Misunderstood Control

The vent

It had been about three days since she had met Nikki. She was never a huge cat person, but this cat was the only thing keeping her alive at this point. The poor thing followed loralie everywhere she went, which calmed her down more than anything else in the world. They had grown close, loralie feeding the cat a few vegetables and water. She knew it wasn’t the best, but it was something. They spent their time cuddling and finding a place to escape. The cuts on loralie’s knuckles were getting infected, and hurt like hell day and night. They were wandering down a hallway when loralie stopped and felt a gust of wind come from above her. Her heart almost leaped out of her chest as she snapped her head upwards to see where the chilling sensation was coming from. There was an air vent right above her, which she had never seen before. Probably because she wasn’t looking up, but at the ground most of the time, watching out for broken glass. She knew there was oxygen coming from somewhere this whole time, but she just wasn’t sure where. But, now she had finally found It! Their escape! Their chance! But.. how were they going to get up there? There was no ladder or anything, so she knew she had to get creative. The bedsheets were out of the question, only because not only could you make a rope out of them, but how wouldn’t they stick into the vent? How would she get the lid off anyway? Something really tall would have to do. Boxes won’t do, she isn’t tall enough to stack them that hi- “wait..” she whispered. Loralie rushed back to Dr. Senka’s room where she had stored the boxes. Dragging them to where Nikki was waiting at the vent, loralie stacked the boxes up like a staircase. Surely she would be able to climb them and get the vent open. Slowly making her way up the pile of boxes she had constructed, her heart dropped as one of her feet had fallen through a box. There she was, stuck with no way of moving her leg unless she wanted to tip the boxes over, which would hurt her even more. She was already so high up, loralie knew she couldn’t give up just then. “ugh just my luck.. Nikki, you got any ideas?” she asked, trying her best to keep her balance on one foot. The little fur ball was laying down, slowly closing her eyes. The journey must have taken a toll on her, loralie thought. The boxes were full of stuff, if they weren’t then she wouldn’t have made it this far up. She grabbed her pocket knife and opened the box in front of her. There was a pair of shoes and some extra lab coats. Perfect. Loralie grasped a shoe in one hand, and chucked it at the vent just a few feet away from her. “Damn!” she yelled. If course, she was never got at aiming, but this was a life or death situation. She grabbed another shoe and threw it at the vent with more force. Just then, her foot moved and she had lost her balance. Crashing to the floor, loralie screamed in pain. There was a sharp pain in her shoulder. She was unable to move for a few minutes, Nikki scared out of her mind. Loralie slowly parted from the floor, looking to her shoulder. She covered her mouth, tears still coming from her eyes. There was a huge bloody piece of glass sticking out of her right shoulder. Screaming in frustration as her eyes widened, loralie shook with anger. She had to get it out or else it would only get worse. Her eye patch suddenly snapped off, falling next to her. She grabbed the glass on her shoulder and ignored the eye patch. Grabbing it, she thought it through once more. If she removed it slowly, it would only hurt more. But if she gripped the glass too tight, it would cut her hand. She was going to get hurt either way, why not just pull it out and call it a day. Gripping tighter, she ripped the glass out of herself. To her horror, nothing changed. She looked at the glass in her hand and froze. Loralie removed her lab coat just to see the rest of it still lodged in her shoulder. She tried to get it out, but it was already deep in her skin. Yelling Nikki’s name and running down the hall, loralie thought up a quick plan on the spot. Facing her fears, they ran and ran. Glass shifted under her feet, the walls she was clinging onto were cold and bloody. She knew exactly where she was going.