Beginning of year one, and the strange new city.

     Josh awoke to the sound of an alarm clock. It ticked repeatedly, each second a tick. Of course, he knew how an alarm clock worked. He's just never actually used one before. That's why he was confused when woke up. Well, that and he was laying in a bed that's not his own.

Josh glanced around the room. The strange feeling of unknown filled him. He slowly lifted the sheets and looked down, relieved to see that he still had his pants on. Josh thought about what happened the night before. A lot had happened. But some parts were fuzzy.

He took in the small room. Light beige walls, twin bed, a desk, a black backpack sitting on a chair. Josh stared at the backpack for a second longer and realized it was Tyler's. Quickly, he stood up. It was a mistake as all the blood rushed to his head, he stumbled back onto his bed. He waited for all the black spots to clear from his vision to get up again.

He dumped out the contents of Tyler's backpack. The notebook, pen, knife, bandaids. Josh remembered what they did last night. He looked at the palm of his hand expecting to see a yellow Spongebob Squarepants bandaid or at least a scratch from the knife. There was nothing, not even a mark. Josh looked around wondering if he was dreaming. He had to be. If he was dreaming and if he cut himself then it wouldn't affect him?

The boy gripped the knife just like he did the night before, he started to just prick the tip of his finger when he heard a blaring alarm go through the room. He dropped the knife to hold his hands up to his ears. The door slammed open and two men with a stone-cold expression stormed in. One went to grab the knife on the ground and the other grabbed Josh's arm and held him against the wall.

"Situation one forty-three, subject Joshua Dun. We're taking him with us." The one holding the knife said into a radio hanging off the left side of his shirt.

Josh struggled against the other man, "What? No!" He yelled, "I need to wake up. I need to wake up now." He wished.

"Hey kid, you need to calm down." One said to Josh as he struggled to free himself from their grip.

"Please let me go!" Josh screamed, "I want to go home! Please, I don't want to be here!" He breathed hard. His heart was beating fast and his brain went into full panic mode. Josh blacked out.

***

"Put this on." they said.

"Sit down." they said.

"Don't talk." they said.

"Eat this." they said.

"Drink that." they said.

Josh was scared. He had been dragged along the two men for hours. Whenever he asked questions they would tell him to be silent. He hated being silent. In Josh's eyes, he believed that he was in some weird groggy city. Josh assumes that the place was just full of people who worked there.

Josh's eyes widened. What if he was captured by aliens? What if he's never going to see his family again. He started crying as he continued to be pulled along with the two men.

"Joshua Dun?"

He looked up to see a threatening figure dressed in scarlet red robes. His face looked like a blur with eyes that made his blood turn to ice. So much had happened in the past few hours that Josh thought he was hallucinating. Each time he closed and opened his eyes the menacing man still stood tall in front of him.

"When did he get here?" The daunting figure questioned. He slowly walked by the men and Josh.

"Last night he and his friend were at the border." one said.

"We could grab this one. His friend was... different." the other said.

The man nodded. He was now, face to face with Josh. Now up close, his face looked decayed. Swollen cheeks but hollow. Red eyes but irritated. Pasty skin but frozen. Josh felt that if he were to look at his face any longer he'd throw up.

"Who are you, Joshua?" He asked.

Another wave of chills went through Josh's body as he felt that. He shivered as he avoided eye contact with him. "I'm j-just Josh s-sir." he breathed.

It was silent. Deafening. Even when you're in silence, it's not complete silence. You can always hear a slight buzz. Like voices that are far away but are not clear enough to tell who is talking and what they are saying. Or the AC unit kicking on in a house. It's never complete silence. Except for now. It was like he was buried thirty feet below the ground and surrounded by just emptiness. It felt suffocating. He felt trapped.

"Take him back to his room with his family. He'll get settled in by tomorrow." The man smiled creepily. Putting uneasiness into Josh.

***

Josh stood in a small apartment looking down at the sight in front of him. A woman with the same appearance as his mother was sitting still looking at a television. His little brother and sisters looked dead. They slumped over the couch in a lazy pile. His father just slouched against a cushion almost staring straight at him.

"I'm going to puke..." Josh breathed as he saw the people who were his family, but also not, sit there.

"They're just an illusion don't worry. It's not like you'll notice a difference in a week." said a voice from behind him.

Josh turned around and saw a girl with reddish-brown hair. She leaned against the door frame looking at him with an all-knowing look. She appeared to be his age with her arms crossed and hip out. "Hey, newbie? Who are you?" She said.

Josh froze. With everything that had happened in the past day, he never would've thought he'd had to talk to a girl. He hasn't talked to a girl other than Jenna, his sister, and his mom, since fifth grade. Here he is five years later looking at a girl, a very pretty girl in fact, expecting him to talk.

"Uh- I..." he stood internally panicking. The girl must've seen the scared look on his face and given him some sympathy.

"Okay I get it," she said, "you're not a talker. I talk a lot 'cause that seems to be the only way to keep myself sane here. Anyways, what's your name? If you don't feel comfortable sharing, I can just call you dude."

Josh opened his mouth but got cut off by another voice in the hallway. "Debby get back inside!" The voice yelled.

The girl, Debby, sighed. "I'll see you later dude!" She waved and left. Leaving in a bouncy step. Josh stared ahead, still frozen. His breath was shallow and quick. He only wondered to himself, where ishe? The day had been unexpected in every aspect. If he only he could tell Tyler.

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