In These Walls - Laurroth

3

!!WORD COUNT: 2306 WORDS!!

Garroth POV

Goodbye, my friends.
Goodbye, family.
Goodbye...
...
I felt my body drop to the ground as I was on my knees, gasping for air. Laurance was standing in front of me, defending me from Gene.
"What are you doing?" Gene snapped at him.
"Gene, you've gone too far." Laurance spoke, fists clenched.
"Get out of the way unless you want to end up like Garroth." Gene threatened, pointing to me.
They turned and saw my bruised and broken body, covered in dust and dirt with cuts and scrapes. I was still out of breath, panting for air in my damaged lungs.
Laurance turned back to Gene and punched him right in the face.
I coughed, "L-Laurance let me handle m-my own fight-"
"Garroth shut the hell up and stay down." Laurance glared at me, his eyes sparked red. I backed away in fear and leaned against the wall.
He turned his head back to a now pissed Gene.
"I see, you defend the new kid...." Genes eyes glowed red also. Red particles whirled around both of them.
"Guys, you cant do this here!" Shawn shouted.
They both glared at each other but their eye color returned to normal. The particles vanished. What was that?
"Laurance I'll get you later. Be ready." Gene glared, and walked off with his group.
I stared up at Laurance still in shock. His hair swayed perfectly on the light breeze. His dark jacket was slightly worn, and as he turned his head slightly to face me, I realized how pissed he was.
"You are one hell of an idiot, Ro'Meave." He said, turning to me and lifting me up by the arm.
I just coughed gratefully, leaning on him for support. Laurance brought one of my arms around his shoulder and his around my waist.
"Damn, I can feel your ribs." He muttered.
The announcer spoke: "all prisoners to cells."
Laurance and I got over to our cell, still in each others support. Gene was close behind us but didn't dare say or do anything because the warden was watching us closely.
After we got shut in out cell, Laurance sat me down on his bed.
"Garroth....tommorow when you wake up... Read this." He handed me a folded up note. I started to open it but he clamped my hands shut and made me look at him.
"Don't read it now. Burn it or dispose of it so nobody will see it again after reading, okay?" He Laurance said sternly, staring into my eyes. I nodded, confused.
"Good. Now drink this." He reached under his bed and pulled out a glowing purple liquid in a vile.
"What is it?" I observed, confused.
"Drink it." Laurance demanded.
I opened the cap hesitantly and looked down at it. Laurance took it and poured it into my mouth.
It tasted awful.
"What is that?!" I coughed.
"You'll see tomorrow." He stood up.
I shakily got off of his bed and crawled up the ladder onto my bed. I carved another tally, marking down 2 days.
"Good night Garroth." Laurance spoke.
"Good night." I yawned.
Our room was very plain and simple: creaky bunk beds, a single chair, and a poster on the wall of an inventor.
The lights shut off again, one by one until it was pitch black.

<|| Next Day ||>

Laurance.
He was gone.
I felt the note in my hand and I groaned and sat up. It seems I woke up early.
Laurance said to read it in the morning...
The note read:
When you read this, I will be gone.
You have to burn this once you are done.
I have escaped the grasp of the bird, leaving through the lightbulb man. His thoughts are stone and rough, but near the end it drops down into a place of disgust. After inching through, you'll find yourself at a peek. For I will be there, living what you seek.

-L

What the hell?
What kind of letter is this?
I sighed and stuffed it in my deep pocket. I have escaped the grasp of the bird? What did that mean?
"Get up!" The warden yelled.
Every prisoner stood up and waited for their cell doors to open.
"Rolecall!" The warden shouted.
The cells opened, and all of the prisoners flooded down to the main room.
We all stood single filed as the warden came down with the clip board.
Where was Laurance?!
The warden stopped in front of me.
"Prisoner 23573, where is 19428?" He asked me, identifying me by my patch on the uniform.
"I don't know." I responded.
"Lies. You are his cell mate." He glared.
"Sir, I'm telling you nothing but the truth." I ground my teeth.
"You are a liar, just like you said you didn't kill your mo-"
"Don't you f**king dare talk about my mother again." I glared up at him.
"Guards, tommorow escort this one to solitary confinement. Keep him there for a week and let him learn to treat his superiors better and to question him on the disappearance of 19428." The warden snapped. That's when I saw it.
On his uniform, and all of the other guards uniforms.
A bird patch.
Is that what Laurance was talking about?
He escaped the bird...
He escaped the prison!
The prison logo is a bird so thats what it had to mean.
The warden continued walking, making sure everyone was there.
Also, from what I noticed, my injuries were healed. At least somewhat. The usual smoggy air didn't taste like anything at all.
It was bound to be the potion.
"All prisoners to the cafeteria." The monotone voice spoke in the speakers, and we followed the orders.
My stomach was eating away at itself. I hadn't eaten in days. I was bound to get in trouble, so I went to the line and got food.
For Laurances riddle... Leaving through the lightbulb man... What could that mean?
I debated all of the possibilities until I got to the line.
"Name?" A lunch lady glared.
"Garroth Ro'Meave." I spoke.
"You haven't eaten for your past 3 meals. If you don't eat now, you'll pay." She dropped a slice of moldy bread onto my tray and a bowl of a mysterious broth.
I sighed and sat at the corner table, feeling the glares of many prisoners. They knew that I know where Laurance could've gone.
My spoon stirred through the broth. I hesitantly lifted the metal spoon to my lips, and take a sip.
It didn't taste like anything.
It was bland.
Thank Irene for laurance.
I ate the bowl of soup and just stared at the bread.
Not eating that.
A while later, the announcer spoke again: "All prisoners to courtyard."
I walked outside with a spring in my step. That potion must've really helped my strength. I ran to the far end of the courtyard where less prisoners were. People back at the entrance were as small as ants. I looked up at the guard tower that was closest and saw a man with a shotgun looking directly at me.
I think I'm too close to the border.
I slowly backed away and went closer to where the other prisoners were.
"Hello, Garroth." I turned around and saw Gene, smiling down at me. Zenix and Shawn were talking in another group, leaving me alone with Gene.
"I'm done with the bull crap Gene." I glared.
"Where did your guardian angel go?" Gene smirked.
"Acting like a dick won't make yours any bigger. And it's none of your business" I pressed.
"You don't want me to do what I did yesterday, do you?" He chuckled.
I swooped behind him and grabbed his arms, pulling his forearms upwards into a painful position behind and upwards towards his shoulder blades. Gene landed face first into the ground.
"I told you to leave me alone." I said.
I felt stronger... And faster. Laurance did this. I wish I could thank him, but how the hell am I supposed to find him through riddle?!
"F-fine, I'll go." Gene groaned. I got off of him and ran back towards the entrance. Luckily he kept his exclaim and stayed with his normal group. I avoided any of the groups that were looking at me funny.
"Hey, Ro'Meave!" I turned my head to a group of guys that were coming towards me. Not again.
"I saw you take down gene, so-" I cut him off by grabbing my hand around a sensitive pressure point on his neck and hold him against the wall with my hand tightly grasping the back of his neck (the pressure points) and the other across his back
"I don't have time for your stupid bullshit." I whispered. I pushed off and walked off with the most sass I ever felt. Hell yeah, I felt like I could do anything!
After a few more boring minutes outside in the shadows reading Laurances letter, the announcer demanded us to our jobs. I inhaled sharply, nervous. Laurances letter had to be burned now. I quickly opened it and glanced over it one more time.
If I forget one step, I'll be done for.

