Withered - 1. Chapter 1

“He’s awake. Come on.” He heard a soft, a little squeaky kind of voice as he slowly opened his eyes. The light was blinding, and it took him a while before his eyes can adjust to it. He was startled when he saw a few boys gathering around him.

“Hello, I am Jake. Who are you?” A bubbly, young looking boy asked. He just looked around, still trying to see where he was. He had to be somewhere; maybe a shelter or something, looking by how ugly the place is. But how did he arrive here? He couldn’t remember how. His memory is a haze, and everything was mixed up. But one thing for sure, he did remember his own name.

“Joshua. I am Joshua.” He said slowly, and it came out as a defensive growl, which made some of the boys flinched.

“Great! Nice meeting you, Joshua. I’m Nathaniel. You can call me Nate. Pretty much everybody here does.” A tall boy voiced out, as he offered his hand towards Joshua. Joshua looked at Nate’s hand, before he hesitantly put out his hand and shook it.

“You can call me Josh.” he said, still a little hesitant. He took a good look around, and he saw no other people beside these boys. He wondered if this place was run by a bunch of freaky-looking under age boys.

“Guys, give Josh some space. He thought you guys are freaky.” A girl’s voice chimed in, before he saw a petite little girl coming towards him, carrying a tray with a few drinks on it. All of the boys rushed and take one drinks each, and finally the girl took a drink and passed it to Josh. Josh slowly took it, and he could see that the glass was apparently made from clay, and it wasn’t nicely made. He took a peek into the glass, and saw a black liquid inside. He looked at the girl questioningly.

“I’m Lily. Nate’s little sister. Drink up. It’s a mixture of herbs that helps to revive your energy and hydrates your body.” She said softly. “Oh, and yes, we made the glass, so don’t wonder why it wasn’t pretty.” She chuckles a little before she gestured Josh to drink. He took the glass to his mouth, and took a soft sip. Slowly, the liquid entered his mouth, and gave his tongue a jolt. It was sweet, and a little spicy with a little minty aftertaste. Deciding that the taste was good, Josh took it all in, gulp after gulp. He was thirsty, and a little hungry.

“Hungry? We’ll have some food later, okay?” Lily told me, as she took the empty glass I was holding. The boys were still watching, but they had put themselves a little distance away from Josh. Lily gave him a small, gentle smile, before she stood up.

“Wait, how do you-”

“Know what you’re thinking?” Lily finished the sentence for him. He just nodded, and pouted a little.

“Yeah, that.” He said softly, making Lily smiled even wider as she sat down.

“I can read minds.” She replied. “Don’t worry. We will explain it to you in dinnertime, okay?” She added, giving him a really soft smile before she stood up, and left. Joshua then looked around, before the boy named Jake came closer and shot him a smile.

“Hey. Are you okay?” Jake asked softly, looking at Josh with concern. Josh looked at Jake for a while, before he looked at the others. The others looked just as curious and concerned as Jake was.

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just...I felt a little bit dizzy. And confused, maybe.” Josh said, his hands kept on fidgeting to ease his nervousness.

“It’s okay. In time you’ll understand. First, let me introduce you to some of the inhabitants here.” Jake said, his smiles grew wider, and his tone was as bubbly as before.

“First, I am Jacob. Jacob Slick. You can call me Jake. I’m 15 years old, the youngest here. Nice meeting you.” He said, before he offered his hand, to which Josh took it and shook it slightly.

“Okay. Next, you have already met Nathaniel Cage, or Nate. He is 18 years old, and a leader of our group.” Jake continued, pointing towards Nate, who was now kneeling down and examining something from a pile over the corner of the house.

“Then, we have his sister, Lilian Cage. We call her Lily. She’s 16 years old, and as she told you, she’s a mind reader.” Jake explained further, before he stopped for a while, and looked around. He pointed towards a boy, who was sitting lazily on the ground chewing something in his mouth. That boy had a scruffy hair and wore a very dirty shirt and pants.

“That is Pickles. It’s not his real name though. You’ll figure out why do we call him pickles.” Jake chuckles lightly before he continued, “Well, he is 16, but his mind is probably the oldest around here. He’s super clever.” Jake said, and Josh noticed that there was a hint of awe in Jake’s tone.

“There’s another girl here. Erina Reeves, but we call her Rina. 17, and you will probably mistake her as a boy at first. But beware, she’s as sensitive as the other ‘normal’ girl.” Jake laughed, this time a little louder than before, and before long Josh can feel himself laughing a little. Josh started to think that Jake and him are going to be a good friend.

“Alright, I guess that it’s for now.” Jake said as he looked around, before he suddenly perked up as if something had struck him. “Oh yeah, I forgot! SAM!” Jake called out, before a husky, deep voice answered.

“I’m here.” Sam replied softly, leaning against the wooden wall as he sighed, looking at Jake briefly before looking down. Sam had his bangs covering most of his face, and his hair was quite long, down to the nape of his neck.

Josh looked at the boy, and his head screamed out ‘danger’ all of a sudden. He could swear that he saw Sam sneak a glance at him just before he looked down, and his eyes were black. Very black, and this disturbed Josh to no end. He looked at the place where Sam stood, and he felt a shiver ran through his spine when he remembered not seeing anyone standing over there just now. And he didn’t see Sam was moving to go there either. In fact, he never sees Sam in the house before Jake called him.

“That’s Sam. He’s 18, and he’s the co-leader of our group. He doesn’t talk much, so sometimes people just tend to forget about him, including me.” Jake giggled softly. “Well, he doesn’t seem to mind though. So, that’s it. You have met everyone in the house, except for Rina’s grandmother. She’s in her room, and you will probably meet her later at dinner. Be sure not to make her grumpy.” Jake said, winking playfully, before he looked around and ready to get up and leave when he felt Josh’s hand on his wrist.

