Chapter Text
There was silence, nothing to be heard or seen.
The dirt was warm, the nearby bugs were drawn to it
Nothing to be heard or seen.
Then, as if out of nowhere. Mother nature decided to have other plans.
"I can't breathe…" Your first though. It's not a happy one. It's of instinct. Survival. A sudden impending dread that you might die before even seeing what it's like outside. Your chest feels tight and your head begins to feel fuzzy. As if on autopilot, your hands move. You don't think about how. You just desperately claw your way out. Your hands move clumsily and weakly as you dig your way out. Despair fills your body as you fear you might not make it.
You freeze. Your hand made it out.
The air is colder than the inside of this dirt prison, but without a second thought you climb out enough for your head to peer out.
Your first breath is one of relief. This long, deep breath.
After what felt like both forever and no time had passed at all. You open your eyes. The first thing you see is this beautiful blue. Then some white fluffy clouds. Your eyes do not deceive you. You are outside.
You force yourself out of the dirt completely. It all crumples and collapses on itself, leaving a hole from whence you came.
The front of your body lays against the green grass, it tickles. You roll onto your back, facing the sky. The grass continues to poke at you. And when you look down at your body, there were bugs retreating from your skin. You flimsily and instinctively shove the bugs off, then stare blankly at the sky.
You don't know how long you stared at the sky for, but you felt as if it were long enough.
It's time to get moving.
You roll over, then sit up. You notice how your skin is this deep brown, but your also covered in dirt, grass, and some long, thin grubs. You grab eat grub you see and pull them off, tossing them aside. Your bleeding now. Maybe those weren't grubs…
Forget that, it's time to get up. You stand naturally for about a second before falling and eating dirt. You let out this pained sound. Then you just lay there for a good minute.
There wasn't much to do if you couldn't walk. You roll over on your back, then realize how cold you are. Wrapping your arms around yourself, you shiver. Hearing yourself make noises is odd.
You listen to see if you hear other sounds.
You hear the wind. The birds. The sounds of trees swaying back and forth.
You can hear yourself breathing…
Though initially overwhelming, you enjoy all the new things you've experienced so far. You wonder if there's more.
You force yourself to sit upright. Then, you hear something new.
You hear voices.
You strain to listen to what the voices are talking about.
The conversation fades in and out as different people start talking. The first person you heard sounded like a woman. "Yeah, the suspicious activity was reported around here somewhere by Teddy-" you didn't hear the rest as someone else started talking, a deeper voice than the woman, but rather high to be a man. You were unsure "Yeah, Teddy has been saying a lot of stuff. Especially about Bell. Life-ring you don't see anything, do you?" A new voice spoke out, definitely a man's voice. "Not from what I can tell, mostly just grass, the sky. A weird dirt hole with a dead body-" You couldn't tell if he stopped talking, or started whispering. But there was a sort of tension now.
You can hear footsteps. four different footsteps. They're getting closer. That woman's voice spoke out again. "Holy shit.. That isn't Steve right?" She pondered. "No. That's all the way over there. This is new." There was a pause. One of the people who hasn't said a word got closest, crouching beside you. "What is it Metag? Did you find something one the body?" They didn't respond to the man.
Suddenly you were flipped over against your will. Just as you were laid flat, you pushed away the stranger and tried to sit up and get away. Trying to run was a failure, you fell and ate dirt again. But now your in distress. The voices gasp as you move away from them. The man shouts in panic and he grabs something from his bag. "OH MY GOD IT'S A ZOMBIE!!!" The woman smacks him over the head. "No it's not! Zombie's aren't real Life-ring." So the man's name is Life-ring.
One of the group. The tallest one. Walked over, their face unreadable. They crouch down to your level and take off their jacket. They put it on you, covering your body. The jacket is warm. It reminds you of the dirt that kept you warm before your brain decided that It was time to leave. You get emotional. Tearing spilling before you understand what's happening. The stranger wraps their arms around you, you feel yourself quivering before just letting yourself cry.
Your throat is tight, your eyes sting. But this vulnerability feels almost natural to show.
You feel the stranger lift you off the ground, the ticklish grass finally no longer touching you. Your still crying, but you force yourself to stop making so much noise.
Looking up at the stranger, they looked concerned for your well being. Suddenly, they started asking questions. "What's your name?" Their voice was gentle, albeit they had this annoyed under tone. You didn't know how to respond. Did you even have a name? What if you were someone before this? How did you even get in the dirt in the first place? You had questions too.
After some silence, they just asked a different question. "Do you know where you are?" You felt yourself shaking your head. The stranger nodded, then began walking in a direction. The others followed. "Paintbrush, we don't know who this is! It could be a Meeple spy! Or it could be Steve Cobs reincarnated! Or-" Paintbrush interrupted Life-ring. "Well to me, all I see is a young, hungry kid who doesn't have a home. I mean look at them, they're skin and bone, they can't talk, and they smell like death. I think this is something different." The others didn't say anything after that. You didn't know why. You liked being carried. It reminded you of when you were still growing in the dirt. It made you feel sleepy. You felt this uncontrollable wave of exhaustion fill you, you felt yourself yawning. Then you didn't feel anything at all.
You fell asleep.
When you woke up, it was in a warm, comfortable bed. The blankets were so soft and fuzzy. The pillow felt like those clouds you saw in the sky. You wanted to fall back asleep. But your stomach rumbling said otherwise.
You sat up, the blanket slid down your shoulder and pooled in your lap. You noticed that you were no longer dirty. You had clothes on now. Not just that singular jacket that Paintbrush gave you. Though you still had the jacket.
You look around, the room you were in was so many shades of pink. You looked around, seeing these really cool looking machines that had all these cool wires. How did you know what they were called? There were also tubes on the machines, you noticed that some of them were on your chest and arms. how did you did you not notice this first?
