handle on bums. You're the best at it!" She said, as she dramatically sniffled and wiped fake tears.
/So he was Knox?/
Knox threw his head back in laughter before walking to his ruder counterpart who was leaning on the wall. He proceeded to whisper something to the curly-haired woman who seemed to respond by punching the other in the arm, which drew more laughter out of Knox. As I watched the two scenes unfold I failed to notice how much the hallway had cleared.
The next few hours seemed to pass by rather quickly. Arlo walked me around the building, though there wasn't much to see considering how all the doors were locked, actually locked. There were a grand total of three floors; the first one was mainly the cafeteria, a metal panel that couldn't be raised as it was locked, and a well-decorated locked door. The second floor was the home of even more doors, locked of course, but they were much more interesting as they were all numbered. Apparently, they had developed a system where their spot was the door they woke up on, which of course they did, these people were truly wonderful at taking things seriously.
The third floor seemed smaller than the other two but there was really only one door. Arlo had a hard time staying up there though, he complained about a chemical-y smell. Apparently, it was the same for a few other people too. Every floor had a decent-sized lounge or seating area, and according to Axel, the third floor was where the more 'sensitive sleepers' spent the nights.
During the tour, I was able to get to know more about the strangers I had found myself surrounded by. Unsurprisingly they seemed to really get along with each other, they made up games and showed off tricks. I couldn't help but be pulled into their group. I felt like a child going to an away camp; sleepovers and games were the only thing that seemed to go on there. The older people in the group had interesting stories from their youth and those my age seemed to have stories from their respective professions. It was fun, freeing even.
While there were some people who didn't get along with others well, it wasn't hard to see that the issues they had with each other didn't run too deeply enough to affect how they acted in each other's space long term. It must've been a fun three days for them, I was almost envious. These people seemed easy to get along with, they were so welcoming, I felt bad for having put up a hostile front earlier in the day.
I was on the second floor for a long time, It wasn't until the announcement for dinner that I had even considered going back downstairs.
"ATTENTION GUESTS DINNER HAS STARTED"
We arrived back in front of those doors quicker than we left them.
"Finally, I'm starving!"
I looked at Arlo, he was an excitable kid, from what I'd seen from him, he acted and spoke without thinking often. It might've been part of his charm. I couldn't help but feel a fondness for him after a while, it was like babysitting a kid who was just happy to be there. Even for the most mundane things.
When we walked inside the cafeteria it was as if someone had scrubbed the place down with vigor, even the chairs looked polished. The food situation was also different. Instead of brown paper bags, it was black take-out boxes with our names on them. I took mine from the shelf as well as Axel's box, which I gave to him as we sat down. Dinner must've been important to the group, it was the first time I had seen all of them in one place together. With the table full I realized that there was no one person was eating the same thing.
"What are you eating?" I asked Priya, who sat in front of me.
"Oh, this? It's just soup? Why? Did you want some?"
"No, I was just curious. Thank you though."
/Was sharing food that common between them? Or was it just her?/
Everyone had a unique dish, it must've taken a long time to prepare. I looked down at my food. It looked good, really good.
/Who made this?/
"Do you know who makes the food?" I hadn't asked anyone in particular.
"Nope," The screaming lady was the first one to reply, "But it beats starving, so whoever made it won't hear anything from me."
"You're so helpful Celeste," It was her tired but sarcastic friend, " I'm sorry for her behavior, she's not used to 'this'."
/This? What was he talking about?/
"She's right though. Who knows where this stuff comes from." Priya Interjected.
Arlo began nodding as if he was seriously responding to the situation but it was obviously for dramatics. It was serious though, the situation was serious. Maybe I had forgotten for a second but it didn't take a genius to realize that this wasn't a time to joke around and pretend that everything is fine. Nothing about this was fine, eating food with suspect origins wasn't fine, sleeping on the floor wasn't fine, and being kidnapped wasn't fine.
"What is wrong with you guys?" I couldn't take it anymore, their behavior was too much.
"What do you mean?" Ah, Arlo. Bless his heart.
/It would've been better if you didn't play dumb./
"Are you kidding me?" Silence, "Don't you know we've been kidnapped, how can you all act like everything's just peachy!"
I was yelling. /…Maybe yelling was too much./
The group was silent for just a second, they all looked at me with different variants of the same expression; humor, and to make things worse they started Laughing.
/Nevermind too much, clearly it wasn't enough./
They kept laughing, Christ, I could see that guy Knox further down the table wiping away tears. How could they think this was funny? Axel was the first one to regain his composure before giving me a look of pity.
"No, no you're right, we don't seem like the most concerned group of kidnappees," he started, "But, we've gotta admit that we had our moments right?"
He gave Yono a look before chuckling again.
"Yeah, not to be rude but you kinda just woke up. For you, it probably felt like you were just taken yesterday, for us it's been days. We had the time to come around to it,"
/Come around to it??/
"Don't worry though, you'll get used to it. Just be alright hanging tight until someone comes to rescue us, everyone else is." She shrugged.
Everyone else seemed to agree with her and nodded along. I was stunned. I couldn't believe they expected me to just get with the program, let go of my life, and put it in the hands of people who may or may not find us.
"Hmm... It's not even that bad, it's free food and board... technically." the girl Florian said.
Celeste stood out of her chair dramatically to point at her from seats away.
"What are your standards even? With the way you're putting it, you'd probably be fine in PRISON. This place is obviously a hotel or something, and if they're going through the trouble to feed us they might as well let us sleep in a bed!"
"A hotel? Is that what you think this place is?" Her tired friend started to talk from his seat next to her.
"I think the floor is fine short term, it's not really like we have much of a choice anyways."
Floran tried to interject but was blatantly ignored by Celeste
"UGH! Of COURSE, this place is a hotel, Dakan! haven't you ever been in one?" she argued.
"Of course I have, but this place doesn't have a lobby or anything, at most it's closer to an expensive dorm."
She looked like she had a further argument prepared but couldn't quite get her words together. She opted to just sit back in her chair with one last huff of irritation.
"Guys arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. We all agreed to see how things played out right?" Axel spoke out.
The group seemed to agree and the topic dropped. Afterward, the group went back to talking about whatever it was they always seemed to have to talk about. As time passed some people left early while others stayed to talk even after finishing their food. By then I found myself reluctantly involved in their conversations, I was spilling my life out to strangers who In turn told me about themselves. In the end, it was a good meal, a memorable one.
"ATTENTION GUESTS DINNER IS NOW OVER. PLEASE EXIT THE CAFETERIA AND REPORT TO THE SECOND-FLOOR LOUNGE IN A TIMELY MANNER."