Black tile completely covered the floor, walls, and the one door leading in and out of the room, which was locked. The musty smell engulfed the furniture - less space. Cobwebs hung from the unused fan, and a girl sat in a corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her shoulder length, brunette hair was stringy, oily, and in a tangled mess. Her once blue shorts and tank top pajamas were dirty, browned as if she’d taken a fall into a potting soil pile. She was lost. She couldn’t seem to figure herself out, let alone where she was. As she huddled in her corner, she began to rock back and forth, the feeling of loneliness overwhelming her. How could someone feel so alone? She remembered being surrounded by people, not that long ago. But, now, she was alone.
There was a clink in the brass lock, which began to move clockwise. The girl looked up. Her doe brown eyes shone hopefulness. The tiled door slowly squeaked open. Light glared from behind the figure in the doorway. The person stepped forward and flipped a switch from somewhere on a tile next to the door. A single light bulb flickered on from the fan. Spiders were seen scurrying away from the light. The girl seemed to push herself even further into the corner, unsure if the person in the doorway was the one who had put her there.
The figure in the opening was a man. He seemed to take up the entire doorway. He wore a black buttoned – down shirt and black dress pants. He had jet – black hair and eyes that seemed black. He slowly walked over to where the girl was cowering.
He held his hand out and said, “Don’t be scared.”
The girl turned her head and stared. She looked trustingly into his mesmerizing eye that seemed to tell her everything would be all right. She cautiously gave him her hand. He pulled her up so that she was off the floor. Standing at her full height, she realized the man was not as tall as she had thought. The man began to pull her toward the door. The girl wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do, so she didn’t move.
“It’s okay. I’m taking you away from this,” the man said, looking her in the eye.
The girl gave him a wary half smile and followed him out of the black room. Shielding her eyes from the sunlight, she let go of the man’s hand and walked onto the sidewalk. Looking around her, she saw people that were happy, impatient, going to work, school, meetings, and just basically living out their lives. She felt like a child, like she’d found her long lost family, she twirled around in a circle. She turned and looked at the man.
“Thank you for getting me out of there. Where was I? How did I get there? How long was I there?” The girl asked her voice hoarse from not being used.
The man just smiled at her. He grabbed her hand and led her away from the graffiti covered door where they had just come from, and the crowd. The girl looked back at the crowd and whimpered. She tried to stop him, bring him back into the crowd, but seeing as how the man was stronger than she was, he kept moving. She was sure that she wanted to be with the people. It had felt like so long since she had been a part of a crowd. She wanted to talk to people, interact, like she hadn’t in such a long time. She didn’t want to follow the man. He was taking her away from where she wanted to be.