3 Days Prior: Apple

Chell firmly sat in her spot and glared at the door.

Or, at least, as firmly as any half-starved child could be. They had even served fruit today, instead of a side of beans. She didn't dislike beans, she just liked apples more.

Not like those details mattered anymore.

She wasn't going to eat either of them.

"Hi!" a cheerful voice came from her right. At least it wasn't coming from her left. That was where her father was supposed to sit, and this was DEFINITELY not her father.

Chell turned her head slightly to the right to acknowledge his arrival at the table. It was enough for him.

"I couldn't help but notice-not that I was watching you or something! I'm not a stalker! Well, I suppose that noticing does entail some watching, but I wasn't being creepy about it…" Chell raise an eyebrow, waiting for this strange man to get to his point. "Well, I couldn't help but casually, occasionally observing that you haven't been eating. Anything. At all."

Chell examined the man closer. A scientist that could see past his own notes! He had reddish-brown hair, unlike any color she could remember seeing here in Aperture. He also had blue eyes, almost like her parents' eyes.

"So I was just thinking that you should eat something," he finished, looking down at Chell's table. He picked up her apple. "Here! Eat this apple! C'mon, just eat something… If you don't, I'll have to take you down to the hospital. They won't bother spoon-feeding you there. They'll just stick some tubes in you and pump it straight into your stomach…"

He looked hesitantly at Chell, waiting for a response as he held the apple out to her. After a few moments, he stood. "All right, then." He was incredibly tall. Maybe she was simply short (she was just a child after all), but he seemed to be a giant.

That didn't make it any harder for her to reach out and snatch the apple from his hand. He stopped moving and stared at her hopefully.

Chell pressed her lips together just thinking about the apple. Her mind wanted to reject the food, simply to prove a point. Her body, however, desperately wanted it. On top of craving the apple, she didn't especially want to visit Aperture's hospital

She bit into the apple.

The scientist broke into a huge smile and sat back down. "Thank God- I thought that I was going to have to shove food down your throat. Or carry you down to the hospital. My name is Dr. Stevens… What's-"

Dr. Lawson, you are needed in the biology lab, Dr. Lawson please report to the biology lab.

Dr. Stevens remained oddly quiet as Dr. Lawson passed by quaking and whimpering. He was followed by the last wide-eyed engineer.

"What's your name?" He asked after another moment's hesitation.

Chell remained silent as she tried to process this new stranger into her life.

It looked like he had just about given up on a response when she opened her mouth.

"Chell."