Fever Dream Red

22

We couldn't leave. Ever. The fancy dress we wore day after day restricted us. We couldn't run anywhere in the wonderful gowns we had to traipse in, let alone the heels. I think that's why he made us wear them really.

It was pretty packaging for us.

Normally I would wake at seven. I'd have a shower first.

For some reason I always felt dirty and smelly after I had slept, as if the dreams I had degraded me somehow. I had done for as long as I could remember, so I always took to having my showers in the morning. I'd wash my hair every other day, but I'd do that at night. I never used to dry it with heat, and I didn't fancy wondering around with a ball of wet snakes on my head. That's what wet hair always looked like to me.

I would then knock on Inez's door at half seven. She was, without fail, always ready and adorned with makeup and a nice dress.

Then she'd pick a dress for me and colour me in to be beautiful for a few hours. The dresses were all in nice taste, if haughtily similiar. Some had straps, some didn't. Some had thigh high slits and some were mini. They were all blood red. After a while I became sick of the colour, no doubt overfed. I was still subject to it nevertheless.

Inez used to chat to me all the time whilst doing it, even though she was using the upmost concentration. She'd talk about all matter of things.

She'd talk about the nice spot she found in the garden and how we must simply take a picnic there sometime. She'd tell me I needed to spend some time in the pool. She said it was the most quiet, isolated, area in the place. She said that I should really try one of the baguettes at lunch.

It was as if she would slowly rot and die if she didn't utter a word every second.

She said all of this to take my mind of things, I'm sure. The longer we stayed at The Base, the more weary and aching we all became. After a while nearly everyone wanted to go. It was no longer a place of captive sanctuary: it was a maximum security prison with carpets instead of concrete.

No one wanted to run. We were all scared for our lives, in case we did run. Nick made you scared. Although he was average height and I reckoned I could probably beat him in a fight, his power and sheer insanity terrified me.

There had been whispers though. People chatting about running away and getting out. It was all we could gossip about. What else was there?

Me and Fae used to talk about all the potential running we could do. Once we ran across the beach to see if we could escape, but, alas, we hit a fence after about ten minutes.

It was all jokes for Fae though. She would explain to me that she couldn't simply run off without her baby. She couldn't risk the danger of taking it with her and she couldn't leave Connor to deal with it on his own either.

So Fae, along with most people, took to cursing Doug instead. Doug was partly shunned in his own little way. He was left to sit in the gardens by himself and read books. The only people that stood by him were Sunny and Alfie.

Zoe had been getting better though. I saw Mimi and Eli out a lot more. They looked happier, Mimi especially. The yellow sick of her face had been replaced with tan. She no longer had such frames around her eyes, and her hair was more full and less greasy, as if more time had suddenly arisen for her to wash it more often.

I was sitting, not doing much, one day. I was wearing quite a short dress, so I was perched on a bench. I hadn't liked going on the grass as much since Inez caught me. Like Nick, Inez scared me.

I felt someone land in the seat beside me.

It was Danny.

He waved his hand wearily to me. I waved back.

Me and Danny never used as many words as Inez did. I think her saturation of them sickened us to the extent that we began to use less and less ourselves.

Danny looked around wildly, scouting for people. Sadly, there were lots. Sunny, Doug, Alfie, Fae and Lily were all sitting on the grass. They weren't particularly interacting with each other, mind.

"Do you wanna go to the beach?" Danny asked me, his eyes squinting in the sun.

I nodded oddly. Danny really did hate the beach. He hated the sand because it got everywhere. He hated the salty air. He only came if he had to, which was mostly because I loved it. I couldn't help but think he was being really, really, odd. It made worry curdle in my throat.

We walked down, Danny chatting my ear off about his day, suddenly all too keen to use words. Apperently he had had a croissant for his breakfast. I didn't even know they did croissants. I said this much to him.

We got to the beach and Danny suddenly started dragging me away from the track. We walk for five minutes, and when Danny is sure we aren't being watched, he relaxes.

"What is this about?" I asked him somewhat haughtily. I couldn't help it - my feet were now soaking with sand after being dragged across the beach, and I knew something was up.
"Me and Zack are... going."

I blinked, hardly taking it in.

"You are? But that isn't-"
"Nick's allowed it. We are just going to get supplies, but no one else has to know about it, okay?"
"Not even Inez?"
"Not even Inez."
"But why?" My eyes narrowed. Something was up here.

Danny stares at me as if I'm an idiot. Then I get it: he's escaping, with Zack. I chased my chance.

"I'll go with you." I insisted.
"No. You have to stay here. You're... too high of a risk."

I faltered, and then relented. No protest on my part would change his mind. I was wasting my breath asking him.

I stead I sighed.

Danny goes to walk away.

"Just... be careful, won't you?" I pleaded, with tears in my eyes. That could've been the last time that I ever saw my brother again.

I gave him a soul crunching hug. He whimpered almost in return.

I stayed there, my worry bubbling in my body and my tears refusing to run dry. I needed to stop. I needed to go back up and act normal, even if my makeup was ruined. I could just say I swam in the ocean. I could say anything.

That gave me an idea. I rushed up to The Base. I rushed past the gardens. I rushed to my room and I got my bathing costume and I went to the pool and I swam and swam and swam.

I swam until I heard a little padding of feet. I expected to see Skye, but to my surprise Fae was stood there instead.
"Hello, Finny." She greeted me confusedly.
"Hello." I muttered in my reply.
"Are you okay? You don't usually go in the pool."
I sighed, and decided to trust Fae.
"No, I'm not. Okay."
"Oh yeah?"
"Danny's escaping. And Zach."

The admission of it let me breathe a breath of fresh air. I felt purer for saying it.

Fae looked at me with her mouth curled into a down turned grimace, her eyes turned in.

"Don't tell anyone."
"I won't. I'm...sorry."

Me and Fae swam in silence for a while, until Fae made her excuses and went off. I then swam a little more.

I swam until I had little idea of a universe outside of the pool. I saw a distorted image under the water. I broke the boundary to hear Inez asking something.

"Do you know where Danny's gone? He seems to have vanished."