Peyton's towns.

The decision

"Kiddo, it's breakfast" I heard the soft voice of Eleanor say. I slowly awakened and sat up, becoming more aware of my surroundings. "You do breakfast here?"
"Yeah, we have a cafeteria downstairs"
"What? Okay, I'm starving, I haven't eaten a meal in ages"
"I know, it's all been a bit messed up lately, but it's all sorted now and we can have an all you can eat breakfast together at last" she said in a strange voice whilst giggling. "I still don't have any clean clothes except your ones, but they're massive" I explained.
"That reminds me, I picked up these for you in the inside market on the third floor." She said as she handed me a bag full of clothes. I took them out one by one, I found a red plain long sleeved shirt with fluffy fabric inside and a pair of white shorts with seven pairs of bright orange socks, with days of the weeks stitched into them. "Thanks!" I said excitedly "so, can I try them on now?" I asked. "Yeah, I'll wait outside." She said and walked towards the door. "I almost forgot," she twisted around on her heel to face me "I bought you a pair of boots, i wasn't sure on your size so i just got the kids size, I hope it fits" She said as she exited the room. I undone my robe, which I slept in, to put on my new clothing. I tried wrapping the shirt around me gently, but it still struck intense pain through my shoulder and arm as I put my arm through the sleeve.I stepped over to the mirror and took a look at the massive scar I had on my shoulder to my arm. I eventually managed to pull the shirt over my arm and button it up. "I'm done" I called Eleanor. "Took you a while" she replied as she came in. "Looks great! Now let's go get food, I'm starving" she replied. I ran over to her in my new clothes. Everything fit great, I was just hoping that I wouldn't spill anything. We entered the lift and reached the canteen. "It's big" I said as I walked into the hall. It was a colossal room with red and gold walls and banisters with tables scattered around. Men and women with large plates and fancy uniforms were constantly rushing out the door like an army ready to serve. Their uniforms were immaculate and their shoes were polished to perfection. "Have a seat darling, I see you have a guest. What's your name?" A man said suddenly whilst doing many other jobs quickly.
"I'm Pey-"
"That's a beautiful name, so how may I help you? A table for two that's fine in fact that is perfect just follow me right this way. Would you like a kids menu? Oh who cares? I'll give you both. Have a nice stay and here are your menus I'll be back in a second to collect your orders happy eating!" The man said, barely pausing for a breath. We found ourselves sitting in two red and gold chairs around a silver circular table with three menus. "What menu are you using pey?" She asked me.
"I'm not sure, how large are the portions?"
"Massive. You had a kids roast dinner last time and that was enough so i think the kids menu would suit you just fine!" She said whilst scruffing up my hair.I'd forgotten about the meal I had last night, I only remember it was tasty. I opened up the menu and stared at the options. They had everything from toast, yogurt, waffles, pancakes, sandwiches, cupcakes, ice cream, sausage rolls, crepes, gingerbread, biscuits and much more. "I'll have the waffles with fruit, ice cream and maple syrup please, oh and an orange juice" said Eleanor. The chef was right, he was back within a minute. "Umm.... I guess I'll have the crepes with chocolate,sugar and lemon"
"Yes dear, but you can pick four toppings"
"Oh, I'll have the shortbread on the side then please." I said awkwardly. That was fast. "So, you know I'm leaving in two and a half weeks," whispered Eleanor. "Yeah...." I said.
"Have you made up your mind? Are you coming with me?"
"El, I just don't know. We'll probably starve and burn to death."
"I have a plan, which doesn't include you dying, me dying or anyone dying. Just trust me."
"Well, how about you come back to my place and show me this plan"
"I'll show you it, but you have to come to my place" she whispered. A lady with long brown hair and thick red glasses rushed through the hall with two plates, a normal sized one and a very large one. "Here are your meals, would you like any drink refills, oh you haven't started, chop chop here are your cups drink up and I hope you enjoy your stay, would you like anything? We have salt, pepper, various sauces and much more just ask and even if we don't have it we can order it in and everything will be perfect for you good day" she said, it was almost as if all the waitresses were from a different time zone. "Umm, could I have some strawberry sauce" I swallowed "umm, please?" The waiter peeped a look at me over her shoulder and ran straight through the double doors. She then burst straight out again and delivered the sauce, leaving the second it hit the table."thanks" I said, knowing she didn't hear a word. I looked down at the plate full of food. There were four big waffles, melted chocolate dribbled ,in a pattern, across it, a tub of lemon squeezer, a small sugar sachet and a jar of strawberry sauce. "Looks nice" said Eleanor with a wink."Yeah, umm, I forgot to ask you but where exactly do you live?"I asked whilst stuffing my mouth with food. The male waiter appeared with a plate of steaming hot bacon, then placing it on our table, saying "here is your complementary bacon, enjoy." I picked it up with my fork and placed it on the plate of waffles. Delicious. "Floor five, room number 53"
"Cool, I've forgotten even where I live!" I joked, but in truth I was being a little serious. " you live on floor twelve, room 128"
"Thanks." I said as we sat and ate our food in silence. My mind was in turmoil as I didn't know if I wanted to leave this place. It seemed so peaceful now that Kai was gone. The food was delicious and everything and even though they may be keeping secrets from us, they're looking after us. Although, on the other hand, I want to explore other places and taste different foods. After all, this place is where I was stabbed,shot,shouted at, why should I stay here? I thought. I'd decided that I'll see how foolproof Eleanor's plan was. I awoke from my daydream and saw Eleanor had finished her food, and so had I. "Tasty" I said. "Come on, let's head up to my room." She said as she stood up and I followed behind her. Through the corridors, into the lift and through more corridors and we found her room. She had a bigger, nicer room than I, but I didn't care. "Nice place you got here"
"Yeah,thanks, they made all the rooms like this till they started running out of wood and material, so now they make them smaller and with less things."
