Rosalyn's eyes fluttered open after awaking from her uneasy unconsciousness, she was lying on a cold metallic floor that made her bones ache and groan when she moved to sit up. She looked around, but nothing could be easily identified from the darkness that surrounded her.
The metal box that she was inside of screeched against the rails it was moving up and battling against, it was like a wild animals screech that made her insides churn. Boxes were also surrounded her, and with the little glimpses of light that flashed by she noticed W.I.C.K.E.D printed on them in bold red. The word seemed apparent to her, but at the same time it didn't, it was an odd sensation that seemed it irritate her, she knew it, but she just didn't.
That wasn't all though, she had no idea who she was or how the hell she had ended up in the box, it was as if her mind had been wiped clean of any memory that she may of ever had. She had working brain, she knew how to work out extensive maths or how to put her hair into a braid, but she couldn't think of who taught her, she knew that somewhere she must have parents, but no faces came to mind, nothing. All she knew for sure was that her name is Rosalyn.
She looked down at her body, though she couldn't make much detail, she could see that her skin was a light pale colour and her build was rather small and slim, she seemed to be rather short as well, her hair fell around her shoulders in waves,it seemed to be a dark brown colour.
Suddenly she looked up as a new sound entered her ears, two metal plates were dividing from above her and opening up, allowing a new light to filter through. She found herself squinting her eyes as the brightness began to stab them, but she didn't have much time to think as the box finally came to a stop, and the lid was cracked open.
"Is that a girl?" She heard a voice suddenly erupted, causing an outburst of other voices that all seemed significantly deeper than hers.
"Dude, it is a girl as well, look!"
"I call dibs!"
"No I called it first"
"I am not an it, and no one is going to dibs on me, thank you very much" Rosalyn spoke, her voice a little croaky and unpracticed as she rose to her feet. That seemed to silence the voices. She looked around, but couldn't see past the circle of boys, they all looked like they had seen something supernatural, their jaws all ajar, some looked a little flustered.
They seemed to be between the ages of sixteen to nineteen and were all very well built, like they had been working every single day of their lives. She narrowed her eyes in confusion as a very authoritative boy stepped forward, his skin was dark and his facial features were very sharp, like he wasn't someone to cross.
"What do you know, Greenie?" He asked as he lowered a vine into the box for her to use to climb up.
"You're going to have to be more specific." She responded, climbing up with ease. When she reached his level, she stood up straight, though she was rather little compared to him, she had nowhere near as much muscle and was more more petite than she had imagined.
"Do you remember anything, do you have any memories before being in the box?"
She looked at him with the same sharp look that he was giving her then shook her head. "How do you know that I don't know anything?"
"Because we've all experienced it the same" He responded, "Have a name, Greenie?"
"Rosalyn"
"Right, well I'm Alby" He extended his hand, and she shook it. "This is The Glade and I'm in charge, if you have any problems you come to me about it. We only have three rules; one, never hurt another Glader. Two, You are assigned a job and you do it, we don't stand for slackers here. 3, you are not allowed past those walls unless you are a runner. Is that clear?"
Rosalyn raised an eyebrow at him, then looked around her at The Glade properly for the first time. It was vast and filled with sharp blades of grass. It seemed to be cleverly divided into four sections that was surrounded by four large stone grey walls covered in vines. The walls had a large gap, almost like it was daring her to enter.
"Why can't I go outside The Glade?" She pushed on further, if she was going to be following these rules she had to know why, and Alby, despite looking a little irritated, almost making her question sound stupid like she should already know, he was obviously not the sugar coating type.
"It's dangerous. If the walls close and you're still out there then you're basically a dead man walking. No one survives a night out there, and we can't have people wandering in and out like fools, which is why only runners go out there, anyone else that attempts to go out will be punished" He looked at her dangerously, though she wasn't as intimidated as she supposed she should have been.
"Alright… So why am I here?"
"Can't tell you that one, I don't even know myself, we're trying to find a way out of here, but in over a year we haven't found anything"
"Sounds promising" Rosalyn muttered, earning herself a glare.
"Well, we best give you the tour, then you'll have your trial tomorrow"
"What trial?" She questioned, and Alby rolled his eyes, he obviously really didn't like questions.
"To see what job you'll be getting."
"I didn't sign up for this" Rosalyn firmly said as she folded her arms.
Alby looked at her.
"You don't have much of a choice"
