Kevin Vu was one of the victims that were kidnapped. He woke up like any other day like nothing unusual happen. He did the daily routine like trying to stay in bed after the alarm for at least ten minutes to make her sister mad for making her late to school. However, there was no annoying sister to wake her up or his mother yelling him to get up before whacking him with a broom. He thought they were being nice to him for once but he got a bad feeling about it. He pushed himself out of his bed and rubbed his eyes. After clearing the blurry vision in the morning, he found himself not in his own room.
"What is going on?" he picked himself up and searched everything in his room.
After finding that all of his personal belongings such as clothes and his phone, he stood back and addressed his surroundings.
"Calm down. This must be early birthday present from my family," he looked around his room, "This is my dream room but what the hell did they know how I like my room to look like and what to put in it. All of these furniture can cost a fortune."
He got out of his bedroom expecting to see his family but all he could see is rooms that he never seen before.
"Mum! Dad! Little Sis!" all he heard was silence, "This is not funny. Come out now. This is freaking me out."
He looked in every room of his 'house' but nobody was here. Everything in his house was brand new and nothing was out of place.
"Okay! Okay! Calm down!" Kevin became to hyperventilate, "There must be a logical reasoning to it. My parents must have sign me up on a TV show and didn't tell anything to me. Maybe I am on a hidden camera TV show."
He slapped himself to stop thinking about the stupid conclusion, "Don't be stupid. This is illegal if they did that. I just call my parents or the police and they would track me down. Simple as that."
Before he could reach for his phone, there was a knock on his door. He slowly creep away from the front door and try to hide somewhere safe.
"Kevin! Kevin Vu! It's me. Dexter Yamada. We went on the international summer camp five years ago. We use Skype together a lot."
"Dexter!" he rushed to the front door and gave him a big hug, "What the hell is happening here and how do you know where I am?"
After they released the hug, Dexter explained the situation the best he can, "First answer. No idea. There are people from all around the world who are just lost and confuse like us. Second answer. Your name is on the mailbox in front of your house."
"At least I am not the only one," Kevin just remembered what he need to do, "I need to call my parents."
Before he could run to get his phone, Dexter held him back, "It's no use. When I tried to do it, all I get was an unconnected message even though I can call other people like us."
Kevin slumped over his couch, "My parents are freaking the hell out and I can't do anything about it."
"We get some answer," Dexter pulled out a letter for him, "We all got this letter saying to go to the city square."
He ripped open the letter and read the news. All it gave him was the map of the entire city and the surrounding area.
"We are restricted inside the red circle but it has all the things we need and want. Like the beach, empty fields, city life, etc," Dexter trying to lighten the mood as he walked around Kevin's room.
"This still doesn't explain anything. They could explain why we are here or where we are in this freakin' letter!" Kevin was seen clearly frustrated.
"We need to leave in an hour. Just get rid of your pyjamas," Kevin stared at his pyjamas with moons and stars on them, "Why that pyjamas? You look really silly in it. You look like a giant baby."
"Shut up! It's nice and comfortable. Just wait here while I change in my room."
After Kevin getting change into his jeans and a plain t-shirt, they left for the bus they need to catch.
To pass the time, Kevin asked a question, "Do you think the others from the international camp will be here as well?"
Before Dexter could reply, somebody broke the conversation behind them, "Speak of the devil! You’re here as well!"
Kevin and Dexter turned around and surprised that all their friends from camp is here as well.
"All you guys are here as well!" Dexter was over the moon to see all his friends again in one place, "It must be faith when all of us haven't seen each other in real life in years and here we are altogether."
"The fourteen of us back together!" Patrick, the one who yelled behind them, celebrated at the union, "Just like old times."
All the fourteen friends went around in a circle and put their hands over each other, "Remember the cheer," everybody nodded.
"We are the WESTERN ASIAN," they yelled at the top of their voice. This group consists of Asians from around the world who were either born or grew up in a western society.
"Let's get going. We don't want to be last to get on the bus."
On the way to the bus, Kevin noticed an unopened letterbox from one of the houses. The letterbox said Robert Nguyen on it.
"Another Asian Kid. We should get him before he misses the bus," Kevin walked up to the front door and knocked at it loudly, "Wake up Robert!" We need to get to the bus to know what is going on here!"
He heard a whimper behind the door. Must be shy and scare.
"Come on. We are here to help you. As soon as we know the answer, we might find a way to get all of us home."
"Are you sure? Aren't you going to hurt me?" a voice was heard behind the door. It sounded very young.
"My name is Kevin. Just open the door and we can talk," Kevin tried to persuade him to come, "We will find some answers. I know you are scare but you have to trust me."
The person opened the door and revealed a young boy, close to being a teenager.
"Who are you?" asked Robert with caution, "Are you here to take me back home?"
"We are the same situation as you but we are going to find our way back home," to make the kid to open up, he asked some questions, "How old are you and where you from?"
"I'm twelve. I'm from Queensland," Robert answered softly.
"Queensland!" one of Kevin's friends yelled, "He's from Australia just like me but I am from New South Wales."
"Thanks for the info!" Kevin faced back to Robert, "Let's get going. There is a big meeting to know why we are here. Follow us so you don't get lost."
"Okay," Robert closed his door and being led by Kevin.
While Robert was talking to Kevin, the other talked about the young kid.
"Is there anybody else young as him?" Daniel, the oldest and leader of the group, asked, "The youngest person I see beside him is eighteen years old."
"No, everybody we have seen is between eighteen and twenty," Dexter signed, "He might be the youngest kid in this situation."
"It must be a mistake when everybody is over eighteen while we have a twelve year old kid."
"We can take up the complaint to the city square," John joked, "I'm sure they are reasonable people even when they kidnapped thousands of people against their wills."
