Chapter 2: Time To Wake Up

It was, in a word, terrifying. It was like a dark, endless sleep, but even sleep was more comforting that what we were experiencing now. This was more like nothingness, like there was no hope left in the world, like we would never return. I felt a most peculiar feeling, like all the weight in my body had been put, well, I don't know, somewhere else.

Then, as suddenly as the feeling had overcome me, it lifted, and I woke up with a start. The sinking feeling of nothingness was soon replaced with one of disturbing unfamiliarity…I'd woken up, but the pillow that should have been under my head was replaced with an unforgiving stone floor. The sounds of my family's morning habits, my mum mother stirring her coffee, my dad rustling the newspaper, my brother yelling about something or other, were conspicuously absent. Instead, I heard faint chatter and a slightly unsettling whirring coming from nearby.

"Buuuhhhh…" ever graceful, BriAnne rose from where she was sprawled next to me and supported herself on her elbows. "I think that smoke machine messed with my brain, Maz. What the…"

"Yes, I know," I said, almost wearily; I was almost too tired to register what I was saying, "this is definitely not my bedroom."

"Clearly," she replied, an edge of fear creeping into her voice.

There was movement on the other side of the room, and Rhilissa sat up, rubbing her head and adjusting her glasses. She looked around, completely flabbergasted, before declaring, "Well."

The three of us stood up and investigated our surroundings. We appeared to have landed in an extraordinarily large broom cupboard, with brooms of all sizes and styles suspended from hooks mounted on the walls. "Now, this one is far too nice for sweeping with," I said, admiring a particularly elegant specimen, "I mean, look at the enamel on this one, it's positively gorgeous…and nobody's listening to me again. Why is it nobody shares my love of woodcraft…?"

Curse my foolishness. I had forgotten to take a headcount when we'd woken up…there was Crazy (that's me), Playful (BriAnne), Bookish (Rhilissa) and…Nervous. Where was Nervous?

"Hannah? She's not waking up, Maz," Rhilissa said, tapping Hannah's face and shaking her shoulder. Hannah was lying against a pile of brooms, sprawled in an uncomfortable position but looking otherwise peaceful.

"Um…she's not dead, is she?" BriAnne asked timidly. Rhilissa's eyes shot daggers at her for daring to ask. "No, look. She's breathing, Bri. She just won't wake up."

I paced the room, trying to keep my cool but miserably failing. "Rhi, in all those thousands of books you've read, have you ever read anything medical?" I had to admit that all my hopes were hinged on Rhilissa having ingested some medical knowledge over the years.

"Well, obviously I've read a bit, but I'm no expert, and besides, I have no idea what happened to us. Without that kind of knowledge I couldn't begin to find out what's wrong with…hang on. Can you hear that?"

We strained to listen through the walls of the room. "Footsteps?" I guessed. We could hear a faint conversation and increasingly loud footfalls.

"Yup," Rhilissa nodded, "and if I'm right, no prizes for guessing their destination…"

"We need to disappear," said BriAnne, jumping up and scoping possible hiding places, "and we need to move Hannah."

Under the influence of this mysterious sleep, Hannah's usually light body became a dead weight and we struggled to move her out of sight. "Too late!" I whispered, "Look!" The handle of the door was turning, and we could hear movement just outside.

"Hannah, wake up!" BriAnne moaned, "What are we going to do when someone comes in and finds us hauling an unconscious body under a pile of brooms?"

I watched the doorknob turning and said, "You know Rhi, right now would be a great time for one of your brilliant plans…"

AN: Ooh, what will happen? :D Hope you like it; would you like to review? xx