Chapter Nine: Only In My Dreams.

With my heart still racing and my body trembling like never before I step out of the closet all on my own, surprisingly not being pulled out by the Hunters to get my tongue cut out. I stand proud even though I'm very apprehensive to talk to the woman in front of me but decide I must if I need help escaping. After all, this is one of the women I recall hearing before who I wanted to help in the first place.

Unsure of how long my privilege to be hidden will last, I question, "How long have you been here?"

My words are almost a mumble and at first I didn't think she'd hear me but she turns away from the door. Her eyes land on me but only for a second until she blinks down to the floor, "I would rather not say."

I frown because I completely understand why she doesn't want to talk to me. We must have crossed paths for a reason and so it is my duty to bring her with me to freedom. I have wanted to meet her and the other woman locked in this building for so long now. I've known they've been here just as long as me, or even longer.

I say softly, "Isn't there someone else locked away too?" I feel like I used a poor choice of words but continue anyway, "I've never seen her but I could hear that she was here, just like you."

She scrunches her eyebrows as if thinking very hard, "I'd only ever heard of you because of the men. As of Estelle, we met on occasion." She must not appreciate my sudden question of her when I was the one who came in from a craw space, "Met?"

"It has been almost a week since I've seen her, because you had somehow managed a way out."

Suddenly I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. I didn't mean to inconvenience her and her friend but I am hurt that she had that opportunity to spend time with somebody and I didn't. How dare she be allowed to leave her room and have a friend while I was stuck all alone and confined for years. My head falls as the feeling of jealousy surges through my body. It's just another way of the universe showing me that life isn't fair and it never will be.

"We all have to get out," I eventually sputter, looking up into her eyes. "The men here have something planned for all of us. We need to escape before it's too late."

Her facial expression changes within my words and she looks completely terrified. She must recognize the urgency in my tone even though I could hardly get the words out of my mouth.

"I always thought something terrible would happen eventually but it never did. What is your plan?"

I recall her friends name quite quickly, "We have to break Estelle free before we do anything else."

She looks at me funny and so I look down at my feet, hoping she'll say something. Its unlike me to act so confidant about my plans, I'm surprised I even got the conversation this far on my own. Though I'm also shocked that she didn't give up my own life to the men so she gets praise about being a good little prisoner instead of getting caught and getting the both of us in trouble. Maybe giving her some hope will spark that light and she can help us out.

My new acquaintance starts moving her eyes around the room slowly, keeping attention on me once and a while. I add to my previous statement, "If the three of us can get out I have a safer place for us to go."

I wouldn't say being at my grandparents home is the safest, so if we get to the gate like Jane initially planned maybe there is a chance we will be free from the men there. I can't guarantee we will be completly safe if we go to Elyria but now knowing what the Hunters have planned I would rather try to escape.

"Do you know where her room is?" I question.

"We shouldn't go out there now," She argues. "Everyone in this building is out there looking for you, we should wait until the sun sets again." Her eyes blink towards the barred window before mentioning, "It is about to rise soon and if we go now it is a bigger risk than waiting."

The stranger is offering ideas which is nice, but I don't want to be here any longer than I have to. I conclude that she is all I have at the moment and that I'm either going to have to build some trust in her or leave before its too late for me. It is difficult for me to decide immediately, especially because the way she acts is making me uncomfortable. She comes off shy and scared, or that she doesn't want to talk, but then she makes me wonder by the way she speaks that if she talks more than I originally assumed.

How is it possible that she got more than I did? The both of us have been in this building for so long! She must have something different about her in order for her to get a friend. My stomach drops as a dark thought crosses my mind. What if one of those men have befriended her? Could she be lying to me?

She moves, showing her features in the dim lighting coming from the middle of the ceiling. I finally meet her eyes for the first time, able to see them clearly. They're mixed with a strange brown color and shades of green, making them look almost yellow. She brushes her dirty blonde hair behind her ear, showing her pale cheeks that appear flushed. She continues to play with her hair, its waves only brush to her shoulders.

"Now that I know I can trust you, my name is Lynn."

"I am Elenor but you can call me Ellie if you like."

