Brave New World Chapter 20: The wait is over👽

[Some time in the Past]

"Well one of us has to do it." Caroline nudged me from the back.

"I don't understand why are you so nervous." I laughed quietly.

"It’s the principal, how are you not nervous?" She asked.

"He is just a human, for starters. And I'm not going to ask him for drugs, just need to plead for the school trip and take responsibility for the preparations along with Miss Warren, who has already agreed." I explained with a smile, "So no reason to be nervous."

"You can say that. You've always been the brave one in things like these." She nudged again for me to knock on the Principal's door.

"Things like?" I asked incredulously.

"Y'know. Like talking to grown-ups and making them like you enough to allow you anything you ask." She replied with a smile of her own.

"The trick is being polite and respectful." I winked and knocked on the door.

#

[Present Time]

The weather, the timing, the fragrance. Everything helped soothe the tensions growing among residents of Arc. I smiled to myself, standing near the newly discovered exit.

"This is good." I turned to see Xavier behind me looking everywhere and nowhere with a soft smile decorating his strong features. The Sun seemed to make his chocolatey skin glow. He was one of those people who had this personality about them that commanded attention just by their presence. He looked at me since I hadn't responded yet, making heat rise to my face. I looked at the trees and replied, "Must be nice after months of indoors."

He nodded, "That's a nice way to call freedom from captivity."

"It would've been nicer if it was true freedom." I responded. The dread of the unknown just wouldn't leave my heart.

He sighed but didn't say anything. I knew he, along with everyone else was feeling the same.

I changed the topic, "This reminds me of home."

We exchanged a glance and I explained, "I come from Albarracín. It is tucked into the hills of east-central Spain, above the Guadalaviar River. One of the most stunning villages in the capital of the Sierra de Albarracin Comarca. It’s where I was born. The town has breathtaking natural scenery."

The place seemed sturdy. We had scouted the area and realized the door we came out of was the back door of the mansion. But we couldn't find stairs to the upper floors or any entrance through the front. Some people refused to go back in, while others had already begun packing to leave the prison they were stuck in.

I knew they needed to know about those cartons with their names and I knew it couldn't wait anymore. We had no idea what was awaiting us and everyone needed to be ready. I returned inside to pure chaos.

I walked into the living room to see many different groups of people. Some were huddled together and crying hopelessly, others were furious and cussing at the ceiling, others sat emotionless at the farthest corner of the room (quite possibly too shocked to register any reaction yet), but the most loudest ones were the aggressive ones.

The last group was led by Matthew, who was getting hard to control as he was blaming me for the changes. Keira, Xavier, and Grant were the only ones on my side, trying to ease the group as they were scaring others. Matt was first to notice me enter and rushed past a glaring Keira to come at me.

"YOU! Welcome, Princess. Had a nice walk? Enjoyed the weather? Fresh air?" He pushed me aggressively and my back hit the wall making me wince.

"I warned you! If you messed things up for me, I'll kill you." He threatened me as he held both my shoulders tightly and shook me. I was terrified. I was ready to take life in the jungle over this, any day.

And just like that he was pulled off of me forcefully by Grant and Xavier,

"Why the hell are you blaming her?" Xavier asked angrily.

"Keep your hands to yourself, bastard!" Grant growled.

I almost slid down to the floor but Keira came to my aid.

Matt shook himself out of their clutches but didn't come at me again. Instead, he went back to his group of followers and spoke aloud, "We're not going anywhere. It doesn't matter how many doors appear, or how many scenes get created. We will not leave!" His followers nodded in agreement. He then muttered to himself, "I'm never going back. Never!" He turned and walked away without anything else, and his minions dispersed flippantly. I noticed a terrified Caroline on the far end of the room, who immediately made her way to me after Mathew had left with his minions.

Grant was first to ask, "Hey, You alright?" I nodded, still too shocked to say anything.

