Chapter 10

Aura starts barking. "Should I take her out? She seems troubled in this room." I ask.

"Yeah. go."

"Conner, wanna come?"

"Maybe." he replies.

I start hearing hearing muffled sounds coming from under the bed. But nothing can go down there, there's a wooden lining, wall, sort of thing going around the bed. I get this horrible feeling that we're trapped in here.

"Why does Conner need to go?" Diana asks.

"Because it takes two people to rein in Aura." I say, knowing it's a terrible excuse.

"Didn't you handle her alon-" I leave the room, dragging Conner behind me, not letting Diana finish her sentence.

"Why'd you do that?" Conner asked, after me dragging him down for at least 5 minutes.

"Didn't you notice? That was not Diana." I say.

"Who's that?" a girl near by asks. She looks around 15. She has bright green eyes and long, straight, blonde hair that she's left open. She's wearing a black boater hat with a white ribbon around it with denim paper bag shorts, a black tank top and white platform sneakers.

"A friend of ours. Who are you?" Conner asks.

"Harper."

"What're you doing here?" I ask

"It's a long story."

"We have time." Conner assures her.

"If you really want to know. Fine. You must be knowing about the recent bomb blasts, right?" we nodded. "I saw one of them happen. A man was cycling on a mountain bike with this weird box at the back. I remember hearing a ticking sound, and, boom, like the cycle blasted. I blacked out and when I woke up, I was here." she continued.

"What can you tell us about this cycle?" I inquire.

"I'm not done."

"Oh. Continue."

"As I was saying, I told the doctor that I had seen the cycle blast. But he didn't believe me. He took my temperature and said that I have hysteria. What an idiot he was. Still living in the 19th century. Everyone knows that it is no longer recognized as a mental disorder. Anyway, the stupid doctor sent me to the psychiatric ward. I ran away in the morning, changed out of those awful scrubs and ended up here."

"We believe you." I say, softly.

"Really?" she widens her eyes.

"Yes. I just have a few questions."

"Weird, but go ahead."

"How the heck did you run away?"

"Talent. This ain't the first time I'm doin' something like this."

"I'm serious."

"Fiiiiiine." she sighs. "The nurse went out for some work, so I quickly grabbed my clothes, changed and ran."

"Nothing else?" Conner asks.

"What else can there be?"

"Nothing, I suppose. You're just dressed well." he mumbled.

"Aww. Thanks. Whatever, my turn." she states.

"Your turn for what?" I ask, surprised.

"To ask questions. If you think I'm gonna let two strangers come to me and start asking me questions that are none of their business, you're insane."

I glance at Conner, he nods at me. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

"That's more like it. Names, now."

"I'm Chris." I say.

"Conner." he added.

"What about the dog?"

"Aura" I state.

"Cute. Next, is your friend in that room?" she asks, gesturing to room 666.

"Yes. Why do you even need to know that?" Conner grumbles.

"Cause five minutes before you came in,' she gestures to Conner, 'two girls who were tied up were stuffed in that room."