Open Your Eyes, It's Just a Dream (Escape From Furnace Fanfic)

Chapter Six

We walked quickly through a small crack in the wall and into a hallway that lead into a cafeteria looking area. Alina stayed away from the inmates and scanned the crowd. She finally found who she was looking for and skipped over to Rowan. He was sitting with Christian at one of the tables with a bucket of slop in front of them. Rowan saw us walking up and grinned. “How are you settling in?” He asked as I sat down. I groaned and poked at Christian’s food, which sat untouched in front of him.

“Not great.” I chuckled and leaned back. “Who does though?”

“Actually you and Christian are handling this very well.” Rowan plopped some food in his mouth. “Most people get beat up when they show up, they flip out and hide for a couple days, or try to jump.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Jump? From where?” Rowan rolled his eyes.

“Have you paid any attention to where you are? They try to jump from the walkways. It doesn’t always work though. Some just bounce and then are whisked away by the guards, never to be seen again.” I flinched at the visual that had just been seared into my eyes and looked around. Christian looked at me.

“Want some?” He asked, pushing the bowl of slop towards me. I looked at it skeptically but grabbed the fork. “The lead Skull is Rex I think.” He said, gesturing towards the group of teen boys in skull bandannas leaning against a wall. I nodded. Christian was staring at his hands. The odd thing about us is that we will fight but then we either make up or make small talk as soon as we see each other again. There is never any of the ‘I’m not talking to you for a week because we fought’ crap. I guess that’s why we’re so close. In all honesty outside of Gary, Christian was my closest friend, even closer then my best friend Rose.

Alina poked Rowans shoulder. “We want food.” She whined. “And I told Phoebe to stay in the cell but she followed me. Ow! Stop pinching me!!” She swatted at the empty air next to her and glared. Christian looked at me skeptically and I shrugged.

“I’ll go get food with you and Phoebe stop pinching her.” Rowan replied and then scolded the invisible girl. He looked over at our confused faces and mouthed, “Just go with it”. I nodded and smiled at Alina.

“I have an idea.” I grinned at Christian then turned towards the Skulls. “Hey Rex?” His head snapped up and the others looked at me. There wasn’t very many of them, only four or five. There was easily ten or twelve Fifty-niners. I motioned for them to come over and they did. Rowan stiffened up as they approached and glanced at me. Rex plopped down on the bench next to me.

“What do you want ‘strange Skull girl who’s name I cant remember’?” He mumbled, watching the inmates move around. I grinned thinking of the other Skulls. Some of them acted the same way when I joined them.

“It’s Melody but call me Mel.” He nodded. “This girly here wants food. Think you could watch out for her as she goes over?” He raised an eyebrow then grinned.

“No problem Mel.” One of the Skull’s eyes lit up and he stepped forward.

“You remind me of my little sisters Felicity and Kalista.” Alina smiled and looked at Rowan.

“Is it okay with them?” He shrugged and nodded. Happily, Alina jumped up and ran over to the guy who stepped forward. “What were they like?” She piped up. They walked next to her, blocking her from the other gang and inmates, and started telling her stories.

“See they act all tough but we’re just kids too.” I smiled at Rowan and he chuckled.

“I’m impressed. I’m sorry about her being kind of-“ He swirled his figure next to his head and chuckled again. “It’s my fault I guess. She lost it a few weeks after being in here. She really flipped out and a lot and she ended getting put in solitary. I’m still not quite sure why. I wasn’t with her and then one day I couldn’t find her and a few of the guys said she had been taken by the Warden. When she came back she was like this.” I nodded and picked up a forkful of the slop. I eyed it wearily but then gave in to my stomach and stuck it in my mouth. The mush dropped off my spoon and slid across my tongue, leaving an unpleasant salty taste behind. I gagged slightly but choked it down.