Caroline commented, "I knew it was going to be bad. I had no idea, it was going to be this bad." We looked at all the panicking people. Now I noticed, that some even had their cartons with them, though they hadn't dared to open them up yet.

It took a while and everyone took their time but eventually, the wailing stopped and so did the screaming. The shocked ones finally, accepted the change. People were scattered here and there, some had locked themselves in their rooms, and others were doing any-and-everything to calm their anxiety about the mysteries that lay ahead.

It felt like we were waiting for a ticking bomb's timer to go off. It was unnerving. Some of us had lost our appetites, others were anxious-eating. One thing was in common, nobody had touched their cartons yet. Whatever was in there, was like Schrödinger's cat, it could be good or bad until we opened the box.

I sat in the room Kiara was graciously sharing with me, who had it solo before. Kiara, Caroline, and I were sitting beside our cartons, staring at them silently willing them to be portals back home. I had always been the impatient one, so I took a deep breath and pulled the big carton that said 'Anara Deniz' in bold, towards me.

The girls followed my lead and we found courage in each other to begin opening our cartons. They were quite heavy and well-packed. It took us a good five minutes to uncover their contents. What we saw, confused us first and then filled us with dread. We exchanged glances and silently began emptying the cartons.

There was a similar suit, probably made of thermoregulatory material as well, like the one we got when we arrived in our respective ecosystems. There was another empty bag-pack. There were some strange devices and supplies, some of which Kiara identified as mini-lab equipment.

The cartons also had mini-medical kits for everyone. There was emergency food that, according to the packet, could last a year without losing any nutritional value. We found empty water bottles, ropes, harnesses, and medium-sized black cases, along with other adventure stuff in each carton.

The older me wouldn't have dreamt of using any of the equipment but now, I was ready to go through anything, if it meant seeing my family again, hugging my sister, and kissing my mom once more. None of us had said a word so far. Kiara broke the silence, "We should open the case too." She suggested but didn't move to open hers. Caroline and I agreed but stayed put as well. As much as we would like to know the contents, we knew we weren't opening birthday presents.

The case was giving dangerous vibes. I decided I would've to be the one to open this first too. One thing that hadn't changed about me was my need to come out braver than those around me. Now that I wasn't alone facing my fears in the jungle, the competitive me was back and wanted to show, where others were hesitating I was ready to dive head-first.

The black case was locked, it needed a computerized password on a small screen on its upper cover. We soon realized the three of us had different required numbers of password elements. This meant, the codes were unique to the ones cases belonged and must have something worth individual protection, so no one else can guess and get access. We tried a lot of passwords, from our parents to jobs to pet names. Nothing seemed to work.

My code was seven letters as was Kiara's. Caroline's was eight letters. After about half an hour, we gave up and got up to fix ourselves some food before it was all eaten by anxious eaters. We didn't expect any more supplies coming anytime soon.

The night was tough and full of anxiety. Every now and then someone would be heard fighting with their roommate and banging the door in frustration. The wait of unpredictable was getting on everyone's nerves. I saw a bunch of teens leaving with bag packs saying something like, 'Before it gets swallowed too.' I could understand everyone's reactions, simply because I had the same reservations as well.

I tossed and turned on the bed. Keira was awake too. But we didn't say a word to each other. Finally, somewhere around midnight, I fell asleep, dreaming of Mom and Elena, and being surrounded by jungle scents, and the sounds of predators. A good night's sleep was compulsory for whatever hell might await us.

I woke up to a loud siren. It felt like doomsday was searing through our ears. We all got out of bed, still in our sleepwear, to confront each other confusedly and find the source of the loud horrifying sound. Eventually, we all made our way outside, where one of the juniors had seen strange lightning in the sky and had rushed inside to tell everyone. We had probably slept for more than eight hours but it still felt like it was just midnight.

The strange lightning turned out to be a giant digital hologram that read in similar neon blue light as the beam that had abducted us, 'The Wait is Over.'