"Almost there. Almost there" Michael told himself. The park was circled with tress. The branches touching each other like they were holding hands. At the entrance, a sign read, 'Welcome to Brambly Park'.
Michael looked through the entrance to see Kody close by, waving frantically at him to run.
Thinking quickly, Michael said to Vanessa, "Hey, look over there!" pointing at the opposite direction.
He then sprinted across the road towards the park. Horns beeped and cars screeched to a sudden halt. He had a quick look to see what Vanessa was doing. She was still stupidly looking away.
"Oldest trick in the book", he chuckled.
"Michael I don't see anything... oh. Oh no, he's gone! Michael? Michael!" Vanessa called. She started to panic, looking everywhere.
Michael dodged and wove his way through the crowd towards Kody who seemed to be further away than he first thought. As Michael approached Kody, he grabbed him and ran from the park and across the road towards some old vacant buildings.
"We need to get out of sight", Michael said as he was running.
"But won't it be harder for us to be spotted in a large crowd?" Kody said, puffing heavily.
"Yes, but any one of those people be someone who might recognise me. They could call up the hospital and we would be back to where we started".
Michael and Kody arrived in a quiet spot between a disused restaurant and a hotel. Michael had packed enough food for a few days.
They stopped to rest and eat and drink.
"We can't just keep on running aimlessly. We need to find something to keep us warm, some more supplies and a place to sleep" urged Kody.
Conveniantly, Michael had seen some towels hung over a fence-line to dry. If thet were still there, he could go grab them, but there was the risk of being seen.
"Michael make up your mind! It's getting dark" Kody said.
Michael sighed and cautiously wandered out of the shadows of the alley and back to where he'd seen the towels.
Towels were not his first choice of warmth but it'd have to do, and he couldn't be picky.
When Michael arrived at the house, he panicked. He couldn't see the towels anywhere. But he was relieved to find them lying further down the street. He picked them up, quickly looked around to see no one was watching, and ran straight back to his hiding place where Kody was waiting.
He had returned to the alley puffing and threw the towels on the ground next to Kody. "About time! We need to find somewhere safe to sleep.. and fast!"
Both Michael and Kody looked up in the sky and saw it was quickly getting dark.
A cool breeze caused them to shiver and Michael handed a towel to Kody.
"Look over there. There's an underpass we could sleep in" Kody said, pointing towards a green lit tunnel.
Michael was relieved. He didn't like the idea of being out in the open.
They got up, packed everything back into Michael's backpack except the towels which the wrapped around their shoulders, and wandered towards the underpass. Kody handed his towel to Michael, and he wrapped it around his ears.
"But won't you be cold?" Michael asked.
Kody smiled. "No it's ok. I'll survive. Besides, you need to stay hidden from all those doctors. It'll be a good disguise if they can't see your face".
Michael couldn't argue with that, and he did like that his face was protected from the bitter wind.
At the underpass, they sat underneath a din, quietly buzzing light. Michael handed the towel back to Kody and they both wrapped themselves up in the towels. The ground was hard and cold but after a while Michael managed to get himself comfortable and fell into a deep and uneasy sleep.
He dreamt again that night. But for the first time in a long time, it was not of the black cloud. It was of all the events that had happened over the years during Michael's stay at the hospital, and all of the terrible things that haunted him.
He woke up panting and sweating. A low growl echoed from one end of the underpass. Kody was nowhere to be seen. The lights seemed to be fading to black one by one, the darkness approaching Michael. Then he saw it. Those bright, yellow, glowing eyes. Black smoke trailed behind it. The huge mouth with jagged, yellow teeeth. And the smell! Michael could smell it from the other side of the tunnel, making him gag.
It was the black cloud.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOU ARE READING
Prisons
Short StoryA boy named Michael and his friend Kody escape the hospital they had been living in for the past 5 years. But what they encounter during their escape will change their outlook on life forever...