Suddenly, this cheery voice spoke out. "Oh goodie! Your awake!" You look to face the woman. She didn't look or sound like the woman from earlier. "My name is Salt, I'm your doctor and I'm going to take care of you! So- anyway, how are you feeling on a scale from 1 to 10?" You didn't know what to say. You felt fine.
You held up 9 fingers. Salt smiles then writes it down on her notepad. "That's good! The OSC will be pleased to hear that." She looked pleased herself. You couldn't tell if she was pretending to be happy or not. before you could think about anything else. You said your first words. A question. "What.. Who… OSC.?" You couldn't form a sentence, that was probably natural. Probably…
Salt paused for a moment, then spoke. "Would you like to meet them?" She asked. I felt myself nodding. I would like to meet new people. She smiled, then she spoke as she walked out of the room. "I'll be right back, stay there." It was quiet after she left. It wasn't so bad. The machine beeped loudly. It made you flinch. Suddenly Salt rushes back in the room. You watch as she changes the IV bags. There were two of them. One said 'saline solution,' the other 'sodium chloride.'
After the bags were switched, you watched as the liquid went into the tube and into your body. You didn't feel it, but knowing that you were being taken care of made you smile.
Suddenly, new voices spoke out. "Good afternoon. How are you today?" You looked over, seeing three people before you. The tallest was a man. Dark skin, black hair in these braids that told a story, his body was rather toned. The second was a woman with metallic arms. They were prosthetic most likely. She also had brown skin like you did, brown hair too. But it was straight, not curly like yours. The last was also a woman. She was in a wheelchair. Black hair, light skin and glasses. She had a notebook and folder in her lap.
You didn't have much to say. Both figuratively and literally. But you raise your hands to show 9 fingers. It made the man chuckle. "Well that's good. I assume talking is hard right now?" He asks, sitting in a nearby chair. You nod. The woman in the wheelchair writes something down.
"My name is OJ. This is Suitcase and Cabby. We are the OSC." You took a mental note of everything he just said.
"Paintbrush, the one who carried you here. Said they found you outside. Salt's chart here says you are malnourished and slightly underdeveloped. What I want to know is if you remember anything." Suitcase spoke. you weren't sure what to say. All you remember is struggling, peace, then meeting Paintbrush.
"Suitcase.. I don't think they know how to speak." Cabby said, her voice light. She then gave you a piece of paper and a pencil. "Can you write?" she asks. It sounds simple enough. You hold the pencil in your hand and write. You drew a circle. Silence. You don't know how to write. The fact you looked confident that you could, then failed made you feel embarrassed. You felt your face get hot, tears pricking your eyes. You hate this feeling of frustration. "Hey, hey. It's okay." Cabby places her hands on your shoulders. You look at her. Trying to regulate yourself. She wipes your tears away. You feel a bit better at her comfort.
"It's okay. You don't have to know how to do everything right away." Her words were nothing but kind to you. It was something that was genuinely worth experiencing.
You felt emotional again. Beginning to cry. Not out of frustration or sadness. But rather happy that someone understands and is accepting. Cabby wrapped her arms around you and it helps you calm down. You learn something. It's okay to be upset. It's normal to experience anger and frustration over not doing something right the first time. But you must regulate yourself in order to keep balance.
"Alright. For now, we need you to have a name. Something to call you." Suitcase said aloud, it got everyone thinking the same thing. What should your name be?
After a moment, Cabby spoke up. "Well, Paintbrush said they found them by a hole that they presumably made, correct?" OJ nodded. "Yes, I do recall them saying that." "Well then, I think I have an idea on what to call you." Cabby smiled, everyone, including you, listened in on what she would call you. "How about Poppy? It's simple, cute, and fitting." You smiled about the suggestion.
"How is it fitting?" OJ asked. "Well, if they popped out of the ground, then I guess that sounds the most fitting. Right?" Suitcase found it amusing. "What do you think?" Cabby asked you. You thought about it, then nodded. You liked the name. She was right, it was fitting. "Then I guess your name is Poppy. Would you like something to eat?" Just at the words you felt and heard your stomach growling. The room filled with laughter. "I'll get something small for now. If you devour it too quickly then you'll get sick. Stay here, okay?" Cabby wheeled herself out of the room, you wanted to follow her, but you couldn't feel your legs.
"OJ. Can we have a word?" Salt asked, OJ nodded. "I'll be right back as well. Shouldn't be long." He left the room as well. Leaving you with Suitcase. You strain your hearing to listen in on the conversation.
"You read their chart, their FULL chart. Correct?"
"I did. I'm most concerned about how their DNA doesn't have a match to anyone on the island."
"I did make a separate DNA analysis. With Steve's DNA."
Who's Steve you wonder to yourself.
"Well what did it say?"
"It says it's an extremely unlikely match. But it's still undergoing analysis as we speak. Should be done by next week."
"Well, if it's unlikely, then it'll most likely stay that way. Is there anything else we should be weary of?"
"Yes. Along with their underdevelopment, they seem to have a problem with their legs specifically. There were so many maggots on their body when Paintbrush had brought them in. Leeches too. I think they might've been-" You couldn't here the rest, Suitcase started talking as Salt was talking, and Suitcase was louder.
"So, what do you think Cabby will bring? Probably something sweet, or meaty. I just hope it's nutritious. You look like you need it."
You nodded, agreeing, but also upset that you couldn't hear the rest.
OJ walked back in, sitting nearby and having a hushed conversation with Suitcase.
You looked out the window, the blue sky had turned a pinkish orange. The sun was setting.
You felt heavy. Your eyes lulled shut, then there was nothing.
You fell asleep again.