I run my hand through my curly hair, remembering how the men continued to cut my hair so it wouldn't grow past my shoulders. Though now it has grown out a bit further than it ever has and gets thicker by the day. They must have done the same to her, I wonder what else we have in common. She doesn't seem well kept up and has dark circles under her eyes but I can guarantee that I look worse than she, even though I have avoided looking in the mirror before, afraid of my appearances. She does not look the healthiest either but I am much skinnier than she is and her cloths are not as ripped and they fit her better than mine did.

Loud footsteps distract me and so I inform her that somebody is coming down the hallway once again. I hear them stop, their breathing heavy and heart pounding. I freeze up, listening to keys jingling in their hands outside of the door to the small room. As quickly as I can I hide myself back in the closet, this time a different Hunter enters the room.

His voice is lower and sounds familiar, "Would you know of a small redhead running through the building?"

"I haven't been able to leave my room for days, no." Her voice is shaky and I almost think that he will throw a fit but instead he sighs, "She has escaped again." I hear him take some steps, opening the door more for him to walk out of it.

"Wait!"

My stomach drops and breathing becomes short as if just waiting for her to give up my location behind the closet doors.

She sighs, "Is there any possible way that you could bring Estelle to me to visit today?"

I let out a silent breath, thankful that she has decided to let me stay and help us escape.

The man chuckles, "If the head man did not have a great liking for you then I would say no. I will fetch her for you."

After he is gone, the door is locked from the outside, and I have stepped out ever so cautiously I whisper, "The head likes you?" I question.

She smiles, "I got my way in many situations. I was told the head is keeping me safe, though I have never met him before. The man in charge of this building has told me I am lucky that his leader wants to keep me safe."

I take a long pause, keeping myself a foot from the closet for safety, and comprehend all of this new information. I was told the head Hunter does not come here because his identity has to be kept a secret, so how is it possible that he allows her to get treated the best?

I stare at her in bewilderment, "You're telling me you've never met him?" She nods and so I continue with a question I didn't think to ask until this moment, "Do you have any memories of before here?"

"Why wouldn't I? That is why I am still alive, hoping I can go back to my old life." My mouth falls open but nothing can escape from my lips. She looks at me in interest, "Why would you ask?"

My voice quivers, "I- I have n- no memories of my childhood." I stop, making sure the Hunter isn't out in the hall again, it's silent so I continue after a few seconds, "I have no memories of anything. The men did it to me, to keep me from knowing what I am meant for. You'll probably think I'm crazy anyway."

"Not at all," She admits. "We all have secrets that sound crazy, I for sure do. I've heard of a few stories, though I'm unsure if they are true."

Does this mean that the men told her stories too? The very same ones to scare me off so I would be afraid of the outside world? I speak more clearly, "While I was gone I experienced so many strange things that I don't know if anyone could handle the story. I met some of my family, I would say by accident but they said I was brought to them."

She sits down on her bed, it makes a springy sound as the metal frame creeks, "I think the both of us know that there is something strange about this place..."

"Did they tell you stories of the woods too?" I blurt, finally feeling comfortable enough to ask it out loud, although I am terrified of her reaction. I don't take my eyes away from her, who's face goes pale.

She picks at her fingers as if nervous of the conversation, "They made me think I was crazy."

"Their suspicions are somewhat true, though I believe they have twisted things. I was out there and experienced it myself, but I do not believe that those woods are as sinister as they say. So far the only evil that lurks around here is them."

"They give us no reason why we are here in the first place." She frowns, "I was lied to."

My stomach becomes queasy, "I was told the truth just today, but I'm unsure if you should know that burden right now."

She smiles at me, "We will have all day to talk."

Not much time passes before I'm slipping back into the closet and trembling of fear once again. It's the third time and I feel just as scared as the first time the door was unlocked and a man entered. This time though, he has a woman with him who stays almost silent as he says, "There will be no funny business or I will personally punish you both. I can not kill you but that doesn't mean you won't wish for death."

I've heard that speech before, a few times, but now it means a lot knowing that we will have an escape plan and we want to attempt it. But in this case there can't be any mistakes. It's either run away or be caught and live in this building for the rest of our lives.

