Trials

Chapter 6

            Noah opened his eyes. Had he blacked out? He must have. He was in the dark, no not the dark. Dim light filtered in through the bars above. He was captive, in a dark metal cage. He looked through to see skylight and leaves. He was still in the rainforest. Then suddenly something banged hard against the metal and pressed the leaves against the bars. Noah jumped back at the force.

          "Have you seen Noah?" He heard the voice. It was Jay.

            "I thought he was with you." He heard Mya say.

           "I don't know where he is. I wonder if he got lost in the jungle."

           "I'm not sure, hold on I've been trying to train Zu. Zu!" He heard Mya order. "Track,"

           Noah hears a mew and there's another thump and soon the leaves part and Noah sees Zu's curious spotted face peak out from above. Noah wanted to cry for joy and alert Jay and Mya, but he was curious about the underground cage, so he stayed silent. Zu mews as Noah felt himself slip from reality. Noah flails out a hand to reach through the bars for Zu, but it just puts the leaves back and place and Zu mews louder.

            "Alright Zu, it was a good attempt." He heard Mya say. "But I think your senses may have dimmed since you found Zach's note. Let's go see if we can find Liam."

          The last thing he hears is the bars rattle away and the soft crunch of their footsteps before the dim light become black, and Noah fades from reality.

            Noah awakes again and the first thing he notices is the dull ache in his head.

            "The pain from the tranquilizers will cease." A voice says from behind as if reading his mind.

          Noah looks up. A woman with a black braid and a bony face stands behind him in a black skirt and top.

           "Wh-who are you?" Noah asks.

           The woman nods. "I'm Kelsi Fac, Noah. I'm Arianna's mother. Well, not her real one anyway."

            "What do you mean? How did I get into your Trial? How do you know me?" Noah yells.

            Kelsi puts a finger to her lips. "Noah, you must be quiet, do you realize how much trouble I'd be in if anyone knew I'd let you here?"

         Noah shook his head. Kelsi sighs.

         "When I saw Arianna last she told me about you. I recognized you immediately. They say that you and your sister are special. The most advanced."

           "In what?"

          "Just listen, COSA would kill me if they found out I told you all of this. What I mean is that they recognize the talent you might posses one day. But it was only seen in your sister. They hoped to see it in you."

       "WHAT!!!"

          Kelsi sighs. "In sense of sorts, Noah, you're in danger. Like deadly, danger. Some call you monsters, freaks, devil spawn. But you're here because I believe that those curses don't hold up to their meaning. You see Noah, the Rainforest Trial was designed to have the most possible and powerful outcomes of the advanced kids."

          Noah's heart skipped a beat. "What're you telling me this? Why am I in your Trial!"

        "Noah I have no Trial. Neither do your parents. Fac merely stands for faculty. I'm sorry. We- we're merely just workers helping out with the Trials, actors." Her voice cracks. " And I'm telling you this because I need you to be careful. I'm done listening to those fools who think it's okay to kill and t*****e children. I'm keeping you safe from them.

         "My paren-wait safe? Safe from who?"

        "I don't know. Like I said, I'm merely an actress. I don't have much clearance. Perhaps whoever it is will give up if you don't act like any of you're one of them. I need you and your Trial to be very careful. I'm risking a lot to bring you here."

         "Why would it be so risky? Because the Silent would catch you?"

         Kelsi sighs. "Noah the Silent are just fellow workers helping the Trials run smoothly."

        "Then why? Why would you leave us here to risk our lives!"

        "Noah there is much you and I both don't know, I was offered this job in order to pay for my actual family. All I know is that I stay here with my "husband" until Arianna is ready for whatever the people running this place have planned. I'm scared for her. And I needed to speak with you because I know the rumors they've said. But I agree with you. It's not right. The people here never want us to ever interact with you in this way. I just want to save whoever I can. Save you. Save Ari. From whatever horrible fate they may have planned."

