The first thought to pass through her mind was, "I'm late." Her eyes sprung open. The ceiling above her was steel, cold. She breathed in softly through her nose not daring to move at first as she tried to think about how she got where she was. Fear slid its way through her limbs and her mind worked into overdrive. Where am I? The girl dug back trying to remember the last thing she had done.
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing. She could not place where she was, where she had been. Her heart beat a bit faster. She was obviously laying on a bed, it was soft, and covered in warm blankets. She lay on top of the blankets, fully dressed. She wore a thin wind breaker over a thicker cable knit sweater. She wore jeans, and a pair of black tennis, the no slip kind baristas use. Unsure of how she knew that the girl sat up. Dark hair swung into view. Most of her hair was tucked back and under a cap that matched her sweater. Other than that she had no adornments. No jewelry, though that felt weird, as if she should be wearing a necklace.
The girl glanced around the room. It was bare, minus the bed she had been sitting on, and a simple coffee table next to a large overstuffed chair. On the coffee table was a school composition book with a blue Bic pen on top of it. At the foot of the bed was a stuffed bear. It was threadbare, and ancient. Probably one of the first bears every made. There was a red ribbon tied around its neck. The ribbon was brand new. Sewed into the ribbon was a name: Tessa Green. She took a deep breath, catching the dusty smell of the bear. I'm Tessa Green.
Tessa, because there was no doubt in her mind that that was her name, stood up. Next the bear had been a small hard case. She unzipped it curious as to what it held. She almost dropped it when she saw the needle, and the vial. Her heart pounded with fear, more than she had when she had realized how lost she was. This vial was important. Very important. Tessa wasn't sure how so, but she knew that it being here was...off. Not that this whole situation wasn't off. Actually very much so off. Everything was wrong.
Tessa picked the bear back up, after closing the case and replacing it at the foot of the bed. Her fingers ran along the seam on the back, it had recently been re-sewn. Unlike the rest of the thread on the bear it was still white instead of yellow. Tessa pulled at the string slightly, curious, too curious. Tessa was a curious person - Curiosity killed the cat. The thought made her pause, but the thread was already mostly undone. She could see something off white in the stuffing. Tessa pulled at the stuffing a bit until the odd white thing was more visible. She dropped the bear as she realized what the item was. Her heart was in her throat. "Oh my God that's a rib." She choked on the words, as vomit tried to escape.
"Let me out of here!" Tessa yelled at the room. She was on her feet and pressing against the walls. Panic fully set into her now. Her eyes burned with tears threatening to fall, but not actually falling. It took her a while to calm down. She sat down in the chair, as far away from the bear as she could get. Her throat still burned from the bile. Tessa wrapped the wind breaker around her. As she did she realized that there was something in the pocket. Out of her left jacket pocket Tessa found a cloth bag with a complete set of dice. She wasn't sure how she knew it was a complete set. The writing on the dice, other than the numbers, was gibberish. She replaced the dice back into the bag. She knew what each of the dice was called, without counting the sides. There was the d20, the two d10s that were used for percentage checks, a d4, two d6, a d8 and the nearly useless d12.
Wondering if she had more stuff in her pockets Tessa emptied them. In her left jean pocket she found a card, bent and slightly blue from the color transfer of her pants. The card was an Ace of Spades, that caused Tessa to think The card of death. The shape of the spade was made from a raven with its wings up. There was a small diamond cut out of the card. Tessa couldn't think as to why that would be there.
In her front right jean pocket was a mostly empty packet of matches. The packet was dark blue except for a yellow stamp, of whatever manufacture made it, or place sold it. Tessa had no idea what it meant other than a thought that pineapples were a symbol of hospitality in some cultures.
In her other jacket pocket was an old photo. It was of a girl, maybe 8, sitting on someone's lap. The adult's face was burned away.
Before Tessa could contemplate the photo any further the sound of gears caught her attention. The room had no windows or doors, but now there was a hole in the wall. A few people were moving down the hallway immediately outside her room. She joined them curious about what was going on. The people stopped in front of a huge window looking out and down, or maybe it was really up, at a planet. Tessa's eyes widened, she was in space. How had she gotten there? Or was this fake? Was this really a window? Had she been taken by aliens? Or was something else going on here?
Everyone around her was mumbling surprised, and fearful, just like her. No one knew what was going on.
