POV SWITCH
CONNOR'S POV

Christina and Philip came over to sit with us, but I didn't look up, nothing they said was going to change being down here. It wasn't like I had a perfect home life or anything, but I'd choose a mom with drug problems and ten siblings over this anyday. Philip started having a conversation about looking for some type of key, with Lily and Henry, but I don't think Christina was very involved in it. I could practically feel her eyes burning a hole through the top of my head, frying my hair like bacon.

".......ummmmmm are you ok?" I whispered, hoping she heard me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, um are you?" I nodded in response. Of course not, is anyone fine down here? I refrained from thinking about the lump in my throat, and tried to swallow it, as I thought about my ten siblings, ages ranging between thirteen and six months. Of course, I was the oldest, having turned seventeen on the day I got here. Happy Birthday to me!

"Hey, are you sure you're ok, I mean, you're sort of..... Crying." I looked over at Phillip, surprised by his words, was I really crying? Oh gosh, I'm so fucking pathetic. "Come with me." I glanced back at Philip, looking back down and nodding. He stood up and I followed him over to the "bathroom."

"I'm really sorry about how you got stuck here dude.I mean, most of the rest of us got here with someone, well besides Jenny and Madeline.." Who? I don't remember meeting them. It seemed like Philip could read my mind. "Madeline and Jenny died, along with one of my best friends named Poppy. There were people here before us too. And Heather, Nix, Barrett, Poppy, Jenny, and Madeline were just a few of them. I don't know about the others, but Heather knew them. I could have asked her-" he seemed to get choked up there, but I knew what he meant. I don't know if I'm going to get back home, I mean, Heather couldn't, so why would I?

"Thanks man." I did a bro hug, and we walked back to Christina and her friends, she smiled, I could feel the pity radiating from her, but smiled back in a grimace at her efforts to help. I continued to talk to the group, occasionally glancing over at Jerry? No, Jeremy, who was lightly petting Ray's hair, who was still unconscious. Jerry- Jeremy had tear stains streaked down his face, probably still from earlier when Ray almost.....yeah. He had a small, sad, and lovesick smile on his features, and when he looked over I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He was definitely the quiet type, but I could tell he was whispering quiet things to Ray, knowing he couldn't hear him. I wonder if he and Ray are dating yet, they act like a couple already, but from what I know of both of them, they both seem pretty oblivious.

He went back to petting Ray's hair, and I decided to look around the room, observing, there wasn't much else to do but worry. I noticed Jordan's arm now, probably for the first time really taking it in. He had the whole arm bandaged, and there was dried blood around the bandages. His arm was cut to a nub, and I really did feel bad for him. That must hurt like fuck, but he didn't seem to notice, he was too busy putting his other, and I guess only, arm around Angie, and I knew by now they were a couple. He just looked at her while she slept, unconsciously smiling at the smaller girl under his arm. I wish I had someone like they did. I also knew about whatever was up with Philip and Christina, even though they weren't really together. Even Lily had her brother with her, and they were always together, and I was just.... Connor, just me, without my little siblings, who were at home now, missing me, and needing me to watch over. Hopefully Carlos, who's the oldest, is ok with watching them all. Oh gosh, I miss my family.

"Guys,we've got to find a way out of here. I mean, there's got to be some way to escape, I mean really, can we find a way to kill him without leaving the basement? Or something." They all looked at me, surprised I'd said so much. I wasn't usually too quiet, but this felt weird.

Christina was the first one to speak up, "Even if we could kill him, we'd be stuck locked down here, and no one would be here to put more food in the closet while we were sleeping, which we still can't figure out, but we'd rot down here, and I can't even think about how long it would be until someone found us, and what would happen before we all went crazy." All I could think about after her rant of jumbled words was the Jamestown trip I took in sixth grade, and hearing about all the cannibalism from lack of food. I felt myself gag at the thought of some of us killing and eating the rest of us. Well, if he's getting new food in here every day, there's got to be an entrance, right?

