Julian's POV

"So you're telling us you don't know anything about yourself?" I asked. The girl shook her head sorrowfully. Despite my suspicions, I still felt bad for her. We had all woken up in a strange place with no clue what was going on, but to have that happen to you without any memories? It must have been torture.

When the girl woke up she seemed incredibly distressed and confused. After calming her down a bit she told us that she couldn't remember a thing about herself or her life. We tried everything we could think of, but she knew nothing. She didn't even know her own name. We had convinced her to come out of the box, and then we introduced ourselves.

"Well, you seem like you're around our age," said Xiomara. "Probably 12ish or maybe 13." The girl thought hard for a moment, then shrugged sheepishly. She wiped a tear from her eye, then quickly looked away. Mr Schoenbeck, who was clearly still a bit unsure about this situation, tried to console her. "It's going to be alright," he said. "Right now none of us have any idea where we are either, so we're all pretty much in the same boat. But I promise that we'll all find a way out of here together, and that we can trust each other." The girl looked back at us and smiled a sad yet hopeful smile. She tried to stand up, but her legs began to shake violently and she quickly collapsed. Dyanara rushed to her side and caught her. "You should probably take it easy for a while," she said. "You might have been inside that box for a really long time. Your muscles are probably weak from not being used." The girl nodded and returned to a more comfortable sitting position.

I remembered the brown bag and reached on top of the box. I pulled it down and took out the remaining food. "Have some of this," I said. "It should help replenish your energy." The girl graciously accepted the food and began to eat. She was slow and polite at first, but then began to eat quickly and ferociously. We didn't blame her. After all, if she had been asleep long enough for her legs to not work then who knew how long she had gone without food. When she was done she looked much more energetic and ready to take in her new surroundings.

"So, um... uh... Well, first of all, what should we call you?" I asked. "I mean, if we want to communicate effectively we should probably give you some kind of temporary name or something." Everyone nodded. The girl thought very hard for a few moments, then said, "Could you guys call me... um... May?" She asked. We all nodded again. "Sorry if this seems nosy, but, uh, why?" asked Xiomara. She shrugged. "I guess I kinda just like the name, I guess," she said.

I smiled a bit. "So, May, is there anything else you can tell us? Maybe something happened to you after you lost you memories that could give us a hint as to where we are?" Xiomara sighed. "Can't you give her a break?" She asked. "We've already asked her about everything–"

May interrupted her. "Actually, there is one small thing," she said. She reached back into the box and pointed at the back wall. "If you look really closely, you can see a little switch." I looked where her finger was and saw what she was referencing. There was a tiny knob that blended in almost perfectly with the surrounding wall. "Nice find," I said. She grinned. "Sorry I didn't mention it before," she apologized. "It kind of slipped my mind. When you turn it, this weird thing happens inside. Here, watch this." She turned the knob, and jumped back out of the cube. Inside I noticed some strange movement, and saw what looked like a control panel slide out of the floor. It was only after a few seconds of staring that I realized what it was.

"No," I breathed. "That can't be a...?" Everyone but May was equally shocked. "What?" she asked. "What's so special about those numbered buttons?"

We didn't have the time to explain. I crouched down once more and scrambled to get into the box. I examined and confirmed that they were legitimate, but to my dismay, one had already been pushed.

"Did you... Push this?" I asked through gritted teeth. May shrank back and answered nervously, "Um, well kinda... I, um, kind of bumped it with my body when it first came up. It was, uh, pretty cramped in there..." I regained my composure and crawled out. "Well?" asked Mr Schoenbeck. I sighed and told him the number that had been pushed. He nodded slowly. "So I guess we'll be seeing that person pretty soon..." I nodded in response. Dyanara peered inside the box and reported, "It looks like the other two numbers belonged to... Hana and Sara." I clenched my fist in anger. May had a somewhat confused look on her face. "I'm sorry, but... What? Who are Hana and Sara? What do these buttons mean? And, uh, who are we going to be seeing soon?" I realized that she wouldn't have any idea who these people are. As I struggled to explain, Mr Schoenbeck stood up. "Can you guys explain things to her? I'm going to go try and find a way out of this room," he said. We all nodded, and he left. We all turned to May.

"Hey, um, this might seem like a weird question, but do you all... Know each other? You seem so... familiar with each other." she asked. I chuckled. "Well, we do know each other," explained Dyanara. "We all went to school together. We've known each other for around 6 years now." May nodded, somewhat surprised. "Sara and Hana are two of our other friends," I said. "And the buttons... Well, they're a different story entirely." May took a second to the new information in.

After a moment, she said, "One last thing. What's that folder you have rolled up in your pocket?" I was surprised. She's pretty observant, I thought. "This is just something we found earlier when we were searching," I said. It occurred to me that I had never actually read the contents of the file. I took it out of my pocket and flipped through it. Most of it was was long documents that would require more detailed inspection. My fingers stopped on one piece of paper in particular. I pulled it out and read what was on it.

After a few moments Xiomara asked, "Well? Is it anything important?" After a second I shook my head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I than proceeded to tear the paper to pieces. "Um, that's a bit extreme," said May. I shrugged. They all began to follow Mr Schoenbeck. I stayed behind.

The words I had just read still flashed in my vision. I couldn't make any sense of them. Surely the words on it were fake, right?

The sentence appeared over and over in my mind.

Kill the girl before she kills all of you.