<|| In The Metal Sorting Building ||>
We all walked single file into the building, Gene and Zenix ahead of me by a few people. We went straight to the back and started our jobs, me with the letter clenched tightly in my hand.
Burn it. Now.
"Hey Gene." I called, looking back at him.
Gene just glared at me.
"Someone over there called you stupid." I pointed over to the corner. Gene immediately glared and grabbed Zenixs arm and they went and yelled at that section of the room to fess up who did it.
I quickly threw the letter into the fire.
"Ro'Meave I saw that!" Gene yelled, running over and trying to recover the now crippling letter.
But before it vanished into ash, Gene saw the edge of the letter.
The part that had read:
-L
Gene immediately looked up at me.
"You know where he is!" He shouted, pointing at me. Everyone stopped and looked at us in confusion.
"You know where Laurance is!" Gene accused.
I froze.
The guards started swarming me.
"Ro'Meave your coming with us." Two guards grabbed my wrists and shackled them together, proceeding to drag me out of the room. I panicked and looked back at gene.
He smiled devilishly and mockingly mouthed and waved.
Bye bye.
This can't be happening. I just found a way to escape.
The guards dragged me up the stairs and threw me into my cell.
"After we are done talking to the warden, we are coming back." They glared, and walked off.
This was the end.
...
But wait.
That's when I saw it.
The poster! It had Thomas Edison with a lightbulb in his hand. I looked around to make sure the coast was clear and slowly picked my fingers around the edges.
I gasped.
Behind the poster, Laurance had left a hole just big enough for him. Thank gosh he was bigger then me.
In marker, it said, "THE BRAIN".
Laurance you clever idiot.
I clambered up into the hole and pulled the poster back over the entrance, making me barely see the light. I crawled and crawled until it was pitch black. Laurance was right. It was really rough.
But what about the falling par-
I felt myself fall down what felt like 10 seconds before landing in a pile.
Oh no.
Please, please don't be what I think it is.
The stench. Oh that stench was putrid.
I opened my eyes to see I was in some light, and that I had landed on a pipe with an opening. A large pipe. I looked around and saw in marker,
"THROUGH HERE."
It was pointed in the pipe.
The man wanted me to crawl through literal shit just to escape.
I've already come this far.
Oh I was going to destroy Laurance the moment I find him.
I got down and crawled through the small pipe that barely grazed my hips.
The sludge wasn't filling the whole thing, but it was halfway up. Irene, I need 500 holy water showers after this.
The pipe went for a mile. 2 miles.
2 miles of crawling through sewage.
Finally, I saw light from my tired eyes.
I made my last few crawls out before I found myself in a river bed.
At last.
"Heya." A voice said, I looked around nervously. That's when I saw him, sitting under a tree with a tent.
Laurance mother f**king Zvahl.
"You little ass wipe." I laughed and ran at him, landing at his feet, sitting.
"You look like shit." He claimed, "and smell like it." He laughed.
I punched him in the shoulder.
"Don't go riddling me with your weird words again. You have no idea how confusing that was."
"I just wanted to give you a hard time to be honest." He smirked, "escaping shouldn't be easy. I've been working on that route for 7 years of my life now."
Laurance burned his cigarette I failed to notice into the already dead grass.
I slowly laid down, "You have no idea what you put me through... But... Thank you." I smiled slightly, looking up at him.
"Yeah yeah whatever." He blu- was he blushing? Nah probably just tired.
"Let's get out of here before guards come back."
We nodded in sinc and ran. Just in time actually, because we heard the sirens go off.
And that meant that they were coming for us.