The Hunter also says, "Our building is going into a full swing lockdown, you will not be allowed to leave this room until it is over. If you come across an escapee then you must let us know."

Nobody says a word as he leaves and locks us in, he walks down the hallway and I wait for Lynn to approve my introduction. I play it safe, unsure if Estelle will freak out and get us all in trouble.

My damp cloths stick to me, and I realize that I am feeling much better and warmed up a bit from the freezing rain I was stuck in. I beg the universe that they will dry quicker, though the mud is already drying against parts of my clothing that was spattered.

Lynn whispers, "Estelle, I have called you here because I have to tell you something very important. Sit down." I hear her do so and then Lynn continues, "Somebody came to me, we're getting out of here today!"

"What are you talking about?"

I hear footsteps towards the cramped closet and a hand being placed on the door handle, "Don't freak out." Lynn whispers while pulling the door open to reveal me.

I don't move very much, I just allow the new stranger to take in my presence. Immediately when it hits her she is talking, "Lynn! Have you heard what the men have been saying?" The newcomer speaks awfully quick. "This is the girl who escaped, we can't just let her stay here. We can't help her! \\I know you think we can but seriously, this could get us in trouble and I don't think I can handle something like that." She looks absolutely furious with her friend.

Lynn looks down at the floor, "She wants us to leave with her."

"She already got caught once..."

The arguing makes me anxious and so I can't say a single word.

"She already escaped once, what makes me think she won't be able to do it again."

"The fact that everyone is looking for her and that now there would be three of us." Estelle starts pacing, letting her short dark brown hair brush into her face. She ignores me and only takes glances of her friend.

I watch as Estelle brushes her brown hair over her shoulder, it's beautiful curl is a bit frizzy but still attracts my look. When I meet her dark eyes I see complete pain, her soul is fragile but she smiles through it as if meeting somebody new will change her life drastically, unless it was only fake.

Lynn looks at me, "Ellie tell us what you know about the men."

"They're talking about a ceremony, with me as the center along with a man. I'm unsure who they're talking about. Do any of you know of a prisoner here that would be him?"

The both of them shake their heads no. I frown, but I'm not surprised even though I have suddenly gained the feeling of longing towards him, although I don't even know if he is real. Everyone the Hunters have captured will be part of the ceremony, but I can't tell the girls everything just yet.

"That is all I can say right now," I admit. "How did the both of you end up here? I wish I could say how I did but I do not remember anything from before." The question is very invasive but I want to discover if they know about the portal to Elyria.

The two right away turn their heads so their eyes can meet. Estelle's face falls while Lynn comforts her as if giving me a hint they want to avoid the whole conversation. There's no need to be worried because the three of us are the same, but I guess having no one to trust other than each other can be the reason why they don't want me to know. We just met and that's okay, I'm just as afraid as them.

After a long while, a quiet voice speaks up, "Estelle and I are not normal people, she's known her whole life but I discovered I was different much later in my life-"

Estelle is taken aback by something and interrupts Lynn by saying, "You're not gonna tell her about what I am right? Are you?" She's giving Lynn such a strange glare, making me understand that she must have secrets that nobody knows about.

My fingers tangle together and I assure the both of them, "I have deeper secrets that I'm just discovering right now. I don't know what they mean because I don't hardly know myself yet." I never thought I could admit something so personal.

Suddenly a realization hits me so hard that I come to conclusion that I should be able to trust both women. Hypothetically speaking, if the Hunters are here to prevent me and the others from changing something in the future, even if that sounds crazy, then us along with the others the Hunters have captured then we would have crossed paths anyway. I believe we are somehow part of some future event that will change Elyria. And since they have been talking about how they've been waiting for generations then my side has been planning it for just as long, but why haven't the people come to save us? My only thought is that the Hunters have gotten rid of them.

I say, "Just know that we are all here for the same reason."

Estelle looks into my eyes for the first time, showing off her beautiful light brown eyes. "I don't think we are here for the same reason, I am here because my mind is sick. Ever since I was born I have had this sort of obsession with my dreams. But they aren't normal, they are real and always have been. I was told there was something wrong inside of my head. That is why I am here."

