Chapter 3: Hell Is Cold (3).

1.

"Oh helloooo"

A feminine flamboyant voice echoed in the cave, I could hear footsteps of high heels.

A woman meets my gaze as she circles my cage, she is wearing a black robe and has a little golden badge on her chest, the robe has stripes of gold making her look rich.

Her eyes were amber, almost gold as well, she looked mature and gave off a confident atmosphere, she was beautiful.

Maybe it's because I have not seen a woman in ages, besides my sister, but everyone I've seen is beautiful.

My standards must be pretty low.

But yeah, she had the look of a witch, not that witches exist of course, but there was a sense of youngness and oldness in her face, its hard to describe.

"Do you talk little one?"

She crouches down, in a boyish manner, completely contrasting her look, her white hair almost reaches the floor as she sits in a crouched position with her arms on her knees.

She stares into my eyes intently, her eyes look through me, I get the sense I cannot lie to her, or at least I can tell she will know if I lie.

I manage to say something.

"Uh. Yeah, I do, miss"

"Miss? Call me Immy, I want us to be friends little man"

Friends? Then why lock me in this cage?

"What's your name?"

What is my name?

It is… I haven'tbeen called my name in ages;I think it starts with a z? Zach? Zane? NoI'm not sure.

"It starts with a z I think"

Wait I shouldn't have said that aloud.

She gives me a look of amusement and chuckles, then inches closer to the cage, her breath reaching my face.

She smelt nice, I wasn’t used to this floral scent.

"You don't remember? It does start with a z indeed, when was the last time someone called you by your name?"

She inches even closer, leaning on the cage and leaning over me.

Hm, now that I think about it, Amelia never called me by my name, she only called me big bro or brother, I always found that weird.

"I guess… since the snow started, I haven't been called by my name… I was too focused on protecting Amelia to care about names."

Just be honest, ifI'm honest they will realize I'm a good person.

Nothing wrong with also bragging about my accomplishments too.

She looks into my eyes; I can see her pupils dilate.

"So 18 years?"

18 years? This has to be a joke.

"It's only been a year since the snow came."

I repeated what Amelia had told me in the cabin.

Why does it feel like I just lied? I guess I didn't believe Amelia when she told me that. Shame.

"Take it from an old woman like me, it's been 18 years."

She smiles, she seems nice, but 18 years?

She places a hand on the cage, she is wearing black gloves and pulls the cage even closer.

"Tell me, what happened before the snow came? give me one of the last few days you remember of the hot green earth"

Should I just be honest? Surelyshe will understand, even if I'm not human, if I have the memories of a human, I'm technically human.

"Uhm… well the day before"

2.

Beep, beep beep

"Urgh"

I press stop on my alarm clock, my room is messy, clothes all over the floor, some left over food I stole from the fridge on my study desk, I begin to get dressed up for school.

I grab my winter uniform off the floor, even though it's supposed to get warmer, we've been having really irregular weather all summer, but it's all good, I like the cold.

Man, these clothes are comfy, I step out of my room, there's already sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. It smells good, I make my way through the hallway and sluggishly greet my mom.

"Hey mom"

"Hey Z"

I sit down at the dining table, I don't really have a relationship with my mom, not like she would understand me anyway, we live in two different worlds.

She is cooking pancakes, Amelia, my little sister, is jumping up and down near mom excitedly, tugging at the cloth of mom'swhite shirt.

"Woah what's the special occasion?"

My dad says as he walks in, he is probably about to head out to work.

Amelia looks at dad with stars in her eyes "mommy said if I did really really really well on the homework, I would get thousands and thousands of pancakes"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Thousands huh? You sure got your work cut out for you."

Dad kisses mom on the forehead.

Gross, I mean I'm glad they don't hate each other, they barely even fight, but it's still annoying.

"Hey Z"

Dad says to me

"Hey."

I reply.

He looks annoyed, what does he expect me to do?Carry the conversation?

I don't have the energy right now, I have school, sorry dad not all our lives are sunshine and rainbows.

"Well, I'm off to work, I'll be there to pick you two up after school, and Z, make sure Amelia gets to school safely, okay?"

"Yeah obviously."

Obviously I would, she is my little sister, it's not hard to take care of her, does my dad think that I'm that stupid or Amelia is stupid?

Oh of course he looks annoyed again, what does he expect me to say? 'Oh my dearest king I will protect this maiden with my life' like, leave.

Dad leaves.

Tap tap, I tap my fingers on the table annoyingly.

I look back over at mom "do I get any pancakes?"

"Did you do well on your test?"

"I did."

I did not.

"Okay!" She smiles at me and begins to pour more pancake batter into the pan, I just wait on the table for my food, I have about 30 minutes before I need to go to school.

"Z!! Z!!! Did you hear the news" Amelia runs up to me

"They said that it's going to be cold allllll year long."

I already knew this, I watch the news too.

