The School For Gifted Kids

Chapter 15: Ben

Willa ran over and closed the door, while I finally managed to put a face to the voice i've been hearing all night.

"Arson."

"Ben."

He nodded at Willa and Elle.

"Who are they?"

"They're coming with us."

"Alright. Come this way."

"Through the ceiling?"

"Unless you want to go through the door..."

We followed after him, with much difficulty. We had to move the table under the one removable ceiling tile so we could get up. We followed him through small, cramped, tunnels made with unsteady, thin metal siding. With every move forward, I was afraid we'd fall to the room below us. Arson just kept going, he was small enough to move much quicker than the rest of us. We finally stopped at some sort of vent. Arson held up a hand, signalling for us to stop. He peered through the vent, then turned back to us. 

"Wait here."

Thats all he said, and then quickly took the cover off the vent and slipped out. I started out after him, but he replaced the grate before I could get out. I pressed my face against it, so I could see a small room that looked more like a glorified broom closet than sleeping quarters, but thats what they were obviously being used for. There was three beds pushed up by the wall, and a chest of drawers by a set of stairs going down. But over in the corner, Anika and the other girl were talking to Arson. I shushed the others, and listened to their conversation. The girl was talking to him first. She had interesting hair, blonde on top and red on the bottom.

"Arson, why do you want her to go? Anastasia will be mad if she's seen downstairs."

"Caddy, I want to talk to you in private."

"She can hear whatever you have to say to me."

Anika just stood there, smirking at Arson behind Caddy's back. Arson made a face, but Anika made one back. 

"She goes."

"Fine."

Anika rolled her eyes and stomped down the stairs.

"Caddy, I need your help."

"As a sister, or as a friend?"

"What do you mean?"

"As a friend I'll try to stop you from making stupid decisions." 

"And as a sister?"

"I'll help you with anything."

"Sis, I need your help."

He talked it over with her, not without absence of angry/mad/surprised faces from Caddy. But at last he came over and removed the grate. Me and the girls toppled out one after another, acquiring multiple bruises. 

"Arson, this is not what I meant by anything. Do you know how mad-"

"How mad Anastasia will be? She won't notice 'till later. She doesn't really care about prisoners."

"But once she does notice? Arson, she'll take both of us!" 

"She won't get the chance. I'm going with them. And if you want to survive, you'll come too."

"Arson! You screw everything up! What made you think you could pull this off?! Wait- don't tell me. It was 'mom' right? She's dead. Get it through your thick skull!"

I could see Arson trying to stay strong, but he was hurt. 

"It's the right thing to do, Caddy. Anastasia isn't our real mom!"

"We don't have a mom! This is all we have and you just screwed it up!"

The moment froze, both of them staring angrily at each other, awkwardness thick in the air. We just stood there, not a word was being spoken.

"If you go, she'll kill me. Please don't do this..."

"I'm going. With, or without you."

He started down the stairs, and we (awkwardly) followed. We made our way through winding hallways quietly avoiding detection. We were just about to head around a corner when we heard a voice. Arsons eyes grew to the size of saucers. He pushed us back against the wall as his eyes narrowed.

"They shouldn't be here."

"Who?"

"The cleaning crew. The hallway is closed." 

Willa sighed and Elle dropped her head.

"Whats wrong?"

Willa threw her hands up in frustration.

"Ben, how could you guys not think of this! You told me you had a solid plan, no failure involved!"

"Well excuse me, but we only came up with A plan at 2 in the morning."

Arson shushed our argument, but not before adding a comment.

"I made the plan."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Arson shushed me again. He held up his hand, signalling for us to stay. He peeked his head around the corner, then beckoned for us to follow him back the way we came. This time Elle (who had been quietly pouting) was the one to get mad at me. 

"Where are we going!? We can't go back, we'll be caught!"

"No, we won't."

Arson's eyes were fierce and determined. We got back to the stairs, and Arson marched up them, not looking back. We followed, again, awkwardly behind him. I stopped the girls when Arson stepped into the room, facing Caddy with anger in his. We stood waiting on the last step, while Arson totally tore out Caddy.

"Caddy, as much as you'd like to believe it, that monster of a woman out there? She is NOT our mother. And she never will be. Our real mother might not be alive, but at least she was our mother. Anastasia literally locked us in a cell. Please, at least help them survive."

"Arson, she'll kill us! We need to get them back to their cell."

"Whatever. I'd rather die than live like this. Live in fear... I've crawled around in vents for two years of my life trying to find a way out of this prison. And you know how I absolutely hate small spaces. That's all this place is you know. A prison. Two days after tomorrow, I'll be 10. I'd prefer to spend my birthday with freedom."

Caddy sneered, trying to think of a comeback. 

"What ever happened to the stupid journal Drew gave you?"

Arson turned to me.

"Ben?"

I fished it out of my pocket, and gave it to Caddy. She pulled a couple loose pieces of paper from the back of the book. 

"You probably don't remember them, Arson, but these are the letters you and Drew wrote to mom after she died."

Arson grabbed them from her hands and flipped through them, a sad smile on his face. 

"I miss them."

"Drew, or mom?" 

"I miss our family. You're all I've got."

"Fine. You've convinced me. I'll help, but we have to go through the vents. I know an exit."

"Deal."

P.S:
If you want to read the letters that Arson and his older brother Drew (who disappeared earlier in Arsons life) wrote to their dead mother, read Letters to a Lost One, by brokenspringlock.