She stood up shakily, her eyes snapping open, the world jostling around her. It was dark, and the air was dusty and stagnant. The terrible screeching sound of metal against metal filled her ears as as a lurching shudder made the floor shake under her feet. The unexpected shift caused her to fall down hard; she shuffled back, sweat beading on her forehead. Eventually she hit a wall behind her, and slid along it until she reached a corner of the room. She hugged her legs to her chest and prayed that her eyes would adjust to the darkness surrounding her.
The dingy elevator swung back and forth as it escalated, making the girl's stomach queasy, and a smell like burnt oil clouded her senses, which only made the nausea worse. She had the strong urge to cry, but no tears came. All she could do was sit and wait for something to happen. It was in that time alone that she repeated the only remnant of her life she had left. Her name.
"Clara... " she whispered over and over again while the room swayed.
She didn't know how it was possible, how her mind worked without any problems, but any memory of her life before she ended up where she was, had been replaced with blurry images of what used to be. She couldn't remember how she got in the lift, who her parents were, or even her last name. It all left her mind.
The room kept ascending; Clara was getting accustomed to the noise and movement of the lift. A long time seemed to pass, minutes turned into hours, or that's how it seemed. She felt emotions churn inside her: fear, curiosity, uneasiness. But despite all that she still somehow felt numb inside.
With a creak and a loud bang, the room suddenly stopped rising; the change jolted Clara and threw her across the floor. She scrambled to her feet and everything went silent.
A couple minutes passed; Clara waited intently for something to happen. She looked around her for something to appear or open, but there was nothing. She ran her hand along the cool metal of the room just in case. Still nothing. Clara groaned in frustration; the sound only echoed around her. It faded, and it was quiet again. Fear started to rise up in her again, she thought she'd be trapped in the lift forever.
A loud clank sounded above Clara; she sucked in a startled breath and scurried over to a stack of boxes, hoping she could hide from whatever made the noise. She looked up in anticipation, and saw that a straight line of light had appeared on the ceiling, and Clara watched as it grew bigger. A heavy grating noise revealed sliding doors being forced open. After being in the dark for so long the lightstabbed her eyes; she covered her face with her hands and huddled closer to the boxes.
She heard noises above her... voices... and fear squeezed her chest.
"Where's the Greenie?" one voice asked.
"They were supposed to send us one." another one added. Clara was hit with a wave of confusion and panic. She willed her eyes to adjust to the light. At first she saw moving shadows buy they soon turned into bodies leaning towards the room. Looking for her. The chorus of questions filled the air and grew louder until someone quieted them.
"Shut your holes shuckfaces! Someone go down there, see if the Greenie's playin' hide and seek."
Soon enough Clara heard someone jump into the room, which swayed on impact. Clara wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. The sound of footsteps coming toward her echoed off the walls; Clara was getting hysterical. A shadow mercifully covered her face from the sun and Clara's vision cleared, revealing the person hovering over her.
It was a boy, who looked about 17. He was tall, and had messy blond hair. His lips were parted in surprise and he looked at her with wide dark eyes. He swiveled his head toward his colleagues.
"It's a girl." he said in a thick British accent. He turned back toward Clara. It seemed like he could tell she was scared out of her mind because his expression softened.
"It's alright," he soothed gently"I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to come out, please." His voice was deep and warm and almost mesmerizing. Clara could see he was being sincere and hesitantly, she stood up and walked out from behind her hiding place, her legs shaking with each step.
She found out that the shadows she saw earlier were just boys just like the one standing next to her. Each one had a puzzled look on their face. Some gaped, others whispered to each other.
The blond fellow led Clara over to where the crowd was and picked her up by the waist, trying to get her to the others. Hands reached down and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her over the dark box. Someone spoke to her as they hoisted her out of the room, and Clara knew she'd never forget the words.
"Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade."