The Runaway Dreamers

Chapter 7

I convinced myself it wasn't real, just a nightmare that I would awake from any minute. Besides, they can't just create a crime suitable to be punished by death. Even a man of his power didn't have the right to do that.

After a couple of hours of just walking and thinking about my current situation, I eventually got to the hospital. I put my hand on the door handle and my stomach growled, I had been so caught up in trouble that I had forgotten how starving I was. I pushed the door open and I was greeted by the loud sound of children's voices echoing down the corridor from the dinner hall.

I walked down the corridor which had never seemed so long and opened the door, as silence fell through the room.

Carlos stood up immediately and ran over, hugging me tight. "I thought they'd never let you go!" He said, for a minute I could of sworn he was crying on my shoulder but I was mistaken as he put his head up and not a tear stained his face.

"What's with the roses?" He asked, slightly tilting his head.

"We've been asked to do a favour for someone at the police station. But that doesn't matter right now. I saw my dad! He was in my cell and-" I stopped as I realised I was crying as the tears rolled silently down my cheeks. I was instantly pulled in to another tight hug and I told him everything that had happened.

It turns out, after I was told I was going to prison, Carlos made the choice to lash out at me and make a run for it so the police would give chase and give her chance to run but he accidentally knocked me out and had no choice but to run. I forgave him, after all I knew he would never purposely hurt me.

After all of this, I sat down with them and began to stuff my face. But at the same time, scanning the room for Maia. Maybe she knew why her father wanted me to place red roses on Tevisha's grave. I eventually found her, she was only picking at her food. "Hey, Denise, would you mind if I was excused from the table? There's someone I need to speak to." I asked the cook in the most polite manner.

She agreed and I snuck off to speak to Maia.

"Hello, Maia. How are you?" For a young girl with Down syndrome, she looked completely ordinary, which often made me wonder why.

"Hello." She said, picking at her food with a fork. She looked down. "I'm unhappy, Saffron."

"I already know, sweetie. You're not really ill, are you?" She looked at me with utter surprise.

"H-how do you know?"

"Sweetie, your daddy is very busy isn't he? He just wanted what was best for you and kept you here didn't he? It's okay, I won't tell anyone. I promise." I assured her, she hugged me tight and began to cry on my shoulder. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone noticed so I took her hand and lead her to my room.

As we walked up stairs and promised her that I would stay by her side. Every so often, she would then her head sharply to look behind her, causing her two plaits to whip round in violence. She would then continue to walk like nothing was there.

"Okay, let me get my keys a second, alright? Then we can talk in my room." I fiddle around in my pocket for my keys and shoved the key in the lock. But, to my surprise, the door was already unlocked. I slowly opened the door as it creaked open. There was a part of me that was convinced someone was in there. Luckily, there wasn't. But the curtains were flapping wildly and the window was wide open.

I beckoned Maia to stay behind me, I could feel her heavy breathing on my hand ask I gently nudged her backwards. I crept in to the room, making sure Maia didn't follow me in. The coast was clear, thank god.

I shut the window as the room with with heat again although the cold air still lingered. We talked for a few hours after that. She told me how upset she was when her father sent her here, and she thought it was going to be like the prison he worked in. This made me chuckle, nothing could of been as bad as that place. As she talked, she twiddled her hair with her fingers, almost untying the little, green ribbons neatly bowed in her hair. Before long, it was time to put her to bed. I took her back to her room and tucked her in, making sure she was happy and warm before I left the room.

It was good to talk with her about everything, it felt like she could really trust me. Which was rare as most of the children here only used me for their fun and then blanked me, this was okay as most of them were shy but it did feel nice to be appreciated for once. After a while, I decided it was best for me go to sleep too. It had been an eventful day. I put the book I was reading down on my bedside desk and fell soundly asleep.