"Oh really? That's interesting."

Faking interest can be so tiring.

"Yeah!!! They said this was something similar to a small ice age!! But it should pass soon, so make the most of it, maybe we will see a mammoth today!!"

Amelia had kept talking about mammoths coming back, I'm not sure she grasps that we aren't being sent into the movie ice age, the animated movie with the mammoth and tiger, or being sent back in time when mammoths weren't extinct.

I smile "yeah, I'll keep my eyes out"

I ruffle up her hair, she was the only one I could actually talk to without wanting to put a gun in my mouth.

Mom holds out two plates and gives us the pancakes, mine has maple syrup all over them, Amelia's has melted chocolate, which I find disgusting but to each their own.

Mom begins washing dishes, she always gets silent when dad is not around, well at least silent towards me, I don't think she knows exactly how to talk to a teenager like myself, I love being a teenager though, it feels so adult, I had just turned 13 a couple months ago but I am loving the freedom.

I finish my pancakes at the same time as Amelia "alright Amelia get dressed, I'll be waiting outside, okay?"

Amelia runs into her room, and I walk up to mom who is still in the kitchen "lunches?" I demand, holding out my hand.

Mom looks at me, then walks over to the fridge and passes me two lunch boxes, but her eyes, they give an impression of worry, I don't know why but she seemed afraid.

She just looks at me.

"Mom?"

"Hey z? Make sure you take care of Amelia, and if you see anything weird, make sure to run back home, okay?"

What? See anything weird? Oh, right mom fell for the conspiracy theories about the small ice age.

People had been reporting monsters and aliens a lot more often, it makes sense, paranoia is through the roof, I can't believe she is this stupid enough to believe monsters are real though.

I’m really glad I didn’t get her stupid genetics.

"Yeah I'll protect Amelia, leave it to me, okay?”

I reply back in a softish tone, I didn't want to tell her that her worries are stupid and irrational.

3.

"BOOORING" Immy kicks the cage, making me stumble from the posture I had, I bump my head on the back of the cage.

"Get to the good part, the part when the snow falls, and everyone dies and screams and explosions."

Why is she irritated now?

She seemed so nice a couple minutes ago, is she really this immature?

Immy gets closer to the cage and stares into my eyes, and speaks softly, almost apologetically.

"Sorry, I just have a hard time focusing, go on, sorry about my little outburst, but first I want to ask, how old was Amelia?"

she laughs softly and cutely, but the air in the atmosphere changed, why is she rushing me?

"Amelia? Uhm, I think she was 8 at this time in the story"

Immy looks surprised, like she had realized something, she grabs a little book nearby from a table in the corner of the cave and writes a few lines.

She then leaves the cave, walking up the stairs in a hurry.

What? I was in the middle of telling my story, what kind of reaction is that?

Well now I can at least get a good look at my living conditions.

This was a damp, handmade cave full of cages which stacked on top of each other messily, on the other side, near the exit stairs, is a door and a table.

The table seems to have paper and tools on it, and the door, well I can't see through the door, but it looks ominous.

Everything looks medieval, I'm not sure why, it's like I was transported back in time, but I guess we don't have electricity anymore, that was one of the first things to go out, so I guess this sort of makes sense.

It's kind of funny though, seeing people dress up like they are roleplaying fantasy characters, but I assume it feels normal to the people who forgot or didn't experience the modern world.

Also, another thing, why was I so mean in my memories?

I would never act like that, maybe struggle really does breed maturity.

Time passes, like an hour.

Or two.

Finally, the trap door connecting the stairs to the outside opens and Immy walks back down all excited, she has a jump in her step.

"Okay!!!" She smiles as she stands by the table, writing more in the book, completely ignoring me.

"Uhm.. immy?"

She looks back at me "oh right, where are my manners?"

She walks up to the cage and unlocks the door, then pulls me out a bit forcefully.

"If you couldn't break out of that flimsy cage then you surely couldn't even scratch me"

She pulls me closer, our faces inches apart, I can feel her heat.

“Uhh?”

"Not a single blemish or scratch on your face either after 18 years, guess that heals too"

She then let's go and skips over to the table and pulls a chair out of the dusty corner.

She pats it twice.

The dust bouncing off the chair with each pat.

"Sit"

"Uhm" I can only stand still, bewildered at her behavior.

She pats it twice again.

"Sit."

This time in a more serious tone.

She smiles, it feels patronizing, but I follow her order.

I slowly make my way to the chair and sit down, it feels like an Interrogation the way she turned her seat and bent over slightly to look at me.

She is taller than me, I mean she is an adult, most adults are taller than me, but she seemed tall for a woman, she is basically looking down at me it's scary, her white hair is also over me, making me feel claustrophobic.

"So you weren't lying."

"Huh?"

"The story, I assumed it was all fake, but I had a small talk with Amelia, and she recalled the exact same thing."

She did?

