I hope someone is reading this. It’s a true tale of how my life turned upside down. Here’s how it starts. I walked home, bags in her hand. It was tiring, carrying those heavy bags from the grocery store all the way home. “Finally.” I started to unpack as I got home. It was boring. I’m not going to bore you with what I was unpacking, I’m not THAT mean. The last thing in the bag was a weird machine. It looked like a remote controller, like one for a drone. “What the ham? I didn’t buy this…” I started to think I accidentally brought the remote controller for my drone to the grocery store and back. I decided to fly my drone with the controller. Outside, the drone didn’t work. “Maybe the drone is dead-?” I was going crazy over the controls…and that’s when it happened. This is where it starts. I lifted the toggle up. I was suddenly surrounded by music and color. “Wha- what is this?” I asked. Nobody was there. It was as if I was teleported to another dimension. It was a dream. It had to be. The world had shifted to a hueless, dreadful, boring scene. I knew I wasn’t at my little home anymore. I was outside. There was nothing there, only silence and sadness. I also noticed a weird locket on my neck. After what seemed like 10 minutes, I saw something move. “Hellooo? Anybody there?” I called out into the nothingness. A face popped out of a nearby bush. The bush even seemed lifeless. The person whose face popped out looked scared. She had frizzy red hair, and gray eyes. She was light skinned and looked a little out of place in this colorless place. Also, did I mention she had a crossbow? The girl pointed said crossbow at me and made a bird noise. Was I supposed to know how to speak bird? A bunch of people suddenly came out of nowhere. So THAT'S why the girl made the bird noise. To alarm her superiors. That meant nothing good was in store for me. All at once, they attacked. I was defenseless. They knocked me out in what seemed like a minute. The last thing I saw was people carrying me, fast and quietly. When I woke up, I was in a weird prison cell. At least, I thought it was a prison cell. It was a small room with walls, floor, and roof made of metal. I was laid on a tiny bed in the corner. I started to scan my surroundings for a way out. Suddenly a door I didn’t know was even there opened. It was the girl from earlier. “You will be trialed shortly. Don’t get your hopes up. Chances are you’ll be framed as guilty.” The girl looked at me with what seemed to be a little bit of a frown. Maybe she didn’t like me. “How long? What’s your name? I barely got the words out. I felt terrible. “If you’re wondering how long you’ve been out for, it’s been an entire day. We aren’t permitted to give out names to prisoners. We are supposed to gain prisoner’s names though.” The girl looked fierce suddenly. Probably shouldn’t have asked for her name. “Hailey, Hailey Stone.” I looked and saw an older man, probably in his thirties, walked in. “It is time for your trial. Follow me.” his voice sounded rough and tired, like he’s been fighting a battle for years and was almost out of juice. I stood up and followed obediently, since I didn’t want them to kill me before I had a chance of escape. I followed him into this weird room. It was made of metal and had seats for a lot of people. People who will be watching the trial. Within minutes the room was filled to the brim with people. They all seemed to be asking for blood. My blood. There was a table in the center of the room with a chair. The man from earlier pushed me into said chair. A woman suddenly walks over and stands near a weird...thing. I had to think about what it was and soon realized that it was a lie detector. “Are you from the Reela village? If you lie, you’re a goner.” The woman said, her gray eyes staring at me, like I was her meal about to be eaten. “No. I am not from that village.” I answered honestly. I realized the Reela village was the village I saw a while back. I hoped the lie detector wouldn’t go off. It didn’t. “Were you trying to spy on us?” The woman had no idea why I was here.
Then again, neither did I know. “No. I have no idea where I am or why I am here.” I looked at the lie detector. It didn’t go off, but I was nervous it would. “Well then, would you like to join our cause? You seem different, so we could use you. Do you know how to fight?” The woman suddenly smiled and acted friendly. “Sure, I’ll join your cause. I don’t know how to fight though…” I had no idea what I was agreeing to do. I guess fight for difference. “Oh, that’ll be just fine. Amelia can teach you. Amelia!!” The woman called for a girl. I hoped that this “Amelia” wasn’t going to immediately kill me and be done with it. The red-headed girl came over and gave me a little smirk. “Amelia, can you take this girl here to train how to fight?” I realized Amelia was the red-headed girl who started it all. Amelia took me to another weird metal room. The training commenced. Let’s just say I got beat up a lot. Days passed, and I trained. Finally it was time to fight for real. We all lined up, grabbed weapons, and marched to the Reela village. It was go time. End of journal #1