2 ~Chapter 2~

Farli was about to start playing the first piece when she was suddenly in darkness. Wondering who turned the lights off, she realized that she didn't have her violin with her. Even when she tried to move, she was stopped by a stringy substance, like she was buried alive. Then she realized she couldn't breathe. Driven by sudden desperation for oxygen, she made swimming motions to bring her what felt like up. After a few seconds of climbing, she could see a hint of light, and so she pushed herself farther until she broke the surface. Gasping for air, she looked down to see what she was buried in, wishing silently that it wasn't dried intestines. She was dumbstruck when she saw a sea of hair. Looking around, she saw that she was in a small metal room, about 2 by 2 meters wide and across. Her head was touching the ceiling though, and so she assumed there must be a door somewhere under the mass of red hair. Red hair. Suddenly a thought came to her head and she felt the back of her head. Long, smooth hair ran down the nape of her neck. Farli looked and the hair in disbelief. How did her hair grow so long? Although she could think of no reasonable explanation, she decided that it didn't matter. What mattered was that she would run out of air pretty soon, judging by the size of the box she was in. Already she started having trouble breathing. With one, big suck, she dove back into her mass of hair. Swimming blindly, she managed to find the wall, and start pushing downwards. After another few seconds, she touched the floor, so she swam through to the next wall, she started to panic when she didn't find door once more and started feeling the need to breathe. Feeling her way around, she pinpointed the third wall and found a mixed sense of helplessness and relief at the same time as she couldn't find a door, because she knew now that the door could only be on the fourth wall. Finally, she reached the fourth wall, her relief turned to pure terror when there was nothing there. Without a door she couldn't get out, and if she couldn't get out then she would soon suffocate. As she started getting her first case of claustrophobia, she remembered that her lungs were burning and went up for air. Surfacing, She stopped, chest heaving, and tried to think of a plan. Right at that moment, she had two plans. Wait for someone to come and find her, or try and find something to break out of the box with. Then, as she was about to give up hope, she heard a lot of people walking. Then she started hearing voices.

"I think we should stop here, Ted." One voice said.

"I agree with Gordon. Ted, the map says that this place is where the frozen person is kept. This map was even drawn by the immortal himself. He was there when the incident happened. Think about it. Those evil Y-Jackets Have super close guard over this place 24/7. They have there most advanced weapon tech here. It's nicknamed The fortress of all fortresses. But no one knows what they're guarding. The immortal knew this place in the year 2015! That was over 1000 years ago, and the immortal is certain this is it." A second voice informed Ted. Then a third, deep voice spoke.

"Fine, but if we don't find anything in 10 minutes, we're leaving. It was hard enough to get in here undetected. If we sta-"

"Listen." Someone cut Ted off. The heavy footfalls stopped instantly. Proceeding the interruption there was a loud knocking sound. Then again. Each time it got closer to where Farli was. Finally, the last knock sounded, and then a loud ringing bang that hit the side of the wall. Farli covered her ears, hoping she hadn't been discovered. These people sounded like bounty hunters, and they didn't sound nice. She'd rather die suffocating to death than by the hands of those people.

"It's hollow. This might be the right room!" The voice said excitedly, and there was instantly a loud bang, and then the room she was in blew up. She screamed, but then sighed in relief when she realized that her excessive amounts of hair had saved her from the explosion. The only problem was that her hair was about to catch fire, so she quickly slid through a newly made hole in the wall with 10 meters of hair that survive the explosion, Yelping as her arm scraped the burning metal. Taking big gulps of fresh air, she opened her eyes to see at least 15 people staring at her. She smiled weakly, then closed her eyes again, and felt a sharp pain in her neck. She tried to scream, but she could no longer find the strength to, and her consciousness faded away.

"Wake up, Girl!" a voice yelled. Farli screamed and opened her eyes. Expecting to see a torture chamber, she was surprised to see a comfy looking room, with all the components of a bedroom. In front of her was a rough looking man with a grim face on.

"First off: When were you born?" He asked. Farli recognized his voice as Gordon. Fearing pain if she didn't answer, she quickly shouted,

"May 7, 2003!" Gordon grinned and turned around.

"See! She's the one." He said to the wall. He turned back around.

"Next: What year is it?" He asked.

"2015."

"How old are you?"

"12."

"Name?"

"Farli Aurora." Gordon's grin was so big she thought his face might fall off. Then the wall behind Gordon disappeared to reveal all the people from the explosion, minus 2. Farli's jaw dropped. A second ago she was sitting in a peaceful room. Now it was blank and metal. Gordon dropped his grin and stared at Farli in the eye.

