The strange boy leaned forward, gripping her hands tightly. His unnatural blue eyes pierced into hers and Day gulped, looking the other direction. 

"What," she snapped, "Is your problem?" 

"You don't know me, then? You forgot about me, and you don't know anyone named Josh." The boy slid the hat off his head and stuffed it into a bag hanging off one of his shoulders while glancing around nervously, pulling back his hands and smiling sadly. "All the adventures we had together, all the... well... the one battle we fought together. When I saved your life. When you gave me purpose to live." Looking away again. "Well, they'll realize I escaped soon enough, and they'll capture me again. I want you to be free." Looking at her imploringly. "But you don't have any memory of how to fight. You lost it all." And suddenly tears were dripping from his eyes.

"Josh..." Day searched her memory, but was once again alarmed at the walls trapping her everytime she tried. "Josh, the criminal?" She scrambled back in alarm. "The one who kidnaps innocent children, who..."

"Oh, we're not doing that again," Josh the criminal interrupted with a wave of his hand.

"I... I can't go anywhere with you." She scrambled away, tripping over her paper gown and leaning against the wall. The criminal followed her as she cursed her lanky limbs. 

"You don't understand..." Josh held out his hands imploringly. "I'm here to help. We were a team, and we nearly escaped. You knew who I was, and you decided to trust me. Well, not quite, but I saved your life. Shouldn't that be enough?"

"NO!" She exploded and curled her pale, shaking hands into fists. When she glanced down, she was shocked to see the skin stretched tightly over the bone, dry and cracked. She winced, but swung her fist upwards, hitting the strange boy directly under the chin. He staggered back, wiping his hand along the underside of his neck as a trickle of blood ran from the wound. 

"We don't have time for this," he hissed and paced a few feet away from her, back hunched and impatient. "Here, at least change." He shoved his backpack at her and turned away. 

"What?" Day asked and nosed through the bag curiously, digging past packets of mass-produced food and several folded pieces of clothing that felt much better than the scratchy paper gown, Day glanced at his turned back questionably. "Why?"

"So you can run," Josh mumbled. "You won't run fast if you are concerned about exposure."

"Good point," Day acknowledged and pulled out jeans and a black shirt. A vague feeling that she had worn this before leaked through a crack in her memory. "Is this... is this my style?" She asked. The walls around her mind suddenly had a hole inside of them, and she could steal a peek at something that she remembered, however unimportant. 

"I think so," Josh responded. "You seemed to only have dark clothing in your bag, so I'm guessing that is your style."

Day quickly pulled the paper off of her body and slid into her clothing, sighing at the soft material and touching his shoulder lightly. Suddenly, she felt less like a helpless girl and more like herself again, whoever that was. 

"Good?" Josh asked. 

"Yup. And just know, I'm only listening to you because you seem to know what you're doing. I don't trust you, but I think I remember enough to know that this place cannot be trusted." She wasn't sure how she knew, but it was a feeling buried deep in her gut that she had decided to heed. 

"Then let's run," Josh responded and tore through the halls. Day followed, muscles quavering as she stumbled behind him. 

"Where is everyone?" She gasped and glanced over her shoulder. 

"On break." Josh responded. "Prisoners that are starving, weak, and chained in padded cells don't need to be worried about or watched. There's no hope for them."

"I escaped from the chains." Day boasted. 

"What did they do to you?" Josh wondered, piercing blue eyes glancing at her. 

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," he turned away. 

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused."

"Lamest joke I've ever heard," Day retorted. 

"No lamer than you boasting."

"Sure, okay, and - " her voice dissolved into pants. Josh stopped, reached forward to grab her hand, but with a grin, she took off smoothly from the floor and glided past him. 

"I thought you were weak, but the chemicals they give you do wear off eventually." Josh muttered and ran after her. "There's the entrance!" He added excitedly.

"Yeah, and I'm blind." Day gasped ahead of him and paused, flinging out an arm to block Josh from advancing. "Look... two guards with guns."

"Yay?" Josh deflated against her arm, sinking to the floor. "But we were so close."

"Quick, hide." Day seized his arm and pulled him behind a corner, crouching low and glaring at him. Although the memories were not returning, the knowledge of who she was had returned as she ran, and she could again feel something alive pounding inside of her. "I don't remember how I ever fought, if I even did, or how I managed to get in here in the first place, but I do know one thing. The person I was never gave up, and the way you talk about who I was, I am not going to let you change that. Get up."

