MisPrints

•Chapter 4•

I stood and stared at the door.

What else was there to do?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a part of me that wanted to believe it would magically slide back open in a few seconds. But no. I've learned by now that life is never that kind.

Within about 10 seconds, the threatening hum of a guardian's engine began to vibrate around the walls, alerting me that a huge robot with scanning lasers would shortly be hovering around the corner.

Time to move.

I turned, and ran left along the corridor, away from the ominous prowling hum. Right. Left. Another Right. As I ran, my eyes were scanning the doors, Checking to see if there were any locks that were yet to be activated... But no. The lasers were all glowing brightly around the panels.

Another corridor appeared beside me and I ran down it without thinking. All I needed was a place to hide.  

Another ghostly white corridor. Another door. Another corridor. It went on... And on..... A mad criss-cross of interlinking passageways and openings, this place wasn't built to be easily navigated. My legs were aching and my head was beginning to spin. I wasn't used to running so much. It's against the law in here. I leaned against the wall trying to regain my breath before moving on. Maybe the shut down will turn off again. I tried to tell myself, it cant be fully charged? but I knew it was hopeless. Maybe they upgraded the system. I flew to a stop and pressed myself against the wall as a guardian appeared around the corner and waited, my heart beating as it slowly hovered by me.

That was close, I need to be more careful.

 Suddenly I heard a sound. It wasn't loud, but it was there nonetheless. A thumping noise, a thudding, a rhythmic banging, coming from the nearest corridor on the right. I breathed in and out slowly before walking towards the sound. Keeping close to the wall, and stepping lightly, my feet hardly making a sound of the cold floor.

The sound got louder and louder, until finally I was able to see what was making the noise. It was a door. It was trying, but failing to shut itself.. And as I walked closer, I could see there was a chair wedged between the door and the doorframe, keeping it from sliding shut. and it almost certainly hasn't been put there by accident.

A hiding place.

I climbed over the chair, timing it so the door didn't have the chance to clip my fingers, and slid into the dark dormitory inside. I pondered whether to take the chair out of the door but decided not to, I might need to get out again.

The only light was from the gentle glow of the cavity bulbs. I could make out faint figures of the people sleeping inside, it was rather disturbing, like they were lying dead in their coffins. I hurried quickly over to corner of the room not wanting to look at the sleeping people and sat down on the polished ground with my arms around my knees.

How had the guardians not noticed the door? Surely an error report would have been sent to the main control room immediately? Someone will probably come soon and discover that I'm in here...

I shivered and hugged my knees a little tighter. The cold floor was freezing me slowly up from my toes, and my fingers were like ice. I rubbed them together to try and make some heat, but it didn't achieve much. After a few minutes I began to drift off into an uncomfortable frozen sleep when I heard the sound of running feet against the floor of the outside corridor. I closed my eyes tightly.

They're coming they're coming they're coming! My head screamed at me. They're going to find you they're going to find you, they'll take you away, away for ever and ever....

And then somebody came into the room.

I saw a dark figure in front of the glow of the door. It stood and waited for about 3 seconds, it's hands placed on the chair, waiting for the door to close again, trying to time it right. Then, with a quick sudden moment, the figure pulled the chair out from between the frame and the door slide shut quietly with a click.

Great. Now I was totally trapped in here.

The person the lifted the chair and began to carry it across the room to put it back under the desk it came from. I closed my eyes and hugged my knees a little tighter, pressing myself into the wall. But before they'd even got halfway across the room, I heard the footsteps pause, followed by the thud of the chair as it hit the floor.

I had been seen.

I could almost feel their eyes on me. I pressed my eyes tighter and prayed that they would go away. Please don't take me away, please please don't....

That's when I realised about the footsteps. The footsteps... they were shoeless. The person had bare feet. It was another MisPrint. Not an overseer. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and opened my eyes.

And screamed.

There was a pair of eyes not more than 30 centimetres away from my face. They were glinting in the green light, and flashing as the pulse of the bulbs faded and grew. Green eyes. The figure clapped their hand over my mouth.

"Shhhh!" The eyes said. "SHHH!!." I stopped, breathing quickly, so much so that my chest was close to exploding.

"Hey?" It whispered again. It was a boy, I realised from his voice, making out the faint outline of his shorter hair against the glow. Was this... wait, was this the boy I saw earlier?

"I-I..... Got stuck outside I needed to hide from the..."

"Why were you outside?" He asked, interrupting me.

"Why... why were YOU." I retorted, annoyed at how he didn't let me speak. "How did you know about the shut down?"

"My sister told me."

"Your sister? MisPrints don't have sisters!" I whispered disbelievingly.

"I did." He said.  We sat in silence and stared at each other in the darkness.

"Why did you come to the the Boys Sector then?" he asked, changing the subject suddenly.

"I....didn't know this was the boys sector."

"Oh." He answered. There was a pause. "How did you find out about the shut down?" He asked.

"My friend told me."

"What was her name?" He asked.

"Why?" I replied, cautiously. Why does he want to know so much?Who is this boy?

"What was her name?" He asked again.

I considered refusing to tell him, but gave in. There was no point arguing in such an awfulsituation. "Mia. Her name was Mia." I replied eventually.I saw the boy's outline look down at the floor.

"Why do you want to know." I asked again. "What is it with you and asking questions?"

He looked up at me, and I saw his eyes looking straight at me through the darkness.  

"Because Mia was my sister."

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Authors note:

Hihii :3

I have no idea where this is going, but we'll see :) The first chapter has nearly 100 reads now! :3 Thanks very much! :) If you liked it please give it a Vote to show me people actually like it... And adding it to your reading list would be nice too if you think it's worth it! :3

See you next chapter :)

-love Chloe x