Daniel conked him on his head, "Not in a funny mood at the moment. The person who trapped us here had some kind of stupid reason and somebody had to take care of that kid. He didn't seem capable to take care himself without his family."
"We are twelve once. He is not totally useless. Just make sure he had some guardian to look over him once in a while. I was left home by myself for a week when I was twelve year old and I turn out fine."
Dexter spotted Kevin and Robert walking together, "We got the kid. Let's get to the bus before we miss it."
Luckily the whole group managed to get on the bus before it left. It was freaky as there is nobody was riding and only being control by an A.I. Robert felt small and scare as everybody around him was way older than him. A girl tried to approach him and said that everything will be alright and he will see him mum and dad again. However Robert stayed quiet and looked away from other people. The girl clearly got the message that he was scared and was terribly shy so she returned back to her seat.
When the journey ended, everybody got off the bus and went off to the city square. When they got there, it was packed with people from all over the world. The city square contained people from different country, culture and religion from all over the world. They were all talking in their native language and demanding answers for their arrival. When the clock strike ten, a jumbotron that everybody can see turn on and shown a shadowy figure sitting behind the table with a microphone.
"Welcome ladies and gentleman. Congratulation! You're the first people to enter a new world. Give yourself a pat on your back," the shadowy figure cheered as everybody just stared at him. It was confusing as he was only speaking one language but everybody understood him.
One person stood out from the crowd and cussed at him, "Bullshit! We didn't sign up for this! This is illegal! We won't sue you if you get us back home. We will cause a riot if you don't meet our demands!"
"You are a brave guy, aren't you? I hope this changes your mind," he pointed the finger next to the crier and out came a laser.
Everybody, who is close by, jumped out of the way of the laser. The laser left a scorched mark on the ground. Everybody panicked and tried to flee.
"Stop!" everybody froze as if their body was turned into stone, "Return to your place and nobody will turn into dust."
Everybody rushed to their spot and stood quiet to hear the shadowy figure, "You are chosen as it is your destiny to do so. There is no mistake in my choosing. Just continue your business and follow my instructions when you are needed."
"Hmmm. There might be a mistake!" Daniel yelled, "You accidentally got a kid here whereas I can only see people who are near adult!"
"Like I said, there is no mistake. That kid is also part of the program. Like it or not."
Throughout the time, the shadowy figure stated all the rules that concern them. To make it short there is a list.
1. There is no way to return back home
2. All the food, technology, transportation, etc. are provided
3. There is no communication to your home world
4. You had to follow my orders when you are order to
5. There is no permanent harm to your mind and body
6. You cannot leave the boundary until I said so
7. Do not purposely cause harm to others
After answering all the questions, a random person called out a question that is on their mind, "Is our parents okay?"
"How about I show you instead," the shadowy figure disappeared and replaced with hundreds of news around the world concerning them.
There is news of their disappearance, the family pleaded for them to come back, police combing the area for clues and experts tried to explain the best they can about the world wide disappearance. Everybody were shocked and cried on how the family and friends reacted for them being gone overnight. No matter how much they cried, plead, begged or rebelled, there was no reply from the shadowy figure.
Everybody knew what they in. They are trapped in a giant prison like rats. Even they are provided everything they needed, they are being watch by a figure that they cannot see or touch. It was like being watch by an ATV camera 24/7. Nobody knows what to do but accept his request. This is going to be bad for them.
Before they could leave, the shadowy figure gave one more message, "Almost forgot. There will be more people coming so you are not alone. Thank you for listening," he quickly turned the jumbotron off before anybody could react to that.
All went back to the bus to return back 'home'. Everybody took their seat and sat their quietly without looking at each other. Nobody was in a talking mood and all wonder about the future.
Their thought was interrupted was by some guy cursing out loud, "This is fucking bullshit. That asshole kidnapped us and treated us as lab rats."
"Dude. Chill out. We will think of something."
"NO! You shut the fuck up," the guy continued to rant, "We are fuck! No communication, follow some tyrant and no 'permanent' damage. This all spell disaster. We are going to die here."
"Hey!" Kevin yelled back, "Calm the heck down. Try not to swear or scare us here. There is a child here."
"Good to know! He need to learn what the fuck is happening here. We are in deep shit and he need to grow the fuck up quickly. His childhood is destroyed, our future is destroyed, and maybe our lives will be destroyed."
After hearing the comment caused Robert to whimper because he would never see his family again.
"Thanks a lot shithead. You made a kid cry and he is going to die," after the confrontation, everybody were yelling and cursing each other.
This went on a good ten minutes until a red haired girl stop the escalation, "Shut up. All of you. We are becoming like animals."
Everybody stopped and starred at her, "If we don't calm down, we will tear each other to shred. We are not the enemies, the person in the jumbotron is. I bet he want us to lose hope and faith so we would not try to find answers for our kidnapping. So let our heads stay screw on and think about what to do."
They all calm down and this time they stay quiet, "I know it is the scariest day we have ever experience but we have to calm down. Just go to bed, have a good night sleep and we have a good clear mind tomorrow."
By the time they got back, everybody went back to their designated home.
"Want to stay over at my house for tonight? May as well make the best out of the worst situation," Kevin asked the group, "We can play video games and eat bunch of snacks."
Everybody agreed with the proposal, "Robert, do you want to come to?"
Robert reluctantly agreed and followed Kevin to the house.
They spent rest of the day playing online multiplayer games and browsing on social media. It was funny they can manage to play games with people from back their home world but they can't communicate with them. The social media blocked any tweets, videos or pictures they tried posting. They call it quit when all the websites they can think of (even MySpace) to say that they are being held against their will are all blocked. Robert just sat there and watched the guys just having fun like nothing bad happen. He know they are pretending because they tried to liven the place to keep him feel safe. He know that there was something coming for him.