Dreams

Spreading the Plan

Chapter Five: Spreading the Plan

Elias tossed and turned. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get his mind to rest. Early the next morning, when the guards came to wake up the kids, Elias sat, already awake on his bed. His eyes were bloodshot and extremely sore. His hair was tangled and he didn’t even bother to shower that morning. The bags under his eyes were a deep shade of purple and made him look a lot older than he should have. As he shuffled his way to breakfast, his chocolate brown eyes darted from every single shadow and jumped again whenever he heard a noise. Elias didn’t even bother to grab his breakfast tray; he just sat down with Elisa, Emi, and Ignatius. Ignatius smiled at him and winked, as if he didn’t see anything wrong. Elias just stared down at the table, studying the light-dark pattern of the wood. His stomach rumbled loudly and Elisa cleared her throat. “Elias, is there something you need to tell me? You’ve been losing sleep again, haven’t you?” Elias didn’t look up. Elisa waited. “Did you even get any sleep last night?” Elisa’s voice was rising, as if she were annoyed with him for not being able to sleep. Elias still didn’t answer. He didn’t see the point. She could figure it out on her own. “Elias! You could at least answer me you know.” Elias jumped when she screamed his name. Elisa never raised her voice. This was the first time he’d heard her yell. He looked up at her and she was showing no emotion as usual. Even after finally raising her voice, she still maintained her stuck-up air.  “God damn it, Elisa! Figure it out yourself would you? It doesn’t take a genius, you know. And would it kill you to show any sort of emotion once in a while? Be a God damn human for once!” Elias slammed his hands down on the table and walked back to his dorm. The kids were always allowed to go back before the next bell, but Elias never did because he’d always wanted to stay and talk with Elisa and Emi. How stupid it seemed now that he’d want to talk with those idiots. A robotic girl who refused to do anything but follow the rules and a clueless ex-lab rat. Emi was always extremely sensitive about that topic, but it was about time that she grew up a little and faced reality. They were freaks, cast off from society. Nobody cared about them, especially not the guards, and they definitely weren’t normal. It was time that they realized this. Elias slammed the door behind him and plopped himself down on his bed. He balled his hands into fists so tight that he felt his fingernails digging into his skin. Damn, why was he so angry all of a sudden? At least he’d had the common sense to walk away from Elisa instead of reaching across the table to punch her in the face, like he’d wanted to do so badly. Elias grinded his teeth together and felt tears of anger and confusion welling up in his eyes. The door opened quietly, besides the faint squeak it always made. Elisa stepped inside, looking concerned. She closed the door gently behind her. "Elisa! How did you get in here?” Each hallway was guarded; making sure girls didn’t go into boy’s dorms and vice versa. Elisa smiled gently as she walked gracefully over to Elias and sat down next to him. “I bend matter and light; I made it so that I could not be seen.” Elias smiled slightly, wiping away his tears. Students weren’t allowed to use their ability. Elisa never broke any rules. Just her presence now seemed to calm him. Elisa put her hand on his back and fixed her deep red eyes on Elias. “Now, are you going to tell me what happened?” Elias sniffed and nodded solemnly. “Aislin.” Elias’s voice cracked at that one word. He felt his throat close up and his voice came out raspy. “She came again. You know that dream I told you about? Well, I don’t think it was just some nightmare, I think it was her, sending me a message. She came back again, this time not in a dream. She was actually there, but then she wasn’t. It was like time had stopped just for her to talk to me. She told me she had put this plan she’d created into Ignatius’s head. A plan to escape. A genius plan.” Elisa looked at him, quizzically. “A plan to escape?” Elias nodded. It involves our help, you, me and Ignatius. Elisa furrowed her brow. “What is this plan?” Elias smiled and told her every detail that Ignatius had told him, besides that fact that it was possible without her. Elisa just nodded uniformly, her hand resting on her chin as she thought about what she’d just been told. After a long silence, Elisa looked up at Elias. His stomach churned, doubting that she would go along with it. “That might actually work.” Elias’s face immediately brightened. “We’d be breaking at least a dozen rules, though.” Elias’s shoulders slumped a little. “But, I’ll do it.” “Yes!” shouted Elias. He gave a quite surprised Elisa a big hug. She hesitated a little before hugging him back. Elias was glad that Elisa agreed to come. Not only would it make the escape so much easier, but he just couldn’t imagine going without her, knowing that she was still imprisoned. Elisa was like an older sister to him. She made him feel warm inside, like she completed some emptiness that was taken away when he was forced to leave his family. She acted very much like she was responsible for the younger two and, not that he would admit it, but it was kind of comforting to know she was there for him. He finally pulled away from the embrace and smiled. “I’m glad you’re coming.” Elisa barely smiled her mouth a small curve. “I’m glad too.”