“Wait.” Josh said, a little loud out of fear. Jake turned around, and sat back down, clearly alarmed by Josh’s sudden call. “What is this place? Why am I here? How can I be here?” Josh asked, a little bit panic as he looked around the house. Jake looked at him, and smiled a little.

“Erm, I think you should rest first. You can ask everything you want to know, at dinner. Okay?” Jake said comfortingly, before he pat Josh on his shoulder, and then got up and walked away, leaving a clueless Josh on the rugged bed.

**********

All of the inhabitants were sitting on the ground, including Josh. They had made a circle - with a little bonfire in the middle to light the place up - eating their dinner in silence. Some of them exchanged glances while some of them don’t really care about anything except for stuffing their hungry stomach with foods.

“So, Joshua, can you tell us about yourself?” Granny Mary asked, looking straight at Joshua with her old, kind eyes. Joshua just gave her a slight nod, and smiled nervously. Meanwhile, all of the other kids were staring at him, expecting some kind of answers from him. Josh felt like he was in some sort of a court trial. He cleared his throat a little, and slowly he spoke.

“Hye.” Josh started, a little hesitant at first, but he kept on going anyway. “I am Josh. Joshua Anderson. I’m 17 years old, and I came from...Uh...I don’t remember. It’s kind of hazy in my mind right now. But I do remember a little bit about my house, I guess. To think of it, I think I might have a little brother.” Josh said as he furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember something.

“It’s okay. I believe it will get to you soon, my dear. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy your stay here with us. Lily dear, could you be an angel and pass me the soup, please?” Granny Mary replied, before she took the soup that Lily passed on to her with shaky hands.

“Erm, excuse me. But where am I? What is this place?” Josh asked out, unable to contain his curiosity anymore. His questions made everyone stop eating, and Pickles apparently had choked a little.

“You are in our house. Well, technically, Granny Mary’s house.” Nate replied, grabbing every attention towards him. He spoke with such authority and confidence, that Josh couldn’t help but to be awed by it.

“But where exactly is here? I mean, geographically?” Josh asked, trying not to sound as sheepish as before.

“Well, we are at the very edge of Life City. This place is called Scums, mostly because that’s what’s left of it anyway.” Nate continued, and Josh noticed that a few of them flinched at the word ‘Scums’.

“Okay.” Josh responded shortly, before he looked down at his soup, trying to process the information. He sat in silence for a while, and so does everyone else. He then took a good look at each and every one of them, before finally his gaze fell on Lily.

“Why can you read minds? What are you guys?” Josh asked, a little bit exasperated by his own words. Lily just looked at Josh, and smiled softly.

“We are the Crystal Finder. And apparently I am gifted with the Mind Reading ability. In fact, each one of us here has a gift, except Granny Mary and Rina.” Lily explained, her voice sounded angelic in the cold night. “How about you, Josh? What is your ability?” Lily asked, turning all the attention towards him now.

“I...I don’t think I have any. You guys are weird. This place is weird. In fact, all of this...Are weird.” Josh retorted as he looked around. Fear started to strike his heart, and he hoped that all of these were just a silly nightmare, and he is going to wake up soon.

“Calm down, Josh. I understand you should freak out, but this is no weirder than you are. And this is definitely not a nightmare.” Lily spoke, her voice was still calm and soothing. By now, everyone was giving Josh a look, and that had gotten him going red all over his face. He cursed himself for freaking out like that. After a while, he took a deep breath, and shot a question to Lily again.

“What do you mean I’m weird?” Josh asked, this time he was calmer. The smile on Lily’s face grew wider, before she looked at Pickles.

“Pickles, care to explain it?” She asked, to which Pickles just nodded lightly. He looked at Josh, and smiled bashfully.

“Hello~ I’m Pickles.” The boy spoke almost in a whimsical way, and Josh thought his voice sounded nice. “Actually, I am the one who found you. We were doing the usual routine - which is finding crystals - when I found you. You were lying unconscious on the ground, and I thought you were dead. You know, since you were alone and you looked lifeless, and that place has all sorts of dangerous things that you can’t imagin-”

“Pickles, that’s enough information, don’t you think? Wouldn’t want to scare our fine young lads here.” Granny Mary cut Pickles’ words down, and smiled softly.

“Erm, sorry. So, to summarize it, we found you lying unconscious in a very dangerous place while finding crystals. That’s all.” Pickles concluded, before he earned a few applause from the other boys. Pickles made a bowing gesture, and his face held the expression of proud. Josh found that it was amusing, so he made a few claps himself.

“How did you end up there, anyway? Usually not a single sane person would go in there, alone. Well, except for diamond finders like us.” Jake said lightly, with the usual bubbly smile on his face. Josh looked down, and played with his soup for quite some time, before he shook his head.

“I...I don’t remember…” He trailed off, thinking for a while, before shaking his head again. “What was that ‘dangerous place’ anyway?” Josh asked, his curiosity rose again.

“That place is a hell. It is swarmed by thousands of nasty, freaky animals and curses that would have killed you instantly. It’s a place where no one dares to go. Not even to an Endowed, like us.” Jake explained shortly, before he took a sip of his drink.

“Endowed?” Josh asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yup! Endowed is the name for gifted people like us, and Norms would be the name for the non-gifted.” Jake replied, still maintaining his cheerful mood from before.

“Owh...The place...What was it called?” Josh asked again, looking at Jake. Jake just looked at Josh, and his smile faded a little.

“It is called The Withered.”