Escapism

"Id rather be free"

CW: Implied/referenced Child Abuse

Growing up in an orphanage after her parents died in a house fire was no easy task for Cara.

Seeing that she was the oldest of all the children, It came with a lot of responsibility that took a lot of stress on her brain. Whether it would be getting beaten or forced to do the other children's chores because of the mess they made. Growing up malnourished due to the unfair mistreatment from the staff or getting assigned extra homework to keep her up past the official bedtime.

She wanted it all to stop, she felt so alone.

It wasn't until one day, Cara would hear rumors about a group called Group 935 for she had overheard the orphanage staff talking about the subject in question in the headmaster's office while she was scrubbing the floors outside the hallways. At first she paid no attention to the conversation until curiosity had gotten the better of her.

In the middle of the night, she snuck into the Headmaster's office and found the crumpled newspaper in the wastebin. Beneath the dull light of a candle, the brunette woman straightens the paper out, being careful not to make too much noise and examined the advertisement:

Want to improve human life?
Then join Group 935; A Group dedicated to discovering and building their hard work inventions to help add excitement to the human condition. Our team of experts will be happy to have you on their team. Sign up today!

Beneath the clipping was a photo of those who worked for Group 935. Cara noticed two men that caught her eye; an elderly man and a man in his late twenties; the green eyed woman noticed that the man had a medallion locket. The one that was similar to hers. Cara clutched her necklace close to her chest. She then saw the italicized names of who was in the picture; Cara read each name, from left to right, until she reached the last two men. A Ludvig Maxis and a Edward-

"Richtofen", she whispered, surprised that her surviving brother was a part of the group, let alone that she even had an older brother. She was skeptical due to having little knowledge about her family nor seeing this 'Richtofen' for he was too young to remember him.

When she got older, she would hear bits and pieces from her case file and how tragic that she lost so much; what confused her was that the staff never mentioned about an older sibling.

Would this give Cara a reason to leave? Run off? Run away? If so then how was she going to do this? The girl had no job. Staff would patrol from time to time. Laying in bed, She thought about different outcomes if her plans were to fail.

"Never mind that", she casted that thought aside. If Cara was going to survive on her own and find Rictofen, she would need the basic necessities from the bathroom, a few days worth of food but more importantly she needs a plan on how to escape.

And so the 18 year old would begin to write down the steps on obtaining stuff she needs, in a separate journal plus ways on how to hide her satchel from the staff.

Phase 2 of the plan was to memorize a route inside the group home due to how the certain floorboards made creaks. Cara would watch as kids would run around, seeing a pattern as they paid no mind to the eldest orphan.

On the final rainy night of staying at the orphanage, Cara would pretend to be in bed, waiting for everyone to fall asleep. Once the grandfather clock struck midnight. The brunette woman enacted her plan, quietly tossing the blanket and stealthily gathered her items that she hid in her pillow.

Once she packs her main items, Cara can sneak into the foyer for her food satchel. She followed her designated route, which she found difficult due to her hauling her blanket filled stuff over her back.

Just as she made it down the stairs, a can slipped out with a thud when it collided with the ground.

"Who's up?", One of the staff members called out. Frozen in Place, Cara recognized the voice that belonged to one of the nuns. She hoped that the she-devil could go back to sleep and Cara could book it from the parlor.

When no answer came, the brunette could hear the person moving around upstairs; she wasted no time, quietly slithering away from view.

"Who's out here?"The voice called again, a dull light from the candle illuminated the upstairs.

It was now or never, Cara quickly made her way out the door, holding her breath as soon as her feet hit the concrete.

She fled down the sidewalk, cutting through an alleyway and straight into the countryside.

The rain was hitting her face mixed with her own tears of Joy knowing that she didn't have to put up with the nasty food she was fed and the mean nuns that gave her unfair punishments, she was free at last.

Now to find Richtofen.