         Noah considered this. Kelsi's story checked out. It went along perfectly with his sister's vague words. He still could barley believe that his parents were merely just actors. Actors in some horrible scheme or experiment they hardly knew anything about. And it made him wonder: What had happened to his real parents? What about Nally! They probably weren't even siblings! But she had had the pin that said FREE. And- she'd been in his current Trial. Had the pin Nally gave him been just a taunt? And.... where was she? When Noah's brain began to wander, he felt the worst of all the answers creep steadily into his head. He had to trust Kelsi. For Jay. For Mya. For Liam. For Natalie. For Ari. But how could he... when what she was saying sounded so unbelievable? But he had to go along with it for now.

        "Ok." Noah says. "I believe you, I'll be careful."

         "Just one more thing Noah, and you have to be very quiet and careful if we do this, but there's someone who's been requesting to see only you."

              "Zach has been requesting only you, and of course I definitely couldn't fulfill his request, not until now." Kelsi had said. "I'm only doing this because he won't talk to me about what happened,"

         Noah looked up as Kelsi led him through a door to see Zach, who looked worn and beaten, through a glass door. A screen, a monitor maybe, was set up beside the door. Zach was bathed in cuts, scrapes, scars, and bruises which Noah guessed were from the jaguar. He looked up at Noah is surprise as he came in.

      "I asked but I didn't think-" Zach pauses.

        "That's not why he's here." Kelsi informs him.

       "What I'm doing is very dangerous. You understand Noah. You can't tell anyone. Not even your friends." She pauses. "Not even your family."

         Noah eyed the small black cylinders at the corners of the room as she turns and walks out the door to leave Noah and Zach alone.

         "Don't worry, she turned all the cams off. I could tell." Zach says shakily.

         He turns back to Zach. "Are you okay, Liam and the rest of us found your note. Everyone's really frightened right now."

         Zach shrugs. "Why would Liam care? No one cares about me. Whatever they'll do to me I know one thing: I'll just fade away like dust."

         "Then why would Kelsi say you requested me?"

        Zach sighs. "Because I hear the rumors through the walls, Noah. I hear them whisper the most unbelievable things and terrible too. And... well-if I did have one thing I would make true it would be to get the hell out of here, but since I don't... I just want to be remembered."

           "Remembered?"

            "I know no one gave a crap about me, Noah. They'll kill me for sure, and then I'll just be... gone... I don't want that for any other kid. A fate like that's worse than death."

         "It's true Zach, but your parents care, you'll always have someone to remember you-"

         Zach cuts him off. "I'm not stupid, Noah. They all talk through the walls! I know my parents are fakes. I also know about you. They say you're going to bring out the apocalypse or something. Or at least, they're assuming you do. So I thought you might be the only person to help. No one deserves the kind of treatment I've heard from the screaming kids. Not you, not me, nobody. We need to expose this hell-scape. I might have an idea Noah. It's an idea that can get a whole army on your side. I mean if your interested... ?"

            "Yes! But- how would we do that? Even with the entire Rainforest Trial on our side we'd be outnumbered, not to mention we're kids. We're not soldiers."

            Zach grins. "All you need to do is keep them thinking of me. You remember some of your old Trials right? Some of the things that mauled kids were worse than jaguars... We've all read the texts. The kids out there don't fight for their lives! But we do!

           "But how would I do all of that without comprising Kelsi and myself?"

            "Noah Rainforest, if you'll listen to it, I have a plan to expose the Trials,"

                                                                                  ...

               Noah must've blacked out again, because he woke in the metal cage under the rainforest again. Only this time, the bars flew open and Noah could easily climb out and shove leaves over it.

           "Noah!" Mya approaches him with Zu purring on her shoulder. "I didn't see you come in this morning!"

          Noah felt unease creep along his spine. "Erm... a... I was just..."

         "Noah! There you are!"

       Noah turned around to see Jay run up.

       "Are you alright? I came by your home to see if you were alright and your parents just said you were hurt."

       Noah shivers. It was true. Everything Kelsi said was true. Why had his 'parents' even cover for him?

        He gives a nervous laugh. "I was kicked in the head. I'm alright now."

         Mya gave a nod. Zu sniffed his face and Noah chuckles uncomfortably.

       "Zu seems to think you're alright." She laughs.

       Jay didn't look convinced. But she shrugs.

        "Things aren't going well Noah. Our Trial's a lot calmer, but we're all afraid it won't last. They won't even listen to Liam."

