Today the crate should be coming up again, the fourth time since I've been here, or the fifth if you count the time I came up. The crate has been coming reliably every week, so I'm not so nervous any more.

Now however, it's late. The time it comes up is not exact, but I think it's normally here before now. It went down already, but why is it so long in coming up again? Will I be stuck forever with a gaping hole beneath my feet?

I've been productive over the last weeks. My house is complete excepting the roof, my garden is flourishing, the bush beans are even beginning to fruit. Perhaps the people below feel I don't need help any more?

At last, the Box comes back up, with an alarm like usual, but I think it sounds different. It stops with a clang at the top, and I throw my loop of rope over the handle to lift the lid up. Peering into the darkness, I see something strange, like a bundle of clothes piled in the corner.

The bundle begins to move, and I throw my hand over my mouth to hold in a shriek. It's alive! Wait... is that a person?! It's a good thing it's eyes are probably still adjusting, because I probably look quite a sight, hand over mouth and hyperventilating.

I steel my nerves as he, I think it's a he, calls out.

"Hello?"

My voice is rough with disuse, but I manage a scratchy "'Ello..."

I probably sounded rather stupid to him, or possibly scary. I haven't talked in a month, and that's quite a long time.

He sounds angry. "Who are you? Where the F... Where the... WHERE THE SHUCK AM I?!"

Great. One kid with a swear memory swipe, and he makes up his own words. Just brilliant. "You're in some glade with me, kiddo. Take this rope and climb out while I get the supplies out."

"ARE YOU KEEPING ME A PRISONER HERE? DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?" Fantastic. Does this kid have any other volume except 'extreme'?

I sigh. "No, I have nothing to do with you being here. No, I didn't do anything to you. Are you going to get out of the box now, or am I going to have to come in and get you? What's your name, anyway?"

"Who the shuck am I?" So I assume he mush have the same memory problem I do.

"I don't know. You should remember your name, at least. I'm Ash. What's your name?"

He thinks about that for a bit, and I wish he'd just get out of the box so that I can get in. I want to know what they sent up with another person.

He grunts. "Think I'm Robin. Where's the toilet?"

Well... That's the oddest introduction... I point in the direction of the aforementioned room, and I think he can see my arm from where he is. "It's over there. You'll have to get out to go. Take the rope and I'll pull you up."

I don't think he trusts me, because he shrinks away and makes his own way up the crates to the top. Watching him, I think that's probably a good thing, because even though I've been working hard the past month, Robin is a big kid, and I would have trouble lifting him.

He stumbles over to the toilet room, and I busy myself lifting the crates out of the Box. Honestly, there's not much different to the weekly supplies, although there's more knives and another saw, which I'm grateful for. I hoist all the crates up as quickly as I can, stowing the sharp things away in my house. I don't think I'd trust Robin with a knife right now, although I can't blame him. I remember what it was like, on my first day.

There's more food, and I fix him a lunch while I'm looking at it. He's taking a very long time in the loo, but I guess he just needs time to adjust. I don't think he has any more memories than me, so I have sympathy for him.

Eventually he comes over from the stream area, so I guess he went to wash his hands.

"A nice place you've got here, if you get here the same way as me?" he sounds suspicious, so I give him his lunch.

"I've been here for a month." My words are short, but they are sufficient. "I had to do something, or I'd die of starvation rather soon." I snort. "Or boredom."

His gaze is a little more respectful now, but he still suspects me. "How do I know you aren't lying? How do I know you didn't do this to me?"

I looked up at his face. "You don't." With that, I turn back to the Box and continue lifting crates out, hoping for more seeds. How could I possibly show that kid I was trustworthy, anyway? Why should I? He's the one who turned up in my box, coming from whoever sent us here. How do I know he didn't send me here?

He walks behind me, trying to keep up. "Hey, Ash, wasn't it? Look, I didn't mean to make you stomp off in a huff, girl! If you came here the same as me, surely you can understand what I'm going through. What is this shucking place, anyway?"

I sigh. "Welcome to my glade, kid." I add silently in my brain, now leave me alone. Why does he feel the need to pester me with questions?

He skips to catch up. "Your glade?"

I frown. "Well, I live here, don't I?"

He watches me as I heave a roll of rope out of the Box and follows as I take it back to my house.

"How big is this place? Is there more beyond the gaps in the walls?"

I glare, almost trying to burn a hole in the rope in front of me with my anger. "No, kid, this is it."

He is unworried by my tone. "So what's outside then? And why do you call me kid, anyway?"

I grit my teeth. Robin really annoys me with his endless questions. "I call you kid because you won't shut up. All that's outside is grey walls, ivy, and monsters."

"Monsters?" Gods, that kid doesn't miss a word, does he?

"Never you mind. It'll get dark soon, so when the doors close I suggest you get a blanket and find a spot to sleep."

"Doors? I don't see any doors? And what did you mean by monsters?"

"What do you call those?" I point to the doorways in the stone walls.

"Actually, I'd call them gaps in the huge walls of stone. How could those be shucking doors?"

Just on cue, the doors begin to shut. I turn to the house and begin to walk away. "That's how, kid." I turn back, expecting to see him following me, but he's staring at the great doors. "Come on, kid, there's not much light left."

I catch a few snippets of him muttering. "Trapped... won't open... never escape..."

I take a step towards him. "Robin?"

He suddenly yells and starts to run towards the doors. "I won't be trapped in this shucking place forever! I'm not going to shucking let myself be stuck here! I've got to get out!"

I freeze, stunned, then race after him. "Robin! NO! Come back! ROBIN!"

Just as the doors are about to finish closing, he runs through the gap, but I am too far behind him to catch up. The doors close, with my new companion outside them.

I hold my breath. "ROBIN! Answer me!"

I hear his voice from outside. "Quit being such a shucking mum, Ash! I'm fine!"

Moments later, I hear his voice scream as the monsters start moving. From then on, he never answers my calls. I fall to the ground, sobbing for the innocent kid. If only I'd warned him! I cried until I fell asleep in the middle of the night, pressed against the cobbled floor beside the door behind which Robin had screamed.

It was my fault.