The P.U.L.L || #Wattys2017

Chapter 35: Glimmer of Hope

What's a wire doing here? Joshua wondered as he scrutinized the wire that smoothly came out of the knife's blade. Was it put on purpose? Did Karl knew that the wire was there even before he stabbed me with it?

Joshua paced to and fro in the room, thinking that something weird is definitely going on. He knew that no sane person would put a wire inside a knife. And even if a person does it, he knew that there must be a purpose in it.

Whatever, I guess this should work. Joshua told himself as he looked at the padlock within his arm's reach.

.....

Click!

The light suddenly filled the once darkened room in less than a split second, enabling Rick and Emma to see who or what the moving figures are. At first, they thought that they darkness was playing tricks on their eyes; but now that the lights are finally turned on, their thoughts about creepy and eerie stuff completely left their minds as they heaved a big sigh of relief.

However, instead of seeing something from their imagination, what lay in front of them surprised them more. What they saw was rather unexpected.

Mr. and Mrs. Quiller, together with all of their parents were the figures that they saw in the dark!

Rick and Emma were both so overjoyed, seeing their parents after all this time. The two groups gasped in silence at first since they didn't expect the other to be there. But the most baffled among them were Rick and Emma's parents. They were quite taken aback at seeing Rick and Emma.

"Rick?"

"Emma?!"

"Mom! Dad!" Rick and Emma gleefully exclaimed as they rushed towards their parents' arms. In return, their parents received their child with open arms while tears of joy streamed down their cheeks.

It was quite a reunion.

"Oh, what do we have here?" A voice crackled somewhere in the room. "I see! Now I get it! It's a reunion, huh. What a lovely scene!" The mastermind laughed.

Mr. Bradshaw suddenly shifted his expression to a serious one. Everybody knew the person to whom the voice belongs to. "Go!" Mr. Bradshaw whispered to Mr. Russel.

After nodding, Mr Russel silently rushed towards the light switch and immediately turned the lights off. He didn't need telling twice since he already knew what to do. Once again, the room turned into a pitch-black place, likened to the deepest parts of a cave.

Rick and Emma couldn't quite understand what just happened. The only thing they knew is that they have to adjust their sight relative to the darkness once again. "Why did you turn it off again?" Rick asked, almost sounding irritated.

"It's the mastermind." His dad whispered to him. "We heard from the Quillers that darkness partially disrupts his mind reading."

"Mind reading?! So the mastermind could read minds?!" Rick exclaimed. 

"Sshh! Don't talk too loud!" His parents said in unison. "There are cameras and microphones everywhere in this room! We should just talk in whispers, lest the mastermind hears us."

"Now that I think about it, where's Gladiola?" Emma asked Mr. Quiller. "I haven't seen her in years."

"Wasn't she with you?" Mr. Quiller asked, perplexed. "We let her escape through the trapdoor and gave her a plane ticket to Oklahoma so that she could board a plane before the kidnapper catches up to her. We stayed behind, thinking that we'll be able to stop the kidnappers, but we underestimated them and ended up getting caught. Don't tell me, she didn't go to your place in Oklahoma?"

"No, we haven't seen her ever since we moved to the U.S." Emme replied. "Well, we exchanged a few letters before she went missing."

"There's a possibility that she wasn't caught yet." Emme considered.

Rick interrupted her as she was about to explain. "Or maybe, she was caught and the mastermind is holding her on a different cell. We can't be sure yet unless we get out of here." Rick suggested.

.....

Joshua looked at the barred door which separated him from the hallway outside. Light poured into the room through the spaces between the bars, allowing Joshua to see what was outside. As he expected, there was one person guarding him.

The person was holding a newspaper on his hand while sipping a cup of coffee.He was way too relaxed for a guard, considering the fact that it took them a lot of time and effort just to capture the three teens. The guard sleepily read the newspaper as he looked at the cell where Joshua's being held.

He's about to fall asleep.

Although Joshua was the only one imprisoned in his cell, he was surprised that the watcher is putting his guard down. He's probably thinking that a mere teenager couldn't do anything against him if he ever escapes.

He's underestimating me. Joshua heaved a sigh f relief. I guess it's a good thing. Escaping from here might be easier than I thought. But how do I escape?

Hoenstly, Joshua already knew how to escape the moment he saw the wire slid out from the tip of the wire. But one thing that bothered him is the mastermind's mind reading. He knew that there might be a certain distance where the mastermind could read the minds of someone but he doesn't know anything about the mastermind, much less his capabilities. For insurance, Joshua decided to simultaneously think about a lot of things even though he doesn't know if it might not work. Well, more or less, this could keep him distracted. Joshua said to himself.

This is worth the try. Besides, I won't lose anything in the first place.

There's another problem though. Joshua thought as another guard passed by. That guard, he's patrolling this corrider and he passes by this cell every five minutes. Is it even possible to escape in less than half of five minutes?

.....

Unbeknownst to Joshua, the mastermind didn't even bother reading his mind. Right now, he's got his hands full reading Rick and Emma's mind. He was also busy fiddling with the laptop in front of him as he looked at the huge machinery in front of him.

The project P.U.L.L is now moving to its final phase.