The cage made a creaking sound as it swung lightly on its suspended chain. The Girl curled up in its cold interior, shivering. Her grimy white dress was gone, replaced with a simple blouse and short trousers. Neither offered any comfort against the freezing metal.
The air was dank and the room was dark. The walls fell away into a hallway farther than her eyes could see in the dim light, and the echoes reverberated from the dripping sounds in the room made her think it was larger than she originally thought.
She didn't know how long she lay there, only that she was getting thirstier and thirstier. How long could one go without water?
There was a shuffle.
A shadow in the mist.
The Girl wasn't thinking about water anymore.
A small creature, about half The Girl 's size stepped into the light. It was a dusty gray color, with arms and legs. In place of its head was a mushroom-looking cap that had no eyes and ears, though the creature seemed plenty aware of its surroundings.
It approached the cage in a cautious manner, so that The Girl relaxed slightly, it seemed as lost as she.
After a few moments, it made a quiet warbling noise, and several more creatures scuttled into view. The Girl stayed frozen in place as they came closer. Suddenly, they began to climb on top of each other until they and The Girl saw eye-to-eye. The first creature, the one on top, produced a rusty key and slid it into the cage's lock. With some effort, the key was twisted and the lock undone. The pack of things scurred away, leaving The Girl to process what had just happened.
The cage was open.
There could be anything outside.
The cage is open.
There was no food in the cage.
The cage is open.
She ran.
Swinging down from the open door, she hit the floor on all fours, scrambling to her feet and bolting into the shadows where her saviors had gone.
Once she was bathed in darkness, her heart finally began to calm down. She waited, but there were no sounds besides the thrum of the ship. She was alone.
She began to walk without direction. As she wandered she remembered the last time she had been away from "home", when she had been caught by a monster in the darkness.
She walked a little faster.
Under dripping, leaky pipes and across the grimy wet floor her calloused feet made a quiet pitter-patter noise, though she tried her best to stay silent. She peeped around the corner and saw the floor dropped off into a deep chasm in which countless cages, like the one she had been in, hung in and swayed in a terrible silence.
There were small, unmoving figures in some of the cages and The Girl 's heart jolted.
Were they people? Children like her?
Surely not all of them were dead.
She looked down and realized she could see the floor not terribly far away, if only she could find a way down.
Surveying the edges of the cliff, she quickly spotted a rickety scaffolding structure that seemed climbable.
She scooted until her legs hung over the edge, turning onto her belly and searching blindly for a place to put her feet.
Finally she felt a piece of soggy wood beneath her and lowered herself onto the next rung. She cringed as the structure made a loud creaking noise, but it held steady. She froze the moment she dropped to the ground, praying the structure would stay in place. The tangle of wood finally stopped swaying, and The Girl sprinted across the chasm towards a place to hide.
She ran dodging cages left and right. She was halfway to the other wall of the chasm when she heard the sound of ragged coughing coming from one of the cages near her. She skidded to a stop, turning around slowly.
Something flickered inside her as she caught sight of a moving figure in the cage nearest to her, just within reach.
As if moved by an invisible force, The Girl placed one foot behind her, towards the cage.
Then another.
The concept of "rescuing" or companionship had no foundation in her mind, nor did the consequences of her actions or what would result once the child was free, she simply inched closer.
Suddenly, in her peripherals she spotted several figures moving swiftly and quietly across the floor in her direction.
She ducked down and froze as five small children ran towards the cage she had been looking at. One of them, the leader, looked into the cage before calling out to his companions. The rest of the children surrounded the enclosure and worked at the bars, their hushed voices echoing slightly.
The thought that their noise might draw unwanted attention, or that they might discover her crouching in the shadows nearby bounced around in The Girl 's mind, but she couldn't seem to move. Almost hypnotized by the individual movements and voices of the other humans as they lifted the weak form out of the cage and their hushed voices completely independent of hers and the discovery that she wasn't alone distracted her and put her in a dream-like state.
She didn't realize that the children should have been clearing out by then, or the fact that they were starting to look in her direction, whispering and pointing.
That was, until the presumed leader stepped in front of the group and called out gently,
"Hello? Who's there…" .
She bolted, almost tripping as she ran away in a mad dash.
Her breath hitched in her throat, causing her eyes to water.
Why did it matter to her so much?
She reached the far wall and slid into a pipe, not looking back until she couldn't hear anything but the racing of her own heartbeat.
She stood a moment in the quiet, waiting and listening for the sound of footsteps but none came.
She sighed, feeling foolish.
I never should have lingered, I'm going to get killed.
She sat down on the rusty floor, feeling confused. Instead of feeling the relief of escaping danger, the feeling of crushing loneliness was stronger than ever.
Who was she to think that she could survive alone down here?
Why should she avoid the group that was rescuing lost children like herself?
She couldn't do it by herself anymore.
She needed to go back.