dot.

42: Magical

  The four escapees snuck out of the room and into the cool corridor that lay beyond, trying their very best not to disturb the silence that filled the space, stagnant in its own immovability.

  They crept through the white painted halls, shoes dragging over white floors and faces turned towards white walls. The monotonous colour made the walk all the more eerie, each dragging step feeling like they were stepping closer and closer to oblivion.

  It was something about the continuous, identical sets of corridors with neat white doors lining each side of them that made the very air feel heavy, as if the walls were closing in on them with intent to kill.

  When they came to pass yet another faceless white door, Nimue hesitated and looked at it for a few seconds, her face painted in fear before she moved on and the others followed suit.

  "Why'd you stop?" Felix hissed, keeping his voice as low as possible as they made their painstakingly slow way towards the exit.

  "That's where Digorn is sleeping." She returned simply in the same hushed tones, effectively ending the conversation so the walk could continue in crushing silence.

  The only sounds were their nervous breathing, tiptoe footsteps and the rustling of their clothes, along with a few grunts from Felix as he shifted Dot around on his back to try and get more comfortable.

  It seemed like they were going to be walking forever, the end of the winding white maze nowhere near even after what seemed like an age. The inexorable stillness of the space, illuminated only by Nimue's feeble phone light, was terrifying in itself- every speck of dust that drifted innocently through the bright stream became ashes from the mouth of some great monster, lying in the shadows in wait for them to stroll right into its giant mouth.

  Dot shook his head and tucked it into Felix's shoulder. These kinds of thoughts would do him no good, only highlighting his existing paranoia around the plan.

  There was nothing around them except darkness. Felix was here, and he was loved, and he was safe.

  "Nearly there." Nimue whispered, and turned left to face a set of large double doors, standing proudly as they restricted access to what lay beyond. Presumably, this was the exit- his thought was only further proved correct when she drew out a set of keys from her pocket and gently inserted the largest into the keyhole.

  She turned it painstakingly slowly, almost as if she feared what would happen next. She was taking so long, in fact, that Felix got frustrated with her hesitation and marched over to 'just turn the stupid thing' with a great click, breaking the tension in the most Felix-y way possible.

  Then, he swung open the door and stepped outside in one swift motion, inhaling the crisp night air as deep as he could before letting it slip from his lips with a sigh. "I missed this." He half muttered; half whispered.

  Tiro and Nimue followed suit, holding hands as they too exited the lab and exposed themselves to the outside.

  "Hello again, world." Tiro spoke breathlessly, earning himself a lighthearted kick from Nimue at the cheesiness of the statement.

  "We should go," said Nimue as she locked the doors behind them, "the last thing we want to do is get caught now."

  The others agreed and followed her as she hastily smuggled them all into a petite, light brown car with tinted windows, sticking her keys in to turn it on and pulling away from the lab as fast as she could.

  Nimue, Tiro and Felix were more than familiar with the world that lay beyond the white concrete walls of the lab, so their amazement was one of nostalgia and an eagerness to return to a normal, freedom filled life.

  But what about Dot?

  Penned in for almost all his life, escaping only once, never truly knowing the great expansion of the real world: the boy had no memories to fall back on during his few sweet outside moments. It was a first-time experience to feel the cool night breeze stroke past him in calming waves, to see the distant stars swarm in the sky and dream about the millions that have gazed up at them before him.

  Is this what freedom felt like?

  It was magical.

  Felix was sat beside him, and broke off his petty argument with Tiro over something-or-other in favour of rolling down the window so the hybrid could feel the rush of fresh air streaming through it; artificial wind juxtaposing with the most authentic natural beauty he had ever seen.

  During the whole car journey, not once did he take his eyes away from the sights outside that rolled down window, wishing for nothing more than to drink up every shining speck of precious freedom that the outside world offered to him so freely.

  The drive continued, Felix asking him if he wanted to play with the deck of cards he had snuck out of the room but finding his offer promptly declined in favour of staring out at the world.

  Each star, each tree, each blade of grass that populated each field to feed each farm animal that resided there were all small moments of wonder for the hybrid, heart almost bursting with glee as he looked on at how the cows and sheep and pigs were all penned in, trapped: but he was free.

  The car drove on, droning white noise of the engine nearly lulling him to sleep but he forced himself awake, forced himself to stay conscious enough to take in all the new sights, smells, sounds- he even stuck out his tongue to see if the air tasted any different out here, but was only rewarded with a little fly soaring into the wet muscle and sticking there.

  Despite his best efforts, it was impossible to stay awake for the entire duration of the neverending journey and he eventually fell asleep, slumped against the side of the car with just his little nose poking out towards the wind.