escape | ethan dolan

runaway • 2

"Wake up, ladies!" Ms. Rebecca, the head of the orphanage, bursts into the room. She continues to shout as she grabs the legs of each girl snoozing in bed, violently shaking them awake. I bolt upright in my bed immediately to avoid her coming over and slapping me into consciousness. Luckily, I'm quickly up and alert.

A chorus of groans circle the room as girls hang off the beds and rub their eyes. I look over to Chloe who's still fast asleep. Ms. Rebecca is approaching her bed and I cringe when she reaches down and tugs at Chloe's hair. The little girl swats her away, which only makes Ms. Rebecca even more irritated. She yanks Chloe's full body out of bed and onto the floor.

"No!" Chloe yelps. I grimace at the sight of the middle-aged woman swatting at the innocent, young, girl. "Please, stop!" Ugh, I can't take it. Watching Chloe get so mistreated for doing absolutely nothing was worth the punishment I would get later for taking a stand.

"Stop!" I shout and run over, pushing the large lady off of Chloe. Ms. Rebecca falls backward and into a wooden post that is placed in the middle of the room to support the ceiling. "Oh my," Right away, I regret my awful instinct to defend our place as young orphans.

"Young lady," She manages to get out as she struggles to stand up. "Come with me. You too," She points a stern finger in Chloe's direction. Damn, I've gotten us both into some really deep trouble.

The heavy set woman takes us down the hall, stomping the whole way. From the looks of it, it seems like we're heading to the basement. I make these routes every day to restock the eggs and milk for the kitchen. Chloe looks up to me with confusion and with a stiff look I shake my head.

"You two need to learn your lesson," She opens the strong metal door that leads to the basement- let me rephrase that: the portal that leads to hell. The basement is basically a dark, empty icebox. There's no heating and it's not finished. It has a concrete floor, ceiling, and cement walls. The only source of natural light is the tiny window a few feet up from the ground, which also provides some warmth in the summer when the workers open it a few inches. "Go on now," Ms. Rebecca gestures to the long spiral stairway leading down into the inky blackness. I gulp grabbing Chloe's hand. Then, we make our way down.

When we're only on the first step, I feel the boom and vibration of the door as Rebecca slams it shut. The lock clicks, sealing us into isolation.

"Harlowe," Chloe's voice is shaking. "What are we going to do?"

"Um," I search frantically for an answer. "I really don't know yet Clo," That's all I can come up with. "C'mon, let's go down."

We make our way down the stairs in the pitch black, stopping every once in awhile to gather our surroundings so we don't fall. Finally, I find the odd comfort of the cold floor as I step down from the last step. Chloe is a little slower making her way down the stairs, so I wait a few moments for her to catch up. I grab her hand once again as we attempt to navigate through the unlit and vacant space. Eventually we make it to the window which provides us with some light, but not much since it's so small.

After a few moments, I leave Chloe and go search for a few candles. I find them by the supply shelf with a book of matches which I grab as well. The fridge sits to the left of where the supplies are, and in an instant I run over and open it. It's stocked from head-to-toe with eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and bread (to keep it fresh). As I grab two loaves of bread and some of the cheese, I mentally curse myself. The kids tomorrow won't have as much food, but I can't help myself- I'm starving.

I make my way back through the jet-black surroundings. I stop when I feel a small body bump into mine.

"Okay," I sigh as I set down the few items I've gathered. "I got us enough stuff to last us a few hours. But we can't take too much food before they notice and we get into even more trouble," I flick the match and it ignites a miniature flame which I use to light the candles. A warm glow breathes us into the bland environment.