I got up and walked over to the closet, kneeling down to the pile of stuff that littered the bottom of the floor and started digging. For? I have no clue whatsoever, but hey, it's worth a shot. I didn't find anything in the first few shelves, not that there was much to go through, and went up to the fourth shelf. Before I could keep looking, I heard a stream of coughs from across the room and turned to face where the noise was coming from. Ray had bolted up from where he was lying on the floor, and well, Jeremy, and was coughing and spluttering. Much to my relief, no more blood was coming from his mouth, other than what had littered and dried on his shirt. Jeremy was crying again, but he was happy now, hugging Ray as his coughing subsided. I smiled, a real genuine smile, for the first time since I'd gotten here. I could hear everyone letting out sighs of relief since Ray was awake, anc would be ok, and I smiled again at Jeremy before turning back to the closet. I could hear bits and pieces of Ray and Jeremy's conversation, and I noticed that Jeremy stuttered a lot more than when he'd been whispering to Ray earlier. Ok, so they weren't together, but I could even hear the smile on Ray's face as he spoke to Jeremy. I bet myself twenty bucks that before we get out of here, which we will, they'll have at least kissed.

I kept rummaging through the closet, hoping to find something, anything, that could help us get out of here. There were only two shelves left, and I was getting tired so maybe I'd just check in the morning. I walked towards Jeremy and Ray, going to see how Ray was doing. He seemed fine, and I realized that maybe I shouldn't go over there right now when I saw a scrawny looking teen with floppy, messy, dirty blonde hair, had curled himself up on Ray's lep, and was snoring softly. Ray's eyes were wide, and he was the color of a ripe tomato as he stared at the boy below him. I made a "pst" noise and got his attention, smirking and winking before heading towards the rest of the group. Ray's blush spread up his neck and curled through his ears as I tried my best to suppress the laugh threatening to escape my lips. I ship them so hard. OTP. Yes, I know what that means.....I'm lonely, and fanfiction is good ok? 

As I was passing the closet I stopped, I just felt like maybe I should check those last two shelves tonight, I mean, it couldn't hurt, and I'm not going to get any sleep either way. I opened the closet door back up and began to dig in the next two shelves, praying to find anything. I was half way through the first of the two shelves when something pricked my finger. Talk about sleeping beauty vibes. I muttered a quiet "fuck, shit, that hurts like fuck" and pulled my hand back out. I stuck my finger in my mouth, hoping to stop the surprising amount of blood, and stood on my toes to see what pricked me. My eyes widened as I saw what was going to be great to tell everyone. I didn't even think about Jeremy sleeping.

"GUYS!! GUYS COME QUICK!"

They were all at my side now, even Ray and Jeremy, who got up surprisingly quickly. They all seemed worried, but the smile on my face for the second time today hopefully calmed them down a little. I pulled out the little white object on a string so I could see it better. My eyes widened again, and I immediately held the item like a dead rat.

"Hey Angie? You know anything about bones?"

I turned to her, hoping to get an answer. She pushed forward, and looked at the small, thin, white bone dangling from the white string. She took it from me, and brought it into her hand, inspecting it carefully. Then she gagged, and we all looked around nervously.

"Um, guys, this, this is a human bone. A finger actually. Specifically.....the middle finger."

Ew. I'm not girly, but seriously? Ew. That's just nasty. I stood on my toes again looking back to where the bone was. There was a small hole in the wall. Huh? Weird. Wait.

"Hey, guys, can you hand me the finger, I wanna check something." I looked at Angie, and she gave me a weird look and handed me the finger. I held onto the end of the finger, and tried to fit it into the hole. I was actually surprised when it fit in almost perfectly. Nothing happened right away, so I tried turning the key, which resulted in a loud band, and a piercing pain searing through my abdomen. I fell to the ground, letting out a painful moan, writhing on the floor. I heard everyone talking, but I couldn't make too much of it out. Owwwww. My head hit something behind me, looking like a person with girly looking flip flops, and blue toenail polish. What's happening? My stomach hurts so bad I can't even think straight.

"Connor, Connor can you hear me?" I let out a groan in response, not knowing who was talking.

A/N: I still didn't hit 1K yet. You got this guys. I'm thankful for all of you. Let me know if my book really is that bad. Love you
Eliza Schuyler Hamilton💙💙