Hidden Under Perfection

Chapter 25: Doran

The cuts on my wrist rub against the cuffs, I grimace every time the skin touches the metal. The cuts aren't healing, I am forced to wear chains and handcuffs at all times other than when I shower. They don't bandage the cuts and soon I think I might get an infection. I take my time when moving, trying to touch the metal as less as possible. I wince when the cuff slips into the wound and I slowly move my wrists. Lynn stares at me, pity showing on her face, she mouths, "are you okay?"

"Sort of," I respond. It has gotten easier to communicate with her without words.

"Claire says hi."

I nod and I tell her, "John is okay."

"Okay, good," the tension leaves her shoulders.

"John wants to escape."

"Me too, I want to go home. I want to see John."

"Can you talk to Claire the next time you see her, maybe get her to tell her mom?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Tell her I love her." I mouth, I want to see her, I want to hear her voice, I want to feel her hair. She is all I have left.

"Yeah," she answers.

"Thank you," I turn away from her and I stare at the blank wall. I can't bare her pity anymore. The time passes slowly and it seems like forever before the door clicks open with the guard bringing dinner. I slowly turn around and he unlocks the cuffs from the chains. Today, the guard is a boy, maybe a couple years younger than me. He has red hair and brown eyes, he looks at me as if he knows me, but I haven't seen this guy once in my whole life. He puts the tray down with more force than necessary then takes a few steps back.

I pick up the spoon and I take a few bites of mush, if you can call them bites. I swallow the glob and I feel it as it goes down my throat. I ignore the water at the top of the tray and I keep eating the white, flavorless mush. My throat and mouth are dry but I don't drink the water, the sedative in it is very strong and I don't want to sleep yet. I fill my stomach with the mush and I take the smallest sip of the water, this should dilute the drug enough that I can stay awake. The guard leaves with my tray and locks up my hands. I start thinking about how we could escape this place.

As far as I can tell, there are no vents and no windows. I can't see any cameras, but they are there somewhere, if Claire got hold of a computer, she could disable those in a heartbeat. The guards don't live here, there are different guards every day, so there has to be a way out of here. We have to find a way to get past the guards and out of the building without getting caught. I feel the drugs take hold and my eyelids become heavier. I fall asleep quickly and the last thing I see is the bright fluorescent light from the ceiling.

The first thing I see is the same red haired guard standing over my bed, I think it is too early for the shower, I don't know what he is doing here. I start to say, "What is happening," but before I get through the whole phrase he clamps his hand around my mouth and brings a finger to his mouth, telling me to be quiet. When I don't say anything he releases my face and whispers, "Hi, my name is Liam."I know that name and I immediately want to punch him in the face, but I restrain myself because it will just hurt me. I glare at him, and he takes a step back and then says, "She told you about me, didn't she?"

I nod, not talking so that he doesn't put his hand on my face again. He face palms and shakes his head and under his breath I hear him say, "this is going to be harder than I thought." He rubs his face and then looks at me and then starts talking, "I am not here to get back together with Claire, I just want to help. I care about her, and I shouldn't have told them about her seeing the real world. This is all my fault and I can't bare seeing her in pain. I need to get her out of here, we need to get out of here." He looks at me expectantly and as if he just dumped all of the contents of his soul to a stranger, which he did.