Lynn looks away from everyone, "Yet I believe it."

I'm puzzled, hoping for more information but afraid to ask it.

"You believe because you listened to me, no one else ever did..." She then addresses the story back to me, "I thought my family would protect me but when a man came to our doorstep offering a psychological evaluation and an apparent way of healing me, they let me go with him. Now I am here and my family hasn't come to visit or set me free."

Her face falls into her palms and right away Lynn goes to comfort her by changing the subject, "My story is somewhat similar. I am here because I was apparently living a life that I daydreamed of, nothing that was actually true. Everyone told me I was lying, talking of things that had never happened but to me they did happen." The pain she shows in her eyes makes me believe that this has truly caused her to be unsure about herself.

She continues, "When I was little my father disappeared and since then I haven't seen him since. My mother was convinced that he would come back but he never did. Eventually this man showed up at our house..." She cringes. "...He was controlling and I thought that his and my mom's marriage was forced. He made her marry him, even though she didn't want to."

Suddenly, my mind longs to know about my parents and discover what happened to them. I wish I had memories of what they were like. I have a feeling something happened to them but I don't know if Jane will ever tell me.

"My older brother..." Her voice quivers. "...he was acting very strange for years and would disappear for days. I never knew where he went, but he never wanted to be home anyway." She takes a long breath before speaking once again, "One day I came home to find that my mother was murdered."

I'm completely shocked to the core, and watch as her eyes tear up and she whimpers, "I was brought here not too long after because the court ruled that I was not capable of living in jail because I was not mentally stable and was too young, only being twelve. I was brought here, accused of murder and have been here since."

I finally whisper for the first time in a while, "What did you mean about you're life being a daydream?"

Lynn looks down at her hands and chokes out, "There was no trace of my brother, his room was an office, all the pictures of him and his things were all gone. The police told me there was no record of him and that I was my mother's only child. And for my father, he died in an accident. They found his truck in the woods, wrecked and mangled. For my step father, he did not exist and there was no record of my mother remarrying anybody."

Afterwards we sit in silence. Their stories are just completely heartbreaking to me, especially more because I know the pain of being here. They had their family on their minds and was hoping they'd come back to them just like I did, even if I had no memories of family or friends. Being here for four years has felt to me like a life sentence, how was Lynn and Estelle able to live here for more than I? The only thing I can say is that the two seem more stable than me, unless they've miraculously just learned to hide it for all of these years.

****

Time passes by slowly and all I can think about is what Lynn and Estelle have told me about their lives. They are most defiantly not normal and I have been beginning to wonder how those kinds of things could happen. The only thing that comes to mind is how anything relating to Elyria has something that doesn't make sense to it. There is no logical explanation of Elyria and all of the strange things that it has brought me, so I conclude Estelle and Lynn have experienced the same kind of phenomenon I have.

We begin talking about our escape plan, ignoring how Estelle is completely against anything we try to come up with. She needs to accept that we are doing this weather she likes it or not, but either way I believe she will follow when the time comes. What Lynn and I have agreed on is that when the sun is down we wait for the man to come take Estelle away and catch him off guard in an attack. We want to be able to knock him out and lock him in the room. Lynn will instruct us in the direction of the kitchen where there's a secret back door but if anything was to go wrong she wants to sacrifice herself in order for a distraction. With her running off, it would give Estelle and I the opportunity to escape.

The moment comes when the sun has gone behind the hills and the forest is pitch black. I grip the pole I broke off from the top of the closet, hoping I can bash the Hunter's head when he ends up entering the room. Hiding here in the closet works me up, making me think that this plan isn't going to work. I know from experience that something could change in any given minute and that we have to expect the worst if something were to go wrong. I have accepted my fate if I were to get caught, though knowing I have a chance at a future will make me work harder to make it right.

A sound of a single person going down the hallway startles me, even though Lynn and Estelle must not hear the person coming, "Get ready," I whisper. "Someone is coming."

