Welcome to Arachna Haven- The tales of Arachna Haven Book 1

Chapter VIII

Safety

When Hat finished up tormenting Olive, she placed the worn index card in a pocket in her bag. Then, she ran back to the dining hall.

"Well? What happened?" Zed asked her.

"Yeah, spill." Aurora said

Hat told them about the boy's plan to escape Arachna. She then revealed the crumpled up card and smoothed it on the scratched table. Her roommates looked at the card in shock.

"Look at this. I got it from Olive Oil." Hat said with a cheesy grin plastered on her face.

"Does he really think he can do this?" Alyna asked with a worried expression on her face.

"This seems pretty risky." Zed said.

"I just want to know why he is doing this." Aurora exclaimed.

The Aides started passing out the main course, it was a thin spider soup with a meager slice of bread. Then the Aides brought out a pitcher of ice water and filled up empty glasses. Alyna chewed on the slice of bread, Hat sipped some of her water, Aurora drank some soup and Zed slowly mopped up the soup with her bread and ate the bread. When the dinner bell rang, the group placed their plates in the collection area.

"Good evening Arachna Residents! Tonight, if you are in an even dorm from 2-20, please take a shower in a timely manner, again if you are in dorms 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, please take a shower."

The girls went to the east wing, then went to their dorms and grabbed a towel, their toiletry bag and a change of clothes.

"Alyna, we will be going to the bathrooms and using the lavender showers." Aurora said to the confused girl.

The members of dorm 12 walked up to the female bathrooms, then went to the lavender showers. There were four showers with a lavender door, and all of the dorm went into them. Alyna hung her towel on a hook inside the shower and placed her clean clothes on the bench. She closed the curtain housing the actual shower part and locked the dry area door. Aurora put some shampoo in her dry hair, then locked the door, hung her clean clothes up and put her towel on the bench. Hat folded up her clothes, and Zed shoved them on the bench in a heap.

"Aah!" Zed shouted.

"What? Are you scared of running water?" Hat replied, chuckling.

"HAT! THERE'S A ROACH IN MY SHOWER!" Zed roared at the top of her lungs.

"Aurora, should I be nervous?" Alyna stammered timidly.

"Heh, it's just Hat playing a joke, there's no cockroaches in Arachna."

Alyna locked the door, shut the curtain and turned the water on, then she hung up her clothes and shoved her towel on the bench.

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When everyone finished up their shower, Zed brushed her hair, Hat dried hers, Aurora and Alyna just brushed their teeth. When they finished up, the group walked over to their dorm, then Aurora locked the door, put in the dead bolt, slid a thin metal grille over the locked door, secured the grille, then rolled down a blackout curtain over the door and grille.

"Do we need all of that?" Alyna asked Zed.

"Well, at night, things... run loose." Hat said to Alyna.

"What kind of things?" Alyna said to Hat.

"The Aravoid guards, Veeora guards, sometimes, ravid Aravoids and of course, patients who try to escape." Hat answered.

When everyone was dressed in their pajamas, the clock struck 8:30. The intercom speaker in the hallway let out a shrill beep and played a message.