Who: Harper + OPEN (multiples welcome) Where: the barn, fourth stall When: 8 a.m.
The first thing Harper thought was that maybe she'd fallen down and was behind a tree in the woods of the compound. Why else would she feel so groggy and sluggish? At first the walk had been fine. 2 a.m., pitch dark except for the moon and the stars. It had rained earlier, so in the depths of the woods through which she walked she could hear drops of water dripping from leaves and branches. It was a mellow soothing sound, and even though it did nothing to assuage her nervousness and fear, it helped her not to panic. She'd known there was no way she could get lost if she stayed on the gravel road, even if it had been a struggle to try and walk quietly. Every so often she stopped and listened, making sure nobody had caught on to her escape attempt. She'd had a room to herself, small though it was, so she wouldn't have to worry about anyone waking up and noticing that she was gone. When she wasn't downstairs to help fix breakfast at 7, someone would eventually come check on her, and by then she planned to be long gone.
When she'd reached the tall wooden birdhouse that meant she was almost to the main road, Harper had felt both relieved and intensely frightened. She had no idea what she was going to do once she got out of the compound or how she was going to live, but she had to get away. Still, it was hard leaving a place that was secure and even pleasant when her dad wasn't around, a place she knew with family members she loved. She'd hitched up the straps of her backpack and taken a deep breath, and it was at that moment that she heard someone behind her. The clear, crunching sound of gravel beneath someone's feet had sent her heart racing and then... nothing. Nothing at all.
Finally she managed to open her eyes, and what she saw sent Harper's heart slamming in her chest again. She was in some kind of wooden stall... in a barn? That was what it looked like. Her slow drugged brain wanted to catch up to what was happening but couldn't quite track. She had on some kind of cloth gown, and when she looked down she saw that there was something stuck into the back of her hand. A soft whimper left her throat, and right then she couldn't think of what it was called. A clear tube ran from it to a bag that was hooked to a slim silver rolling stand. Harper poked at where it was attached to her hand and winced; that didn't feel the greatest. She sat still for a few moments, listening. It was quiet and she didn't sense any movement. Trying to puzzle her way through what could have happened and where she was now, her brow was furrowed in a slight frown. This didn't look like either of the two barns at the compound... had someone somehow found out that she'd tried to leave and knocked her out and put her somewhere else? Maybe there was another compound she didn't know about, one her father hadn't mentioned to anyone. It didn't make sense, but neither did this.
Carefully, Harper scooted back to the nearest wooden wall, leaning against it and glancing to one side as her elbow knocked against a cardboard box. As quietly as she could, she pulled a flap loose and looked inside. The contents were the clothes she'd packed into her backpack along with the ones she'd been wearing when she'd tried to walk out of the compound. No sign of her MP3 player and the handful of other personal effects she'd brought. Wait, what was that? She fished out a slim rectangular thing and squinted at it. Phone. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was because she'd never had one. At the compound they had a satellite phone with buttons and an antenna. Her father had a smartphone he used when he was traveling but Harper and her siblings had never been allowed to touch it. She'd used one a few times on their last trip to Mexico, but that had been three years ago.
Staying as quiet as the proverbial mouse, Harper fiddled with the phone until she found the power button and turned it on, then stared at it, not sure what to do next.