21 questions... not quite

It had been five days since Flick had been recuperating in the brothers' house. Not much had been said after she had introduced herself. She had opted to keep her first name, Felicity, under the wraps. She was still skeptical about the pair.

However, that slowly faded over the days. They had allowed her to stay till it was safe to remove her stitches. They had also cautioned her against leaving before as she would do more harm than good even injured. Therefore, all she had done since waking up was sit, sleep and be fed.

She had received four small meals throughout the first three days like clockwork. At first she struggled to even eat half a bowl of porridge or soup for a meal but now her appetite was slowly returning to a healthy one. Ryver had brought a congratulatory cake to mark the milestone of Flick transitioning from liquid foods to solids. It had truly warmed her heart. She had taken quite a liking to the elder brother who appeared to have taken time off work to look after her and keep her company. Flick also noticed that Ryver had maintained his 'motherly' voice throughout the five days. Whether he was putting it on or whether it was his true nature, Flick appreciated it nonetheless; and despite not seeing her saviour since waking up and the prickly behaviour she was faced with on that day she was thankful to him for giving up his room to her.

All in all they had been nothing but nice and accommodating to her. Yet, this made her uneasy. They had not asked any questions about why and how she had ended up at their house in the horrible state she was in. For this, she was slightly relieved as she did not know quite where to start whilst on the other hand she just wanted a shoulder to cry on and vent out everything she had been through. Someone who would not speak, but listen and never speak of the incident again as they would go their separate ways afterwards. However, the thought of leaving terrified her. She had no one to return to.

"So where about in the Midlands are we?" Flick turned to Ryver as she asked.

She had been refraining from prying into their lives as she did not want to get to attached. However, she deemed it necessary at the moment as she needed a distraction from her thoughts.

Ryver, who had been sitting on a chair in front of the wardrobe reading some documents was shocked. He had honestly thought she would never ask a question. He had been helping her for the past five days and was the only one talking. Even he had gotten sick of hearing his own voice. Therefore, this was a pleasant surprise and a sign of progress in his eyes. Although, once he had processed the question a hint of pity flashed through his eyes; and Flick who noticed this was confused as to why her question evoked such an emotion in Ryver. But before Flick could ask why, Ryver had placed his papers on the ground and had bounced off his seat and was currently skipping towards her so quickly that she lost her train of thought.

"Oh, hun. You had me worried! I thought I had imagined that you had spoken before." He said as he removed the spare pillow from beside her whilst sitting down on the bed and hugging the pillow in his arm. He looked like a teenage girl who was ready to get some details from her 'best friend for life'.

As Flick had not been allowed to stand unless she needed the toilet she had not yet realised how tall the brothers really were. As Ryver spread his legs with his back against the backrest, his legs were almost at the foot of the bed while her legs only just made it to three quarters.

"How tall are you?" Flick blurted out as she observed the length of his legs.

"Interested in me?" Ryver teased as he gave the girl mischievous smile as his chocolate brown eyes sparkled.

That one smile made the young girl remember an old proverb about how a smile can change the world as at that very moment it felt that her world changed as he smiled- even if it was mischievous. She could not even begin to imagine what a genuine smile would do to her.

"How about we do an exchange. A question for a question? We can be as vague as possible or we can stop if you don't want to answer, we stop. How does that sound?" Ryver suggested.

He had wanted to make the most of this while she was still in the mood to talk. He knew this was probably the best time to do so as August, who was against it, was out. The devious thought of defying August had him smirking inside. However, Ryver started to ponder about  why he was even scared of disobeying August when he is the older sibling. He visibly frowned at that thought.

"Sure." Flick answered as she saw nothing about this arrangement that would put her at a disadvantage.

"6ft 5inches."

"Huh?" Flick let out in confusion. Why on earth was he throwing out random measurements.

"You wanted to know how tall I was. Am I wrong?" Ryver asked but continued without waiting for confirmation as they both knew that it was true.

"How old are you?"

It was at that moment that Flick thought that she had entered a dangerous game with him. He had already cheated her out of the question and had successfully evaded her very first question. She would just need to bring it up later, she thought.

"Fifteen… I believe. Wait, is it the 18th October yet?" She replied hesitantly.

Even though she had been keeping count of the days when she had been held in captivity, she knew that she was probably off by a few days. As Flick contemplated how many days she could possibly be off by she missed the flash of shock that appeared on Ryver's face. How could one not know the month they were in? That coupled with some of the markings in her body Ryver was starting to believe that she was not just randomly attacked five days ago.

"Fifteen? No way! I mistook you for a full grown woman. As for the date it is 16th November. Do you still go to school?" Ryver questioned.

He had taken advantage of her embarrassed state and used this to ask another question. He knew he was not playing fair as Flick had technically not asked a question, but he was going to use any loophole he could to get the answers he wanted. Flick noticed this but as the questions were harmless she did not dwell on the fact he was being slightly dishonourable.

"No, my parents died during the third year of the conflict between the humans and the 'advanced' humans. I dropped put to work and survive" she said bitterly.

She started talking to avoid thinking about this but it still managed to squeeze its way into the conversation. Whilst Flick was thrown back down memory lane Ryver was in a dilemma of his own. He did not know how to respond to this. It did not add up. That someone would risk hiring an eight year old, not a chance! War or no war. The only rational conclusion Ryver could come up with was that the kid had did some odd jobs and got something in exchange. However, he chose not to comment on it as the age to work was lowered to fifteen after the war. He had also managed to get more information than he had asked for.

"Where are you from? You don't look like a Midlander." Flick continued once she had regained control of her emotions.

"Originally from the North. What made you move to the South?" Ryver continued his fast paced questioning.   

"What do you mean? I didn't. I have been living in the Midlands all my life."

Ryver was happy he did not need to waste a question to inquire about where she was from as she had just confirmed his speculation about being from the Midlands after her very first question which he had evaded. However, there was now a problem. They were currently living in Southern Aurica and not the Midlands in which Flick believed they were in. He was now faced with an internal debate whether to inform her about this fact as it appeared that this was something that he should not stick his nose in and let the authorities handle this. He had bigger things on his plate which had been making slow progress as he had been AWOL for the past 5 days. If it were not for August everything would have been put on hold.

Flick stared at the man with confusion. He had yet to respond but he was getting up fixing the side of the bed he sat on before making his way to the door. Why is he asking about moving to the South.

"Ah, I thought I heard a bit of a Southern accent from you, that's all. We should rest after this question." Yet, despite the fact he knew that he should stay out of it, he could not stop himself from asking another question. They both knew it was a lame excuse.

"What date did you think it was?" He asked once he reached the door.

"Around 30th September 3,402,015."

Flick watched Ryver nod and leave. Her eyes that were light clouded over with darkness. She knew she did not need to answer even after he had blatantly lied to her. Flick could not believe the man still had the cheek to ask another question after doing so. She only answered as she had an inkling she could use them to get answers about the situation in the outside world before leaving.

It was a wake up call. She was all alone. She could not trust anyone but herself. It was time to buckle up and start fending for herself again she thought as she looked towards the wall.

'Why did you lead me here?'