"Hello?"

“Hello”

What was that? I looked around but as always, I saw nothing. Just the darkness. Always the darkness.

I know that the room I am in is round, I know it is tall, and I know that the walls are smooth and hard and always cold to the touch. I also know that the floor is made of dirt. I know these few things because not only do my hands tell me, but so do my eyes the times that the hatch above my head has been opened. It’s not very often and it’s always for the same reasons, I get food, fresh water, and occasionally a new piece of cloth to use to cover myself.  I have never seen what gives me food and water, I’m always blinded by the light the moment the door is opened.

“Hello?”

There it is again! I put my food down on the cloth it had been lowered in and stand, moving towards the wall. Ten paces and my hand touches smooth cold stone.

“Can you hear me?”

This time I realize the sound is not coming from the room, if it were it would bounce off the walls. Was it in my mind?

“Hello?” I thought, trying to make the thought louder somehow. What was I even doing? But I felt the need to try. I had never heard another sound besides the ones I made my self.

“Oh, thank the goddess, I was afraid I had come too soon, and you weren’t yet of age! Hi! My name is Sapphire, I’m your wolf spirit.” The voice was happy, and energetic. I instantly liked her. Sapphire.

“What is a name?” I asked curiously, making my ten paces back to my food and lowering myself to the ground. I picked my food back up and munched on it as I spoke with the voice in my head. Sapphire. It was a pretty word.

“What is a name?” She wasn’t so happy now. The thought of her unhappy made me frown. “A name is what people call you. What do people call you?”

“What is a ‘people’?” I crawled the three hand lengths to my bucket of water and dunked my face in, gulping down the fresh water. It was always the best when it was first sent down, after a while it began to taste odd and depending on how long it sat before new water was lowered, it would even begin to feel different.

“What do you mean ‘what is a people’?! You are a people! I mean, a person. Oh, my goddess, it isn’t dark here because your eyes are shut, is it?” The voice sounded odd now, what were those emotions? Worried? Nervous?

“I am upset. I am worried. I am nervous. I am all of the emotions right now!” Sapphire said in my mind a little louder. Honestly, her talking was beginning to make my head hurt.

“I am sorry I have upset you. But it isn’t like I asked you to start talking to me. You can go if you like?” There wasn’t any point in her staying if she was unhappy was there?

“I feel odd not calling you by a name. Would you mind if I gave you one?” Her voice was softener now. Much more pleasant.

“Sure! Will I be sapphire as well?” It was a pretty ‘name’.

“That may get a little complicated.” She laughed softly; it was a new sound. One I hadn’t heard before, and yet, I knew what to call it. “How about I call you ‘Onyx’? It’s a gemstone, like my name is, but it’s black. Like the world in which you apparently live.” Her voice trailed off, I knew that emotion as well, sadness.

“I think there is plenty of darkness here. Are there any happier names?” I put down the soft food I was eating and picked up a hard round one. These were my favorite; the juice of this food filled your mouth as you chewed.

“There are millions of names. We will find the perfect one for you my girl, I promise.” Sapphire said. I didn’t know if it was Sapphire doing it, or I was making it up, but I felt like warm soft fur was wrapping around me. It was a feeling I had never experienced before, and it was now my favorite.

I bit into the crisp, delicious food and enjoyed the explosion of flavor on my tongue, I always chewed this one the slowest, I wanted to enjoy every bite.

“That’s an apple, by the way. The fruit you are eating. It’s an apple. I can tell by the taste and the feel.”

“Thank you, Sapphire. Apple. I like the sound of that.” When I finished my apple, I wrapped the rest of my food in the cloth and stretched my arms above my head with a big yawn. It was time to sleep again.

“Yes. You rest my girl, while I find us a way out of here.” Sapphire mumbled, sending the soft, warm feeling around me again.

“What is ‘out of here’?” I asked as I settled onto to the floor and curled up, the smaller I could make myself the warmer I stayed.

“It means outside of this room. There is an entire world out there. Don’t you remember anything from before this darkness?” Her voice sounded sad again, I didn’t like her sad.

“No. There was never anything before this place.” I answered her, curling my hands under my face to get comfortable.

“How big we’re you when you remember being here for the first time? Your earliest memory.”

“I’m not sure. Very small I would say, I have grown a lot since my first memories.”

“You mean, you’ve been here, in this dark cell, your entire life?” Now her voice sounded, shocked?

“Yes, my earliest memories were fairly young, and I’ve been here through all of my them.”

“There is no way they put a baby, or even a toddler in here and just left it. You would have died. You must have some form of amnesia. After all, you have a decent vocabulary, someone clearly started to teach you to talk.” She sighed before continuing. “We will figure this out Evangeline.”

“Evangeline? I like that. What does it mean?”

“It’s a name, it means ‘bringer of good news’.” Sapphire said softly. “I feel it suits you. You will be the bringer of good news to yourself when you bust yourself out of this prison.”

“I like the sound of that.” My voice sounded groggy; I knew I was tired.

“Sleep now Evangeline, when you wake, we plan our escape.”