I guess that makes sense, while I was in the cage I was thinking about the weird off putting atmosphere with the Amelia I had interacted in the cabin, it was not at all similar to my memories of her, so the natural conclusion, no matter how much it hurts, is that the Amelia in the cabin had to be either a hallucination, or a monster.

And the real one had to be the one who looked older, and, was actually real.

"Okay..."

I mutter out, not sure exactly where this will go.

"I was going to cut you up and experiment on you, but since you are technically human due to your human memories, I want you to have a say in this conversation."

Oh great…

"So, like… if I say I don't want to be experimented on... you won't?"

"Well yes but also I have a deal, if you let me experiment on you and research your healing, and I promise I can make it painless.

In return I'll let you stay in my little building, I'm very rich in this city so I have multiple houses and even a little manor, and very very nice food, I can keep you warm and take care of you."

A manor? was this a bluff or something? I didn't get a look at the city due to the bag on my head, but I assumed it was small, even though there was a lot of noise of people around.

"What would happen to me if I don't take this deal?"

"You'll go out into the streets, probably get kidnapped and have awful things done to you, people are aware you are here you know? News spreads fast about a new self healing creature that looks human.

And even if they don't recognize you, you're still in for a rough time, this place isn't all that fun when you are poor."

Oh. So, I really have one option, well maybe I could escape, but what is out there? I had a bag over my head so I couldn't plan any routes, it would be a miracle if I made it out.

There was also the gate I heard, this place probably has walls, yeah, I won't be able to escape.

"Okay, yeah I'll take your deal"

She smiles and claps her hands, "great!!!"

I shake at the thought that I could be considered as nothing more than a monster to be researched.

If she were crueler, I could do nothing to stop her.

"Okay well I technically own you, so let's get you some clothes more fitting for this place, I won't have my property looking homeless."

She began to exude spoilt girl vibes; it was weird how her personality would switch subtly.

It was also weird seeing her act like this in a dirty cave, one would think a rich girl would have a better research center.

I look down at my clothes.

My clothes are from my parent's cabin, but they are scrappy and sewn together multiple times after I damaged them over the 18 years I was supposedly there, so they look tattered and destroyed.

"Let's also get you washed up, let me take care of you"

"Okay."

I don't know why she is being so nice, but I welcomed it, this is the first time I feel like I've been taken care of, besides the rabbit Amelia used to make over the fire, but now i'm doubting if that was even real.

"Alright let's go outside blondy.”

Blondy? Okay whatever, I follow her up the stairs, and the trap door opens, revealing the outside.

4.

The trap door opens, and… oh is it night?

I see stars in the sky, they're flashing and beautiful

It seemed too bright to be night though. I take a few more steps out before being pulled back in.

"Hey, put this on, don't want anyone recognizing you as you wander the city, right?"

She puts a beanie on my head, it's warm and comfortable then she pats my head affectionately.

I used to have a beanie back in the cabin but I lost it when it fell off my head while I was climbing, that was so long ago now.

I'm pushed back out and I can get a view of the city.

Those weren't stars, they were crystals, this whole place is underground.

The huge space seemed so open, but in the distance, I could see the formations of huge stalactites and rocks, it seemed like a whole world underground.

The glowing yellow crystals sparked above, giving everything an ethereal feeling.

the buildings were nothing to scoff at either, there were so many in any direction.

The buildings were like in a grid, but the further the distance I could see buildings placed on the far reaches of the cave walls, they seem tiny from here.

The buildings were made of rock and what seemed like wood and slate, giving this place a very medieval vibe, but in the distance, I could see walls and a castle which went super high up.

It really seemed like I was dreaming, there were a lot of people roaming this street, it seemed like this was a main road, there were shops of different types around every corner, the roads split into more roads in the distance.

The ground wasn't white like snow, and was solid, it was hard to get use to that.

The ground was rocky and the roads were made of different rocks connected by what seemed to be concrete.

"In 18 years you built all this?"

That's all i could get out of my mouth, I was amazed.

"Oh right yeah you haven't seen this place yet, yeah, with the help of blessed children of course. This place is not normal standards of living though, we got incredibly lucky with this cave and circumstances, I doubt anywhere else in the world has this sort of infrastructure"

This was a whole city, a whole world basically, I never thought I'd see something like this ever again ever since the snow fell.

It was similar to the city me and my family visited, I'm getting the same feeling of vastness and excitement.

Somewhere in here, Amelia was.

She hates me though, I could tell from how she looked at me, that sharp cold gaze, I hope I can clear the air with her.

Am I really not human? None of this feels right, at least I've always been one to just take things as they happen, if I'm not human, so what?

I think therefore I am and all that, I know my memories are real, that's all that matters.

Immy walks out and skips to be in front of me while I admire the city.

"Alright let's get you some fancy clothes my little experiment"

I don't like that, go back to calling me blondy.

End of chapter 3.