"So, the plan?" I said, she picked up a paper clip and bent it into a key, she then crawled underneath the draws and pushed a little ball with the paper clip, I heard it roll down to somewhere, and the draw opened, it seemed like a regular draw, just clothing. She then put the paper clip in a key hole in the side, where it opened and she picked up the tray of clothing and revealed the bottom of the draw. "So, this is where I keep the plans.It has to be locked away from the cleaners."
"Of course" I said, acting like I new everything about security. "So, step 1?"
"In the morning, we go with all the other people down to the canteen, but we take these backpacks" she held up two green bags with arm straps. "So, we put all the food in these plastic wallets and into the backpack. I say that you are injured, and we need to go to the bathroom to clean your cut up, and we leave this pen, it says my name on it, see" it was true, it had her name on it in purple letters, with a pink back ground. "When they come to return it to me, I will be in my bed, I say I don't feel too well and I'd appreciate it if no one bothered me throughout the day."
"What about me?"
"I'll say that you are asleep too because you hurt your arm and the pain is too much to handle."
"Okay"
"Then, you come over to my room at exactly 11:53, where we sneak out ,in disguise, to the bin slides. We then sit in the bins until 12:00,when the desert bin men come. They will empty us into the big lorry, and take us to the sea"
"The sea?"
"Yes, you see, up till the age of 12 I lived on a place called Rancher. It's an island, that isn't too far from here, I know because I have a map, which I've had since I arrived here. Any ways, we swim round to a boat shed, where we take a boat to the island. I still have the loyalty card they gave me for when I used to ride up and down the seas."
"Loyalty card?"
"Well, because I used them so often, they started stamping this card of mine, I have eight stamps, so the ninth one I get free"
"Cool, so we ride up to the island, then what?"
"We put the boat in the shed at the other side and then we live in the woods, doing simple chores for the islanders. They will pay us, and eventually we can buy a house of our own, where we shall live until a safer opportunity."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, pretty simple right?"
"Yes, almost too simple. Are you sure no one has tried this before?"
"I'm sure, the only fault is we may be stuck on the lorry for hours, or maybe we won't be able to get out."
"We will, they had bin karts in my home village, they will dump us straight in the sea"
"Us?So you are coming?!" She said excitedly.
"Yeah, of course, your like my best friend, who happens to be 20 years older than me." We laughed as she put the draw back together and hid the escape route. "It'll be fun"
"Yeah."
"Wanna go to the park?"
"Yeah" I replied casually, like we hadn't just discussed a dangerous plan to escape this mysterious place. So,we ventured down to the kiddie park, singing:
"It's a long long way to the destination,
We're off the little kiddie park
they should build more parks we should scream to the nation!
So we could get in before dark!"
When we eventually arrived at the park, Eleanor immediately hoped onto the swing bar and started doing pull-ups. I sat down on the swing beside her. "El, will be alone in Rancher?" I asked, scared that we would be stranded on a mysterious island, deserted from humanity. "Pey, of course not! There is a population of about 100, which is big in consideration to the size of the land! My great uncle Graham even lives there, you can't miss him, he's very wise, but silly, and has a white beard dragging down to his toes! He has hair that sticks up like flames and always wears multicoloured robes stitched from every material he can find! Trust me, we won't be alone, kiddo" she said chuckling, then continued doing pull-ups on the wooden swing bar. "Can I ask, why are we going at such a specific time?"
"Well, you can read my notebook all about it, but it is no use because it won't anything. I've calculated everything to the dot, studying every move everyone takes, so that we can perform the escape perfectly and precisely. I've even calculated how hot and cold the weather will be, so we will not burn to death. So don't worry."
"Ok, and-"
"Okay, you can take a shot at reading that notebook I spoke of." She said laughing "I mean, it'll answer all these questions you've asked and the ones you're going to ask. It's in my back pocket, here." She lifted out a tiny red notebook with many patterns and jumbled words. I sat on the edge of the round about and began reading. Interesting, I guess. Learning about this kind of stuff, I guess.