The time passes like a snail but I can hear every movement the Hunter makes, even when he pulls his keys from his pocket getting ready to unlock the door. I peek through the crack of the door but only see Lynn sitting on the edge of her bed, who's foot taps on the floor impatiently. She stands up quickly when the door swings open and the man steps in.

Now it is time for Lynn to distract him, "We have something we would like to show you."

I hear him step in a bit more and he comes into my line of view. In the small room he stands somewhat close to the bedframe where Lynn is. I hear that Estelle doesn't move from her stance at the barred window, which is opposite of the wall where the door is.

I'm unsure when the timing is right so I wait in the closet, drilling the plan into my head over and over again. Knock him over the head, lock him in, run to the kitchen, and avoid any encounters with a Hunter. My lips quiver and I take a breath gripping the metal rod like it is going to save my life, but stepping out almost silently and realizing how large the man is compared to me I think otherwise. Even as he comes for me, my hands trembling and sweaty, I take no second to think and bash him in his skull as hard as possibly imaginable for such a petite short person like me. He stumbles forward, dropping his keys that were just held in his hands.

Before anything more can happen I strike him again as Estelle picks up the keys and goes towards the door that's popped open only an inch or so. In the background I can see her fiddle with it until I am blocked by the Hunter pushing me up against the door of the closet. I groan and the flimsy handle digs hard into my back. I push but get no where and he only pushes my shoulders harder, "I'm gonna cut your tongue out."

That news spread fast. My stomach feels ill as he goes for his pocket and retrieves a pocket knife. I freeze up more because of his touch against my body then the thought out him cutting my tongue out. My heartbeat becomes erratic as I watch him flip the blade open, showing me the sharp end of his small weapon.

Accidentally I let the metal pole slip from my fingers and it clanks to the floor behind the man's feet. His cheekbone is red and swelling but doesn't seem to be much of a pain to him. I watch his large hand grip the knife, he twists it around in front of my face, torturing me just by the sight of it.

Suddenly I hear steps and the sound of my weapon being pulled up carefully from the dirty floor the same time the Hunter grips my jaw with his other hand. His pressure on me gives me the reminiscent of old pain that has lasted and isn't fully healed yet. As his hand squeezes my face forcing my lips and teeth to part, Lynn swings and hits him head on making it easy to kick him between his legs.

Next he releases me and stumbles down but Lynn doesn't take any chances and makes sure he is knocked down completely. His head smacks hard on the side of the bedframe and blood begins pooling from his head onto the floor. I'm about to take another look but Lynn grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room in a rush before anything else can happen.

After Estelle locks the door we are standing in the hallway taking a slight breath before Lynn instructs us to follow her to the kitchen downstairs. The commotion we just caused is enough to stir up a man or two who may be lurking nearby so I keep my ear out for any sort of disruption. I also notice, even as we sneak down the corridor, that the man's heart is still beating. I wish I felt some sympathy but really I don't at all.

Our time comes too short when I stop the girls, knowing there are two sets of footfalls coming from nearby. They don't notice quite yet and so I assume their ears haven't picked up on the sound. I inform Lynn we need to go a separate direction and she points towards a stairwell at the end of the hall before it splits.

For fun I pick up on the men's conversation but I'm unsure what they mean, "I never believed she would be born in my lifetime."

The other mutters, "It is a treat to be part of the final generation, to experience the change of the future at our own hands. Once the girl is found we will see the ceremony for ourselves."

Are they talking about me?

The other agrees as his words echo through the staircase the girls and I descend, "All my childhood growing up on Elyria and preparing for this moment will be fulfilling knowing that we have changed our planet for the good."

Estelle whispers, "Elyria? I thought I was the only one who knew of that name here."

My mouth falls wide open, "You know?"

I hear them pass by us and thankfully don't hear or see us. They're gone down the hallway we came from, and I can only beg the universe they don't discover the man we beat and locked up.

Estelle looks at me with realization, "I was right! I was always right!"

We continue on our way, all of us with shock that we had a close call and that Elyria was mentioned. I had no idea Estelle knew of the place. I whisper, "Have you been there before?"

"Only in my dreams." She replies.