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

Chapter Nine

I flew up in bed, a cold sweat covering my body. My breathing finally slowed and I could hear a few inmates moving around in the other cells. Running my hand through my hair, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to rid my mind of the images of the dream. I kicked my feet over the edge of the bed and dropped to the ground, careful to not wake Alina. Disgust washed over me as I realized I had to go to the bathroom. Fumbling around in the darkness I finally found the dirty toilet.  Probably half an hour later I heard Alina waking up. I looked over towards her bed and she sat up. “Morning…” She yawned, then patted over to where I was. “Did you sleep okay?” She asked, worried. I shook my head, but realized she couldn’t see me.

“Not really…. You?” I stared out into the courtyard and down to the computer screen. She muttered an ‘mmhhmm’ and stood up. I heard some rustling and then a piece of fabric was placed in my hand. She sat down next to me again and I could just barely make out her smiling. “What is this?” I asked, holding up the fabric.

                “Clothes. Anna Beth said I should stash some. I got bored with that one though and kind of turned it into a tank top. You can have it. I have another that I turned into a dress.” She yawned again. “…I…figured you didn’t want a dress.” I chuckled and stood up, striping off my clothes and pulling the clean ones on. She was right, the top was a tank top but it fit me perfectly. It felt nice to not have my arms covered and the stuffy air cooled me off slightly. I went to thank her but was interrupted by a loud blast from the alarms. I jumped and the lights flashed on, momentarily blinding me.

“God, that’s some wake up call.” I mumbled and Alina laughed, standing up. She turned to me and grinned.

“The doors will be opening soon and then we can go get food.” She pulled her fingers through her long hair and fixed her shirt. I nodded and scanned the cells. Unfamiliar faces peered from there depths. I shuddered and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“So, how long until we get parole.” I joked to myself. There was another blast from the alarms and the cell bars slowly rumbled open. Inmates flooded the walk way, pushing and shoving their way to the bottom floor. I grabbed onto Alina’s clothes and pulled her away from the door as an inmate got shoved towards her. I caught him before he hit the ground and he smiled at me then jumped back in the crowd. After a minute the flow of people slowed and we walked out onto the plat form. I dodged a few dirty looks from the fifty-niners and we ran down the stairs to the courtyard. Christian was the first to spot us and waved us over to their table. There were to extra bowls of slop in front of them and they pushed them towards us. Alina smiled and sat down next to Rowan.

“Morning sleepy.” Christian mumbled as I sat down next to him and promptly placed my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes.

“Morning… did you sleep at all last night?” I felt him shake his head and I sighed. Christian pushed the bowl into my hands and poked my cheek.

“You should eat. It tastes like pure salt but it’s better than nothing.” I groaned and lifted my head off of his shoulder. I ate a little bit then chuckled. Christian looked at me like I was crazy and I laughed more. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He exclaimed. I covered my mouth and grinned.

“We are sentenced to life in the worst juvenile prison in, like, the world and you’re bugging me about eating me breakfast.” I laughed and Rowan watched me with an amused expression.

“Christian, I think she has officially lost it.” Rowan said, cracking into a grin. Christian simply shook his head and looked at Rowan.

“Hate to break it to you but she’s always been like this. Seriously, one time we were discussing how the fifty-niners wanted to try and take over our territory and she started cracking up. You want to know what she was laughing about? A Doctor Who episode we watched two weeks ago.” I grinned and nodded. Alina frowned and poked Rowan in the side.

“How come I never got to watch Doctor Who?” She whined. He stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled.  

“Because you never asked, now, eat your food prisoner.” She grinned and began eating again. Rex and the others appeared a few minutes and Alina jumped up, running over to them.

“REEXXXX!!” She ran over to him and he grinned.

“ALINA!” He grinned at us and Rowan nodded, before they swept her away to do god only knows what.

“So what’s the plan today?” I asked, eating a spoonful of the mush.

“We’ll get our jobs in a few minutes and then we work until the end of the day, eat again, free time, then sleep, repeat.” I groaned.

“Jobs?” Christian asked. Rowan nodded and Christian sighed.

“Yeah. You’ll most likely get chipping duty or slopwork. If you’re really unlucky you might get Stink.” I raised an eyebrow and Rowan chuckled. “They’ll make you clean the toilets. Chipping duty is mining and slopwork is kitchen.” He explained. Christian looked horrified and I choked on my food.

“Oh god. That’s disgusting.” Christian gagged, pushing his food away. Rowan shrugged. “I hope I don’t get Stink.” Rowan chuckled and pushed his bowl away.

“We should probably go find out which job we have.” I nodded and stood up, following Christian and Rowan out. The computer monitor showed lists of names and their jobs. I spotted Christian’s name and pointed to it.

“Looks like you got chipping duty!” He chuckled and nodded, scanning the list. I frowned when Rowan found his job. He had gotten Bleaching or laundry duty. Alina had gotten slopwork and I groaned, trying to find my name.

                “There!” Christian exclaimed, pointing to my name. “You have chipping duty with me!” I smiled and looked at Rowan. “So what know?” I asked. Rowan pointed towards the Blacksuits watching us.

“When the siren blows go over there with the others that have chipping duty.” I nodded and looked at Christian.

“Ready to mine?” I asked, smiling slightly. He rolled his eyes and suddenly the sirens blew loudly. The inmates dispersed and a group of them walked towards the area Rowan pointed towards. Rowan turned and walked away from us, disappearing into the crowd. A Blacksuit barked orders at us after we had grabbed out gear.

“Levels one through four you’re through the first door. Levels five through eight you’re through door three. Room two is out of bounds.” I tossed a pick axe over my shoulder and walked into the third room. The tunnel had already been mostly filled so we worked our way to the back.

I leaned against the cold stone wall, wiping the back of my hand across my forehead. My pick axe crashed to the ground as I stood out of view of the Blacksuits so I wouldn’t get yelled at. We had been working for a few hours and I felt like I was going to pass out. Christian ran his hand through his hair and coughed. “How do they do this?” He whined, looking at the others. I shrugged and noticed the guy I talked to the other day walking over to us. He smiled and me and nodded to Christian.

“How are you holding up with your second day?” He asked. Christian stepped in front of me and I whacked him. He ignored me and glared at the guy.

“Who are you?” He asked. The guy glared at him.

“I don’t think I introduced myself yesterday. I’m Donovan.” I smiled at him and pushed my way passed Christian.

“Sorry about him. I’m Melody.” He nodded but kept a straight face. He watched the inmates around him then chuckled. I poked Christian in the side and rolled my eyes. “And this genius is Christian.” Donovan nodded began mining again.

“By the way Christian, I’m the least of your worries.” He said, laughing slightly, then began chipping. 

Authors Note: Sorry this kind of had a strange ending. I kind of got stuck. :P But hey Donovan again! Yay! Also I know I said that Alina is around eleven or twelve but I'm making her act a little younger than she normaly would because shes slightly crazy. So yeah! Hope you like this chap!