Anna Leto ~ Discontinued

Chapter 3

55, a creek of the door.

56, soft footsteps padding along the corridors.

57, a bucket set down on top of a door.

58, a swift turn of the head.
The coast is clear.

59, just a mere second to go.

9:59pm.

"Now!" Serene whisper yells at me.

It's the night of my eighth birthday. It's also the night I escape St.Vincents (the children's home).

As I'm running down the hallways and many steps, the fireworks go off one by one, each one perfectly timed to go off at opposite ends of the home, furthest away from me.

I can hear Matron yelling and screaming at the chaos and getting all of the children (as they all had been awoken by the sound of fireworks, they all were, according to Matron, responsible for the chaos) to clean up the mess. All of this whilst running around like a headless chicken.

Step 4 of the plan successfully complete. (step 1 being the planning, step 2 being the setting up, and step 3 being the setting off the fireworks (of which Ree did at the same time as signalling me go with a 'now' and me starting to run))

I'm now half way through the building, the fireworks are still going off and the smoke alarm starting to ring.

I take a left. Then a right. Next a left. Another right and straight.

I make it out the back door and make to run for the forest.

Bang.

Oh, no.
That firework wasn't supposed to go off till the end! Maybe I can still make it?

"STOP RIGHT THERE, MISS LETO. IF YOU DON'T STOP RUNNING RIGHT THIS INSTANT, I WILL HAVE YOU SCRUB THE WHOLE BUILDING, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AND SPLIT YOUR RATIONS IN HALF!" Matron bellows, running after me.

"N-no, I'm not stopping, I'm going to leave!" I try yelling back, still running as fast as I possibly can towards the forest.

"YOUNG LADY, YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE! AND DON'T YOU DARE GO NEAR THAT FOREST! IT'S FORBIDDEN! FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP RUNNING AND GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT, ANNA!"
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I finally make it into the forest and start to wonder around a bit to try to find that wall I planned to escape through. That is, until I bump into something and stumble to the ground.

"Ugh, not again. I swear I'm blind." I mumble under my breath.

I lay on the ground a for a few minutes, with my eyes shut, my breathing pattern now finally going back to normal.

Matron won't find me here, she refuses to take a single step anywhere that's within ten metres of this forest.
That also means I can take a little break from all of that running.

"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice calls. Well atleast it isn't Matron.

I grunt. I feel so tired and cold I could literally just pass out right then and there and so I did.
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I wake to the sound of a door slamming shut.

Wait. A door? There aren't any doors in the forest. Not that I know of atleast.

My eyes flutter open, I sit up and I take a look around my surroundings.

I was currently laying on a bed made of straw, in the middle of a dimly-lit, small, wooden shed. The only source of light being the small window next to the door. There wasn't anything else in the room except for a little, low table, mainly because there wasn't much space around the bed.

"Where on earth am I?" I barely manage to whisper. Only then realising the throbbing pain in my head and the back of my throat, causing me to groan and place a hand on my head.

"You're awake." that same voice calls.

I turn to face the direction of the voice, only to see a young boy, about my age, sitting at the small table, eating a bar of chocolate.

How on earth didn't I notice him there before?

"Here have some chocolate, you'll feel better." he continues talking, handing me a piece of chocolate.

I hesitate to take it.

"Take it. Don't worry, it's not poisoned.   Here, look," he then takes a bite of the milk chocolate bar in his other hand, "see? I'm still alive."

I finally take the piece of chocolate and put it in my mouth to melt. Mmm.
My favourite kind of chocolate.

"Do I know y... Actually, nevermind. I don't know any boys."

"Ye, no, it's fine. I don't know any girls, well, except you now, and Matron." he replies to me.

"Wait. How long how I been out?" I question, suddenly remembering my current situation.

"Errr, let me check." he takes a look at his watch on his wrist and looks back at me, "err, well you were out for about, err," he starts counting on his hands, "err about, 5 hours, I think, no, yep, 5 hours."

"Oh, ok. Well, what time is it now?" I ask trying to gather all of my things that must've fallen out of my backpack, that I had previously packed before my attempted escape.

"Err, about 4am, it's still dark out." he replies, scratching the back of his neck.

"Right, um, it was nice seeing you, but I've got to go." I get up to leave but once again remember that I haven't got a clue of where I am, "Err, actually 1 question before I go. Where am I?

"In the shed that I use, in the middle of the forest of St.Vincent's children's home." he looks up at me again from his chocolate, "And where on earth are you going? I was going to help you get back to the home, so you could get breakfast."

"Thanks and no thanks, I'm trying to escape, not go back, I hate it here, and I want to leave." I mentally groan at myself. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. "Actually forget what I said, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone." and with that I leave, slamming the door shut and restarting step 5 of the plan: to find the hole in the wall to escape.

"Wait!"

I turn around to once again face the boy with light brown hair, who is still eating chocolate.

I wonder, does he ever stop eating chocolate? Does he ever run out of it? Where does he get it from? How does it get it from the place that he gets it?

"If you're looking for the hole in the wall, it's in that direction and here, have a these few bars of chocolate, that is, in case you get hungry. Oh, and I also have this sandwich left over, take it, you'll need it more than me." he hands me the 3 chocolate bars and his sandwich from his pocket, after pointing in the direction of the hole in the wall at the back of the forest.

Well that makes step 5 of the plan much easier. I take the food gratefully and thank him for his help and kindness and head off in the direction of the hole.
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Once I step though the small hole, I emerge into a small but busy village.

The sound of car engines, the chatter of men out early, and the ring of bells from the very few shops that are open at that this ungodly hour flood my ears.

Well this is new for me.

I start to make my way down the path, in search of a place to stay till later this morning.

After a good 10 minutes of walking around, I spot a small shelter, presumably a bus stop, but it's good enough for me to take a nap in for a few hours before I continue my journey later.

I take a seat on the bench in the shelter and place my bag down to use as a pillow, then lay my head down and instantly fall asleep.
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