"Ok, now that we have that established, let me tell you something. You've been frozen in time for over 1000 years. 1003 years, to be precise. And if you don't believe me, that's OK, because I have a hovercraft waiting outside, with the other 13 people that survived the way out." He said. Farli was shocked for two reasons: first, he said that she had gone forward in time 1003 years. But even more, was how he had casually stated that some of his comrades had died. Farli stood up slowly, trying to process what she just heard. Then she suddenly burst out.

"How can you say that so casually?! Two of your friends died and you just shrug it off?!" She yelled. Gordon stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Farli.

"Let's get this straight: In the present, no one knows each other. Everyone takes care of themselves. No one's allowed any social life. With the exception of the immortal, none of us know each other. I'll explain why on the hovercraft." He said with an emotionless voice.

The hovercraft was quite literally outside. It took over 10 minutes to find the way out of the abandoned science lab. Although Farli didn't like the way the future was run, and she would never admit this, but she preferred it over the past for its technology. The hovercraft was enormous. It looked like a giant disk, with 25 seats in the middle, and a control pad in the middle. The only thing bad about it was that it was covered in rust, scratches, and dents. Even some of the circle was chipped off. Not so excited to get on anymore, Farli looked around. Everywhere, the clouds were dark. One of the people in the group commented,

"Looks like some more of us are gonna die." Farli looked at the speaker.

"What do you mean? It's only rain." She said. Everyone looked at her for a split second. Then they burst out laughing.

"You hear that guys? We don't have to worry! We can just stay here and dance, while we get soaked in acid!" Someone said. Farli's face paled several shades.

"Acid? She squeaked. Acid was her one fear. She had decided that she was afraid long ago, because she thought too much about how a person looks after an acid rain, as well as how much it hurts, and her imagination was good at it. She had many sleepless nights thinking but the rain pattering on television windowsill. Her mother always told her that acid rain isn't known to affect people, but obviously, that wasn't true here. She looked up again and found the cloud much more menacing.

"Is there, um, somewhere on that disk where it's safe?" She asked hopefully.

"Well, you can make a roof go over it, but the rain still gets at the seats on the edges. You can sit in the middle." a middle-aged woman told her. Farli felt relieved, but she was still worried about the other people.

"But what about you guys?" She asked. The Woman shrugged helplessly.

"We just race to see who gets in the middle first." She said, and the group started mashing together in a race for the middle. Farli walked the edge of the disk and stepped on. Almost instantly she fell back off, hitting the ground with a thud. Rubbing her head, she remembered how long her hair was. She stroked it gently and found that they cut it up to her waist. Thanking them silently, she climbed back on the wobbly craft and sat down in a middle seat, shaking violently with worry. She felt comfort as she watched the protective roof flicker into view above her.

"How come they didn't build it so that the roof covers the sides?" She asked.

"This thing was built in the tech era." Someone said.

"That tells me nothing." Farli stated bluntly. The person sighed.

"The tech era was before the acid rain covered the earth." Another said. Farli shuddered at the mention of acid rain. She looked at the roof comfortingly.

"How come you guys speak English?" She asked. Several people looked at her.

"No one knows why everyone speaks the same language as we did 1000 years ago. The immortal probably knows. He says he was there when you froze." Someone said. Gordon snorted.

"Come on, guys. He may be immortal, but he couldn't have possibly been there. He doesn't even remember his own name. He's always cheerful. In my opinion, I think growing would be a good experience for him. His brain would be able to hold more knowledge. Also, the kid's half insane." He said. Farli perked up.

"Kid?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, he looks about your age, but I remember seeing him 20 years ago and he hasn't aged a day." Farli laughed.

"Ok, I think that you guys are lying. There is no possible way to become immortal." She said. This time it was Gordon's turn to laugh.

"Says the child frozen in time for 1000 years." He said. Farli had nothing else to say.

"And before you go around thinking that you're special, you aren't the only one that froxed. You and 3 others." A tall woman said. Gordon started up the machine, and it lifted off the ground.

"Froxed?" Farli asked, looking at the sky. Raindrops splattered the ground around them. Looking at the ground, she screamed. Everywhere the raindrops hit, the ground sizzled.

"That's what we call it when you freeze in time." The woman replied. She rubbed her arm where she had scraped it earlier. She thought about her friends and family. 1000 years ago? A sick feeling mounted in her stomach. All of them were dead. Then again, she had only had Marco as a friend, but that only made her feeling of loss grow. Trying to distract herself from the time change, She looked at her hand and nearly threw up. Her blood from the scrap was silver. She turned to Gordon.

"What's this?" She asked in a shaky tone. Gordon looked over, causing the entire craft to rock left. Farli screamed and fell onto Gordon. Gordon quickly looked straight again and laughed.

"Sorry!" He called. "I'm not usually the driver." Farli realized her head was in her lap and quickly retracted to her seat. Again she looked at her arm again and the sick feeling came back.