Awake

I stare at the boy in front of me in confusion.

"March? it's November, November the 7th, 2009"
I say watching his reaction.

He jerks back, eyes wide with some emotion I cannot place.

"What? No! That can't be! That would mean..."
He stops abruptly and goes over to the window, gripping the sill hard.

"What would it mean?"
I ask timidly, pushing myself up so I'm standing.

"This is all a bad dream..It has to be.."
He whispers to himself, shaking his head.
Turning around to face me, he looks me straight in the eyes.

"It would mean I've been here for three years"
His voice is shaky and low.

I bite the inside of my cheek, eyeing him.
"What does that mean?"
My voice is hesitant, I don't want to set him off.

"What does it mean?!"
He practically shouts, throwing his hands up.
"It means I should have left three years ago! I missed everything, all the holidays, my nieces and nephews birthdays, my mothers gradation, my cousins birth, everything!
And I didn't even know it!
I've been wasting away for three years, in this hellhole!"

He brings his hands to his head, grabbing his hair.
Closing his eyes, a tear slips down his cheek.
He leans against the wall and slides down, sitting on the floor, head in his hands.

I stand here, silently, trying to figure out what he means.
How could he not know years were going by?

Slowly walking over, I get down on my knees and sit back on my ankles.
I wait till his tears stop before I begin to speak.

"I don't want to upset you" I pause, trying to clear the lump in my throat.
"But I don't understand"

Asher keeps his head down for a minute before lifting it and gazing at me.
"I could try explain some things from the beginning to you, but- "Please do" I say quickly, the need for answer building up inside.

"Three years ago, February 29th, 2006, I was placed here for various reason.
It was very strange to me, no one talking, no one acting like normal teenagers.
All the strange things that would happen, all the rules and the odd books in the library.
It took awhile to figure out things out, but I did.
All these things that Mrs. Cherri does, she does it to make you fall asleep to the world, go numb to the things around you.
But I didn't get why"

He takes a deep breath he looks away.
"I met a girl, she came in shortly after I did, she stayed in the same room you did.
She also knew about what was going on.
We had planned to leave, runaway together.
On the day we were going to escape, we broke into Mrs. Cherri's office to get some evidence.
I heard someone coming, I told her we needed to get out of there, just forget about the evidence.
She found something though, some kind of record book and stole it.
Mrs. Cherri caught us before we could leave.
Mrs. Cherri told her she need to be taught a lesson and told me to go to my room.
That night I heard screaming. Horrid, blood-curdling screams.
I never saw her again"
He trailed off in a whisper.

"I'm sorry"
I say softly.

He sniffs.
"I promised to myself, to her, that I would never go to sleep. I promised I would stay awake.
And I failed, I turned into one of those other kids, who don't even know how much time is passing by, or what could be going on outside in the real world.
I lost three years of my life without even knowing it.."

More tears began to pour down his cheeks.

Tears prick my eyes as well.
Something inside me hurts for him, hurts for the girl I never met or knew.

He grabs my shoulders and looks me in the eyes.
"Listen to me, I need you and you may not know it now, but you need me.
Do you want to get out of here?"

"Yes, very much so"
I reply nodding.

"Then we must stay awake"