"Okay, yeah yeah." Josh muttered and he brushed himself off, raising to his feet. "Unneeded, fierce pep talk over yet? We're going to have company soon," he nodded at the empty hall.

"Yeah, so let's go. We need a plan. Back entrance?"

"Who knows?" The boy once again sagged against the wall, eyes admitting defeat. 

"Is there a back entrance? Do you have a map? Any leads?" Day stepped forward until he was trapped against the wall. Her breathe was inches from his terrified, oddly brilliant blue eyes.

"Dear God, you make this sound like a detective scene," Josh knudged her aside and slid his pack from his shoulders, digging through his makeshift bag and pulling out a colored piece of paper. He kneeled on the ground and spread it.

"Your eyes are as blue as the sky." Day surprised herself at the words barely breathed from her mouth. Josh froze, and Day could see the tensing of his limbs even from the feet that separated them. Neither of them said anything for a second, before the random words kept coming from her mouth. "But I don't know how I remember that the sky is blue. I don't really remember anything."

"Oh," Josh breathed. "Okay." He seemed hesitant, unable to form a word. His knuckles brushed lightly against the paper on the ground with a kind of shivering touch.

"All I know is every time I try to run through the walls, I am overwhelmed and claustrophobic because of the space that is closing around me, that I can't help. It's killing me, Josh."

"The only way," Josh stood up, sky colored eyes driving deep into the depths of her own, "is to numb the pain."

"Your eyes are so bright, I don't know what's underneath them. You could be hiding all of the secrets in the world, or an absence of everything." 

Josh laughed uneasily. "Enough with the random sentences. Let's get out of here. I swear you're bipolar man." Leaning down again, his hair swept over the colorful images. It was so quite in the deserted hallway, Day could hear the boy's breathing. 

And then she couldn't... Because there were footsteps in the hallway. Sharp, synchronized footsteps that roared through the quite like a knife slicing through the silence. Day winced and seized the criminal by the arm, pulling him down yet another corridor identical to the one behind them and ahead of them. Josh stumbled, ran back, snatched up the map. 

"What are you doing?" Day hissed as he pushed up from the ground and fell towards her. "Do you want to get locked up again because I'm not down for that." She shoved his pack into his arms and pushed him ahead of her. 

"Well... do you want to get out of here?" Josh looked back at her, grabbed her arm, and accelerated into a sprint, Day gasping in surprise at the sudden air tearing the breathe from her full lungs. For several minutes, all they did was sprint and push each other through the halls. Her mind roved over the strangeness of their situation. Either run from their pursuers even deeper into a maze, or be captured in an attempt to escape. This wasn't right, this was... this was...

Day stopped. Josh stumbled forward in an unsuccessful attempt to stop his momentum and the two rolled forward, breaths surging in their throats and shouts rising through the yet again silent halls. Then, they had rolled forward all they could roll and shouted all they could shout, and they lay together, hands gripping each other like lifelines on the cold floor. Their chests rose and fell in perfect synchronization, eyes locked on each others as if nothing else could truly be seen. 

"It was a test," Day whispered sadly. She scrambled up and dusted herself off. "Just... just another test. There's no way to get out of this." 

"What do you mean?" Josh held out a shaking hand, and Day wrapped her fingers around it, pulling him up. 

"Didn't you see the entrance? There was daylight beyond those guards, something that doesn't even exist anymore. Something that I should've given up hope on a long... time ago."

The criminal rushed forward, grabbed her shoulders. His brilliant eyes were wide, gasping breaths blowing furiously against her face as Day closed her eyes. Waiting. "What test?" His voice was a low, furious snarl. "We were escaping, I navigated a way past the guards, stole the keys from his belt. He nearly saw me, nearly turned around but he didn't. I made up a plan... made it up... to save us from this horrible place. Isn't that proof enough?" His arms were shaking, voice ragged. The voice that tore through the silent halls with it's own sort of violence. A terrified voice that was loud yet empty. Day couldn't understand such a voice. Couldn't in fact understanding anything that was occurring around her... except one thing. 

"We were tricked," she breathed, and sank to the floor.