I looked up slowly. It's been such a long time—such a long time. Is it real? Can I trust myself? No, not anymore. This place has taken so much from me, and now it wants me to go insane? Why? Why did I deserve this? WHAT DID I EVER DO!?
What did I ever do?
I've been stuck here for years—maybe years? It could have been days, but how would I ever know? Maybe it is real. Maybe it won't be so lonely anymore.
"Hello?" I asked, my voice raspy from misuse. Was there going to be a response, or was my head playing tricks on me? The boy raised his head. He looked to be about my age, so why was he here? He looked sickly and pale. Why would anyone want to send him here? There was no response. Why would I expect there to be? After all, he was probably just a figment of my imagination.
"Who are you!?" he demanded. So maybe he was real? Maybe this wasn't just a dream. If he got into my isolation, maybe we could both get out.
"Lira," I informed the boy, "and you?" These pleasantries were useless—they wouldn't help us at all. The goal was to get out, not to talk to a boy who had absolutely no manners.
"Rowan," he responded. Oh, sure. What would I have to give for him to actually want to talk at all? I'm the one who's been stuck inside this place for so long I can't even remember. What gives him the right to act like a complete snob and be so absolutely rude to me? I just want to get out, and although he hasn't been here for nearly as long as I have, I'm sure he wants to leave just as much.
"How did you get here?" This was possibly the longest conversation I'd had here. This was only going to get harder—this boy did not want to cooperate, not in the slightest.
"Look, Lira," Rowan sneered at me, "I've been stuck here for almost thirty years. Only now do I have any hope to escape, and I don't need you to distract me. I will make it out of this place, this time trap, and you—you will not distract me!" Thirty years? How had he been stuck for thirty years? I hadn't seen him at all. Was he trapped in a different world? How was that even possible?
"What is your problem!?" I yelled at Rowan. "I've been stuck here for a long time too—maybe not as long as you, but a really long time—and I also want to escape, so don't tell me what to do!" I needed to escape as much as the next person. "We have a common goal. So why don't we just agree to get along until we escape, and then we'll never have to talk to or even look at each other again. Deal?"
"You may still have hope for escape, but I've tried every possibility. There is no way to get out of here!" Rowan responded, not quite a yell, but it was definitely close.
"There is a way out of here. Just you wait—I'll find a way out, and it's your choice if you're coming with me or not," I said. It wasn't always easy to understand what other people wanted, but ultimately, I needed to get out of here. Whether Rowan helps me or not is his choice.
"Being hopeful will not help you in this place," he told me slowly, as if I didn't already know that. Yes, hope wouldn't be what got me out of here, but it would definitely help.
"I know that you don't think I'll ever get out alive, and I know that you don't want to try to get out of here, but I also know that you're just as desperate as I am and that you, if given the choice, would do anything to get out. So yes, hope won't get us out, but it will get us out sane. I know a lot about time travel, and I'm sure you have a lot of input about escape. So maybe—just maybe—if we work together, we'll be able to make it out of here together. But first, you need to get it together. Understood?" This may not work, but it's always worth a try. Rowan had a strong personality—I could see that easily. I was sure it wasn't always easy for the people around him, especially right now. "Hope is the strongest motivator, so if you use it properly, it will help you."
"Wow, your faith in this is absolutely astounding," Rowan commented. So I pour my heart out and that's all I get? Really? He is so absolutely annoying. When will Rowan ever learn to trust a bit?
"So, are you in or not?"
Rowan sighed. "I'm in." Yay! I DID IT! I have a chance to escape! A chance for freedom! And now there is real hope!
"Great, so what's the plan?" I asked, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.
"You figure it out, and I'll help with it after you're done." What did he mean? Rowan was not sitting this one out—he would help me, whether he liked it or not.
"No, no, no, no. You're going to help me make this plan. It involves your future as well!"
"Fine," Rowan responded.
"Is that all you have to say?" I asked him. He really had no sense.
"Yes."
"Wow, that's really it?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Is that the only word you know?!"
"..." This was maybe one of the most one-sided conversations ever—like talking to a rock. At this point, I don't know if we should keep this up. Rowan, as is very clear, was not great at communication—or being nice—or being helpful—or understanding—or...well, you get the point. I thought it very interesting that the only person I could talk to didn't even want to talk to me. Is that what would have happened to me if Rowan hadn't appeared? Would I have become a wordless entity traveling through the constraints of time?
"Wait, have you met anyone else?" I really needed to know. This was very important for what we had to do. Maybe then we could meet more people, and we would definitely have an easier time escaping.
"Yes. Everyone who was sent to the future will eventually meet everyone else who was stuck in the future with them—maybe not at the same time, but it will definitely happen," Rowan answered. So I could meet others—maybe people who are willing to do more than Rowan.
"So why don't they all end up meeting?" I asked.
"Everyone was sent to the future from a different present. That means they're all going to go back to their present at different times. So, let's say that someone ten years in my past was sent thirty years into the future, and then ten years later, another person was sent ten years into the future. They'll all be stuck inside the void for different amounts of time. So they will eventually meet, but as time passes, the one who came ten years later will also leave first. So the one who was sent to the future first will stay alone for longer. That's why, although you do meet other people, they won't stay with you for very long—because they were sent at different times into the future and for different amounts of time," Rowan explained. This all seemed extremely complex—harder to understand than it really needed to be. Added to the list: not good at explaining things. Not at all.
"So basically, all we really have to do is find some other people and we'll be all set?"
"Sure, if you want to think of it that way," Rowan responded. I do want to think of it that way, Rowan.
"This is really going to work?"
"It's our best chance