        Noah nods. "Can I speak with Liam? And you guys too, it's really important."

       Jay rolls her eyes and walks off. "Probably not as important as this Trial crisis you don't seem to care about." She mutters.

       "Ha umm... Liam's in camp... I umm have to go feed Zu." Mya chuckles awkwardly.

         "Oh, thanks." Noah stammers.

                                                                                    . . .

         In the end, there were four people who agreed to meet. Liam, Mya, Ari, and surprisingly, Josh. Ari admitted she had saw Jay in camp and said she was probably too busy to hear about Noah's complaints.

        "Noah what's this about?" Ari asks.

        "It'd better be a solution to the kids outside, bleeding their knuckles out by banging on the Trial door." Liam mutters.

         "No." Noah admits. "But it's still very important."

        "Well get on with it." Ari sighs.

         "I..." Noah began.

        How could he say anything without admitting everything Kelsi had told him? Without telling them that he had seen Zach.

         "Actually, it can solve this Trial crisis. And Zach- I others like him, I mean from death... That's my idea." Noah says.

           "Zach? Why does he matter in all this again? If I recall,  he's the one who ran away, Grayson is the one who needs the resolution." Ari says.

         Noah takes a deep breath. "We can't just let him go though! Either of them! We can't just forget that it was the Silent that did this! Just like Natalie,"

          Liam grunts.

       "Because the only reason these kids think they need to destroy this Trial is because they feel it's unfair. That Zach probably died, that they're trapped here, and that they feel they don't matter here." Noah continues. "So... we show them that they do matter. That the Silent don't dictate their lives. That no matter if it's someone like Zach, who was just known as that one drunk kid who defied Liam, or if it's the best in the Trial, the person that's read all the texts. It's a fate worse than death for one to be forgotten as easily as we've forgotten Zach, Grayson, and any of the other kids that've died or escaped. So, that's what I'm going to fix. A multi-Trial group memorial dedicated to not forgetting the ones we've lost and make sure that nothing like Zach or Grayson's deaths happen again. It's cruel and it could've been stopped. Sooo... yeah. I-it's just an idea. Umm... what do you think?"

          Josh starts clapping very slowly. Then everyone begins to build it up and soon everyone's thunderous applause.

           "It's great! We really need to do this! No-we must! Everyone really needs this!" Exclaims Mya.

           Everyone murmurs in agreement.

         "Where would we start?" Ari says.

           "Oh, I know! We want to bring everyone together right? Multi-Trial and all." Josh exclaims. They nod.

          "What? How?" Says Ari.

           "We could hold a gathering?" Suggests Josh.

           "A memorial! For all people who've ever died in the Trials." Ari says.

          They're silent before Mya finally suggests, "What about a gathering of all Trials to unveil a memorial and speak of all the lives, or what we could do to stop the pain. It could be the first ever!"

           Everyone nods their approval.

            "We can beg the Silent! It is of great importance. Perhaps we could even do it after a Trial day." Noah says. "I'll ask my parents if they know how to get in touch with the Silent."

          "Ok, but how would they know?" Ari says. "And besides, do we actually know how many Trials there really are? There could be thousands! Where would we even meet?"

        "Well umm... I'm sure they could find away. We'll just have to see." Noah replies.

        "Let's take a vote." Says Mya. "We should also see if we could run this by Zach's parents tonight too. We should go over there tonight, it is their son's memorial after all."

         "I vote yes," Says Liam. "Noah I have no idea how you came up with this, but it's genius, and you're right, this could be the solution to the arising Trial mortality."

        "Yes. This could work, so...yes." Josh says subtly.

         "Of course me and Zu are doing this!" Mya laughs.

          Ari rolls her eyes. "Still don't see why I'm here and it's not much of a vote, so I'm in."

           "It's settled then." Noah says. "But remember, we have to get to work, before this Trial tears itself apart," He adds with a glance at Liam. "So we should all pay a visit to Zach's parents tonight to run it by them."

           "See you tonight!"

          Noah soon realizes that his stomach was filling up with dread. If everything planned out right, he'd be now announcing the truth to not just the Rainforest Trial, but to all of the Trials here.

