The Haunted Orphanage

Chapter 54

Mark's POV

My eyes widened and a grin formed on my face. "Jack!"

He didn't look toward me. He didn't so much as flinch.

"Mark, I already told you. The glass is one-way glass. He can't hear or see you," Thomas explained, almost in a sad voice.

"But," I felt hot tears begin to swell in my eyes, "but he's right there."

I watched Jack as he silently walked passed me in the crowd of prisoners. He had his head down, but I could see a bruise on the right side of his face.

"Why's he bruised?" I whispered.

"You're pretty bruised up yourself," Thomas replied. "Everything that's happened to Jack has happened to you. If you don't hurt too much, he's probably alright as well."

"Thomas, you never answered my question from before."

"Which one?" he asked.

"I asked you if your last name is Sanders."

A few seconds of silence followed as I watched Jack disappear behind a corner. "I can't tell you my full name–"

"I recognize your voice. I know it's you," I interrupted him.

Thomas sighed, "Don't forget that the glass will lift in a few hours. You have to walk to the cafeteria when that happens, or you won't get food." I silently nodded my head and walked back to the wall I had been chained to. "I'm going on lunch break, so I'll be back in a little while."

With that, the intercom shut off and I was left with my thoughts. I glanced at the timer on the wall. Zero eighteen.

Eighteen hours before the demon version of Percy was executed.

I sat against the wall and stared out the glass. A few prisoners were still making their way to the cafeteria. I hadn't seen Percy, so I assumed he was locked up somewhere else.

Then, an unavoidable thought crossed my mind: how the heck was I supposed to escape, let alone save Jack and Percy?

It didn't seem possible. As I'd been told by Thomas, the only time I was let out of my cell was for meals. To add, there were guards roaming the hallways.

I might've been able to find and talk to Jack in the cafeteria, but I didn't have the slightest clue where Percy was. Not to mention I only had eighteen hours to figure all of this out.

I needed a miracle.

As I was thinking, I heard the intercom turn on. "Mark? You alright?"

Thomas.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Well, other than the fact that literally everything that could've gone wrong is going wrong!" I screamed as I brought my knees to my chest and laid my head down on them.

"I personally believe that you need to have a bit more hope. You haven't been here for twenty-four hours and you're already giving up."

"I'm not giving up," I grumbled into my knees.

"What was that?"

"I'm not giving up!" I yelled, slightly annoyed. "I'm just pissed because nothing's going the way it's supposed to! I mean, I'm in the freaking Underworld! I should be back at my house with Dan, Phil, Felix, Cry, and Jack! We're supposed to be making YouTube videos of us fostering Reagan, Nate, and Percy! We should have been at that orphanage for a few hours at the most, not a few days! None of this is supposed to be happening!"

There were a few minutes of silence before Thomas answered, "Think of it like this: if you and your friends weren't going through this, someone else would have been."