Escaping Our Sanity

Chapter 7: A Vision Of Hope

    After what Earnest told me, I actually felt a small amount of hope. I didn't feel happiness though. The day after Earnest talked to me and told me the plans, I realized that I hadn't seen my brother Josef in 4 years. I was immediately filled with despair when I remebered that Josef promised me that he would visit and send letters. What could have happened? I thought. I needed a way to contact him. The only possible way to do that would be to discreetly send a letter, by convincing Dr. Hoffrey to get it to him.

     I sat on the cold, wooden floors and was angered over the thought that I had missed 4 years of my life. By then, Josef would have been 12 years old. I also realized that I haven't left this building in 4 years. I couldn't believe that it was 1885 already, either. I needed some way to contact the outside world, and find out what had happened within the time I was gone. I had only known what went on in Briarwood Asylum in London, England.

    The world was still caught up in the excitement from the invention of Thomas Edison's lightbulb, which came out in 1880, 5 years ago from then. That was the last of what I remembered. I just wanted to escape that living hell. Earnest finally came back up to my room a day after that, and told me to come with him. I was worried that we would get caught, and I would be tortured and he would be fired, But he explained that we would be fine because we were using the hidden corridors as means of transportation. Only few knew of them. I followed him into the long, dark hallway that was behind the painting in the hallway.

     We walked until we finally saw light. At the end of the tunnel, there were 3 unfamiliar faces waiting quietly. There were two boys and one girl. One of the boys had to have been about 13 years old or so. The other boy seemed to be a bit older than me, and the girl was around 19 years of age. "Umm... hi, I-I'm Eliza Fern. Who are you?" The girl stepped forward and said "Maragreta Elleon, pleased to meet you." Then the youngest boy of the group stood upright and said "Hello ma'am, I am Gregory Tindley. Great to have you with us." And finally the boy that was my age shuffled up a bit and bashfully whispered "H-hi there. I'm..... Quinton Richeski. He held out his left hand and shook mine." I was staring at my feet when we said who he was, but then I looked up at him.

     He was the most handsome gentleman I had ever set my eyes upon. His eyes gleamed in the dim, lantern-lit hall. In his eyes I saw pain, sorrow, and a hunger for revenge. He had black hair and deep-set brown eyes. I looked further down at him and was shocked to see that he was missing his right arm from the elbow, down. I was nervous to ask him what had happened to his arm. I opened my mouth to ask and then Dr. Hoffrey cut me off abruptly. "Okay, so now that we all know each other, let's discuss our plans." He started to go on.

I walked over to Quinton and pulled him aside. He was caught off-guard and seemed like he was extremely nervous. "Hey. I-I was wondering what happened to your arm... I don't mean to intrude. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said. "Oh no, you're not intruding. It's fine. Well, I've been at Briarwood since I was 9, because I have Epilepsy. All of the people from my hometown thought I was possessed by a demon. Many different priests were sent to "exorcise" me. I was horribly ashamed and felt rejected by everyone. When I was 13, Doctor Carson decided to send me to Doctor Menlio, who is the main surgeon here. He thought that by amputating my arm, It would be a way to cut out the virus that they believed was causing my seizures. It was horrible." He whispered. I felt rage overcome my body. "I am so sorry about what happened to you. Don't worry though, we will escape soon. Thank you for telling me. You seem like a really nice guy, Quinton." I said softly. He blushed.

    "You seem like a really nice girl." He said. "By the way, how did you end up here? There is nothing wrong with you!" He added. I told him my story and then went on to say, "By the way, don't mind my hair, I know it's ugly. The nurse cut it off awhile ago and it never really grew back right. I'm ugly." I proceded to say. "I think you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met, Eliza." He mumbled. I stepped forward and hugged him. He hugged back. "Thank you." I said in his ear. From that point on, I knew that I loved him.