        On his way out Noah had stopped Ari.

       "Hey Arianna!" He says once he catches up with her.

       "Don't call me that." She says disgustfully.

        "Right I'm sorry. I just wanted to say if it wasn't too much trouble well your mom, Kelsi, kind of helped me with umm...texts...so I just need you to tell her thanks. She'll know what I mean."

           Ari looked confused and very surprised. "What? How could that be? Noah, my mom disappeared a few years ago, and her name was t Kelsi, it was Ainsley. Must've been someone else."

         "What? I mean she said she was your mom."

        Ari just shrugged. "There are a lot of liars out there Noah." Is all she said before she turned away and left toward the direction the others went.

                                                                                        .  .  . 

        He turned it over and over in his hands. Noah had given him the token right before he left. A gold pin that read FREE. What had he said? It was his sister's? He couldn't take his eyes off of it. So Zach sat in the darkness of a glass cell and ran his fingers along the smooth ridges. The Silent has given him water and food every day, but he only took enough to stay alive. How many days had it been? Since he'd burst into the rainforest? Since Noah had saved his butt? Twice? No one had ever believed in him like that kid. He never trusted anyone. Proved he was top in every Trial. And what was going to happen to him? He hadn't escaped. He couldn't have. He knew so much, but also so little. Who would be the next person to slide open the locked door?

           As if on cue, the door opened with a creak and a spew. Zach didn't look up at first. He just fiddled with the pin, pretending to not notice the silhouette beside him. No one moved. Zach pressed the pin between his thumbs to his temple. He took a deep breath as he slowly turns his head. Zach's eyes widened. It couldn't be. Then the person draws out a blade and lunges for his throat.

                                                                                          . . .

         Noah felt a shiver up his spine as he knocked on the door Zach probably walked through many times. Something bad had happened.

       "You okay kid?" Liam says behind him.

      "Yeah, I'm just- fine." Noah gently give a tap on the metal door and it slides open.

         Adeline stands at the door with her hair curled into little neat wisps that roll smoothly over her shoulders.

         "What are you doing here?" She hisses, frustrated. "I told you to leave."

         Mya instead steps toward her first.

        "You're Adeline right? I'm Mya. We just want to talk. We have a plan that could really change a lot, and I-we wanted to see if you approved and..."

         Adeline cut her off. "So this is about Zach?"

        Mya tilts her head. "Well... partly, you'll just have to see."

        Adeline glances at Noah and hesitates, but soon the door comes all the way open and Adeline invites them inside.

      "So what's this about?" She says once they've sat down beside the dark wood coffee table and she'd gotten her husband.

        Everyone takes turns briefly explaining a bit of the situation.

          "And we are hoping to have an all-Trial gathering in remembrance of Zach and others lost." Says Josh.

           "And there'll be festivities and talking so that all Trials can know each other better, and understand each other! Says Mya.

           "And for the finale a big speech that gets everyone real inspired and stuff." Liam adds.

         "And of course a memorial dedication to Zach and everyone else." Ari puts in.

          "So that their truth can be told." Noah chokes out.

          The words were partly true. Because his plan for the big speech was way different than everyone else's.

            "I never thought Zach would mean this much to anyone" Says Alex. 

           "I guess...I guess that's the point. His death- or disappearance...it needs to mean more. I know I'm not making sense..." Explains Noah.

           "No, no I agree. I understand." Alex says.

                And sure enough, the next day before the Trial his parents tell him that the Silent have approved and that he had an hour and a half the next day to speak of Zach to every Trial. Every Trial, they said, except the Fac, which infuriated him.

          "But why?" Jay says to him after he'd explained everything to The whole Rainforest trial. "You barley knew Zach. All you did was stick up for him. It's not like you owe him anything."

        You have no idea, Jay. He'd wanted to say. But instead he just smiled back into her stunning eyes and sighed.

        "It's not just for Zach," Noah explains. "It's for- for everyone!" He nods.

        Jay raised a brow and gave him a look that said, Okay, and what else? What are you hiding?

        "So you say." She mutters.

        "I need to go find Mya." He lies and turns away.