“There is a fair moon out.” (Unknown)

“Yeah, it’s beautiful Jake…” (Unknown)

The pair look at the moon while the gentle breeze lightly sways the trees. The soft sounds of insects permeate the meadow.

“Claire...” The young boy looks away from the moon and towards the girl. The girl who could potentially be his everything. The girl whom he just can’t stop thinking about since they first met in middle school. The blonde hair, the cute ribbon, her sly smile...

“Yes Jake?” (Claire)

She said, still looking at the moon.

“Why did you call me out here?” (Jake)

He said slightly nervous, yet trying not to expect too much. For him, hope has a funny way of crashing down around him.

Claire turns toward him with a sly smile on her face.

"I’m sure you can imagine why a girl would call a boy out here.” (Claire)

Imagine he certainly did. Hell, he had been imagining since he got that text at eleven at night and during the walk over here. He definitely could imagine. But he had a sneaking suspicion that something was up. I mean wouldn’t you be slightly suspicious if a very cute girl, who never really talked to you before, suddenly sent you a text to meet her somewhere alone?

“...” (Jake)

He kept silent, yet his cheeks would admit what his mouth would not.

Claire giggled. “I want to go out with you Jake.” (Claire)

His brain froze. Time seemed to stand still for him. SHE WHAT?! It took him a minute to jump start his thoughts and slow down the jack hammer called his heart.

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“Claire…I...I would-” (Jack)

Sssssip. Something zipped by and he felt a stinging sensation on his neck. He never got to finish what he was saying before he fell face first into the ground. He looked up and saw that Claire also had a hand on her neck and a weird expression. His vison was too blurry to make out the details, however he thought he saw a smile before she fell…then nothing.

Jake slowly opened his eyes before he looked around the room. Or attempted to anyway. His vision was still blurry and his limbs felt like lead. That AND he had the most massive headache ever. There was this one night his dad let him try to drink a bit of Tennessee whisky and he drank down the entire glass…to prove that he could of course. The next morning, he had quite the hangover. Being 12 didn’t exactly give him the greatest alcohol tolerance, and he never threw up, so all that whisky stayed in his system. This current headache makes that one look cute by comparison.

“Ugh...”

He laid on the hard floor for some time until his mind cleared. Slowly, he could feel himself getting better. His vision wasn’t as blurry and he could at least feel that he had limbs. Even if those limbs felt like they have been asleep for hours. He forced himself to sit up against a wall and took a look at his surroundings.

“Where is this?”

He looked around the room and saw that he was in a small rectangular area. There was an old-fashioned ceiling lamp hanging from its cord. The slight sway lit his surroundings with a dull yellow glow.

“A basement?” He saw these fuzzy lines all around him and tried to touch one. They were cold and hard.

“A cage….” He corrected himself.

He felt the solid bars around him and a strange square box on one side. Probably some kind of lock.

Then he remembered Claire. When he did, his adrenaline flooded into his body. His vision cleared somewhat, but everything still was swirling around him in different hues and colors while his limbs slowly came back to life… Albeit the prickling feeling remained in his arms and legs.

Jake looked around and saw similar cages to his. He kept looking around for her but didn’t see her at all.

In fact, he didn’t see anyone. All of the cages were empty except for maybe a thin worn out cloth in a few. Some had scratches while others had stains… Stains of varying shades of red, while the further cages fluidly warped themselves beyond recognition due to the something in his bloodstream. He did not get a good feeling about this place. Fortunately, he was too inebriated to properly get a grip on himself so he didn’t start to panic.

After some time looking at the otherwise empty room, a door slowly creaked open...