Escape Artist

Chapter 1: Leaving

Paige's P.O.V.
The orange jumpsuit drowned my size zero body and the flip flops I had worn in-evidently had broken, a mere piece of shiny duck tape holding them together. I had lost track of the days I've been stuck in this prison, so hearing "Paige Harper" on the loudspeaker made me jump. I grudgingly walked to the front office preparing myself for the worst. Mr. Pielinski, the counselor sat behind his mahogany desk. He was a fat man with a thick beard and a red face. I've never remembered a day where he wasn't somewhat intoxicated and he always wore the same pinstriped shirt under his bulletproof vest. He smelled of broccoli although I doubt he ever ate it. I always imagined him coming home to a small cottage filled to the brim with empty bottles and a leather chair worn under his weight. He hastily had told me once before of his home life. He had a wife named Cecilia and she was always grumpy according to Mr. Pielinski. I barely noticed him trying to snap me out of my flashback until he came up to the front of me and balanced himself on his desk. The creak of the wood made me turn my head and I realized I had tuned out for some time now.
"Do you hear what I'm saying Ms. Harper?"
I shook my head and he began to explain again.
"I said you're leaving tomorrow morning, you've been released early. 3 months early to be exact. Some mix ups happened with your papers and you're being set free. It's been a pleasure counseling you. Now leave, I want a drink."
I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't. I just sat there until Mr. Pielinski forced me out. His foot pushed the door shut and he waved through the glass window as he downed a glass of what looked to be brandy. I shivered and walked back to my cell. The guard closed the door and I held my knees to my chest as I sat on the paper thin mattress. Not much later a gray plastic box was pushed through a small opening in the door and I was ordered to pack my items. I didn't have much but they needed me to clean out I guess. I dropped my shower supplies into the box along with a portable CD player and headset that my mom had sent to me for my birthday. It took a lot of convincing but they let me keep it and it saved me from killing myself from boredom. The last items to go into my box included the only book I've ever enjoyed in my whole life, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Sallinger, as well as a few toiletry supplies. I closed the lid to my box and completely ignored the call for dinner.