Chapter 1
She ran. She always ran from her problems, because she didn't know any other way of resolving her issues. Aperture screwed her mind up, made her think she was fat, and that her parents hated her existence. Almost like she was an accident. Chell was happy to be alive, but her sudden alone time gave her some time to think, about her life, about the fact that she was at one point a talkative hyperactive lunatic who was filled with more self-confidence than the world could ever previously provide her just by living. As soon as she was placed in Aperture for testing, her opinions seemed unwanted. Nothing about her seemed good enough for GLaDOS, for Wheatley, and for Aperture. So why wouldn't they let her go sooner? Right. Because she was a good portal gun tester.
She noticed a building, with signs that said Blu all over it. She was very smart, but she doesn't express it verbally, she expresses it by completing the tests set in front of her. Or at least she did.
Are the people here morons, she thought to herself. Or is Blu a name of some sort? I might as well investigate the building. Worst case scenario was that they would treat her like Aperture did. Best case scenario was either she was alone, and the place was abandoned, or the people there would help her find her way.
She proceeded to enter the building, and she immediately heard laughter. This place was in the middle of nowhere, so it was either here, or dying in a desert where nobody would ever find the body.
There are no feminine voices, so all these people must be men. She continued to think to herself. She was a thinker, no doubt about it. She looked into a window, and there were eight men there, a campfire, and a blue briefcase. She felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Hi there!" A teenage boy, no older than twenty, said in a chipper voice, with a Boston accent to top it all off. Chell almost screamed and ran, but she didn't want to seem like the lunatic she thought she was, so she just half-heartedly waved. Her entire body turned bright red. He was holding a baseball bat.
Oh no, not the body blush… everybody she knew made fun of her for the dreaded body blush. Basically not just her face would turn red when she was embarrassed- all of her would turn red, like she suddenly got a giant sunburn.
"Can't you talk? I'm the Scout of this whole operation. We don't see women here often." He grabbed poor Chell's arm and insisted in introducing her to everyone else.
"Hey guys, look who I found! A woman! Can you believe it?" He was so proud of himself.
"H… h… hello?" She whispered. She thought every fear she had was pounded out of her by the more powerful fear of dying she had in Aperture. Boy, was she wrong.
"She doesn't really talk much…" the Scout continued.
"Well, we are men, and you are in a building!" A man who looked like he was in the army exclaimed, like she was an uneducated imbecile.
"I am not a moron!" Chell barked. She heard that a lot.
"She speaks fluent English when she is defensive!" A French man in a mask inquired. She felt like she was in a testing facility again, and she didn't like it. She held her hand up to slap him, but the Scout grabbed her wrist before she could do so.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you. He's the Spy. He can cloak himself so he's invisible, and he's got a butterfly knife, and a gun!" She tried to fight her hand free from the giant hand the Scout possessed, but she was unable. She was tired, hungry, and she never needed strength to complete the tests, and he was strong. Did he technically save her? His grip released, and her hand was free. She fell to the floor when he let her go.
"Oh, and this is Sniper, Engineer, Soldier," Chell gave the Soldier a dirty look-he was the one that made her look like she was stupid. "Pyro, Demoman, Medic, and Heavy," he continued. They all seemed insane in some way. This thought reassured Chell, for she thought she was insane.
"Do you have a name?" The Sniper asked
"And what's up with the orange jumpsuit?"
"What the heck is Aperture?"
Chell was being flooded with questions, and she didn't really know how to answer them.
"Uum, my name is Chell." She thought she was up to a great start, her confidence in talking was rapidly growing.
"I am wearing an orange jumpsuit because it was a uniform- I tested the Quantum tunneling device, more commonly known as a portal gun, at Aperture Science Innovators, an enrichment center. They didn't want me to talk, so I didn't… and I have basically been silent ever since I was ten years of age. That's why I don't talk often."
Did I really just put all those words together in sentences? Maybe I just need that confidence back…
Everyone looked at her in astonishment. Did the mute girl really just answer all their questions without hesitating?
"You want sandwich?" The Heavy asked in his thick Russian accent- he apparently wasn't good at placing sentences together.
"You are pretty thin… you also look dehydrated, here, have some cola," the Scout offered.
Thin? These people think I am thin? And… they are giving me their food? Chell felt safe, likable, and for the first time… happy.
