Escaping Reality

Chapter Three: A New Inmate

Chapter Three

            I couldn’t breathe; my heart was pounding in my ears. Kat was standing in the middle of the room wide eyed. Notch was still kneeling in front of me; hands on either side of my on the bed. We all look at each other unsure of what we should do. It’s against the rules to be in the room of someone of the opposite gender. Plus with all the stolen medical items scattered across the bed, it wasn’t looking good for the home team. Notch motioned us to the other side of the room and threw a blanket over the medical items. If someone did open the door we would be hidden from sight. Notch walked over to the door quietly and opened it so he filled the opening.

            “You’re late for dinner,” A male voice came through the partially opened door, “Is everything all right?” The voice asked.

            “Yeah, I just over slept.” Notch gave a convincing yawn and stretched dramatically. Making sure the Orderly couldn’t see past him, Notch grabbed his shirt and headed out into the hall before he could ask any more questions. When their footsteps faded down the hall I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. We waited a couple of minutes before we peaked out the door and snuck down the hall toward the cafeteria. A couple of staff members gave us disapproving looks but nobody approached us.  I followed Kat to the end of the line for food.

            “Well, that was close.” Kat said taking a few steps forward as the line moved. I forced a laugh. My heart was still pounding a mile a minute, but that might have been because we practically ran here. I laughed again, more easily this time. After my nerves settled I was left with the excitement. Breaking the rules was … fun. Kat looked at me and laughed. I was smiling like an idiot, and now that we weren’t in immediate danger we could relax and laugh at how ridiculous the whole thing was.

            “What’re they poisoning us with today?” I ask trying to see around the tall person in front of Kat. She rolled her eyes and walked forward with the line.

            “Looks like turkey and mashed potatoes.” She said placing a tray on top of the glass. An overly happy lunch lady put a piece of turkey, a scoop of mashed potatoes and some broccoli on her tray. I followed suite grabbing a bottle of juice and a plastic fork. We went over to the table in the back corner, furthest away from where the staff members stand watch. I sat down between Ten and Oliver. Kat took the seat beside Notch.

            “Did you guys here?” Oliver was saying. “We got a new inmate.” I hadn’t but then again I’d been sleeping all afternoon. Kat rolled her eyes at Oliver’s use of the word “inmate”.

            “Who?” Ten asked curiously. Apparently I wasn’t the only one in the dark. Though, it seemed only Oliver new about the newest member of the hospital. This didn’t surprise me he was good at getting information and figuring things out. Oliver pointed at the doors to the cafeteria. A tall boy with short, light brown hair was standing just inside the door. A doctor was standing next to him holding a clipboard. On the other side of him was an officer who was holding the boys arm just above the elbow. I realized then that he had handcuffs on. They were barely noticeable from this distance and he was wearing a brown leather jacket which mostly covered them.

            “Wonder what he’s in for.” Notch eyed the hand cuffs.

            “Apparently there was a fire that killed his mom and younger brother. His dad couldn’t coupe and committed suicide. He lost it after that. People say he talks to himself as if he was talking to his brother.” Oliver filled us all in on the details, which he probably got from hacking the computers.

            “Poor guy, he lost his whole family. Anyone would lose it after that.” Kat said in a sad whisper. I nodded. We all had terrible past but we never really talked about it: Made me feel a twinge of guilt talking about the new guys without him willingly giving out the information. It was one of our unspoken rules; if you won’t talk we won’t pry.

            “He probably started the fire: wouldn’t doubt if he killed his father too, you know, just finishing the job.” Notch’s voice took a dark tone. His purple eyes were so dark they looked black. Ten grabbed my hand under the table. I looked at him and noticed his face had paled. He was looking at me but not seeing me; lost in some memory. I squeezed his hand trying to be reassuring, but I wasn’t sure what I was reassuring him of. His eyes refocused. They were staring at Notch who was adding to his disturbing story. I looked at Ten, worried. What had happened in his past? Was there a fire? Was he responsible? I just didn’t know. Ten wasn’t the easiest person to talk to. He wasn’t just going to open up. Anyways the rule still stood no matter how curious I am.

            Trying to distract myself from Notch’s insane story, and Ten’s unknown past, I watched the new guy. He still had the cuffs on; an officer walked him through the dinner line holding the tray for him. Once they got everything the officer scanned the room for a seat. The cafeteria was mostly empty since we’d gotten here late and this was one of the few places we could all talk. The other tables were either empty or had one of the really crazy kids that were escorted by a staff member everywhere. It was then I noticed the new guy was staring at me. Looking away awkwardly I caught Ten’s eye and realized he was laughing at me. Blushing I glanced in the news guy direction again and with a shocked, embarrassed horror realized he was walking toward our table. The officer and him stopped at the head of the table.

            “This is Jack.” The officer gestured towards the new guy. “Is it alright if he sits here?” He looked at all of us and we nodded and shrugged. Jack sat down next to Kat and the officer put his tray in front of him. He ignored the tray in front of him, leaning back instead. A doctor walked over to the table with a clip board and handed it to the officer.

            “I just need your signature; we’ll have him go through the normal daily activities before we put him into a schedule. His therapist will help us decide what will be best for him.” As the doctor talked the officer signed his name on the different sheets of paper and nodded as if out of habit not like he cared. The officer handed the clipboard back to the doctor who flipped through to double check everything was filled out and signed. “Oh, and before you leave I’d like you to remove the hand cuffs. This is a hospital not a prison.” The doctor said with a practiced smile. The officer gave a forced smile before he bent over to unlock the cuffs. Jack smiled and handed them to him. Shocked the officer looked at Jack, and glared at him when he saw what was hanging out of Jack’s mouth like a tooth pick: It was a piece of twisted wire, probably used to be a paperclip. The officer grabbed the cuffs and stormed away. Notch was laughing so hard he was grabbing his stomach with one hand and holding the table so he wouldn’t fall. Kat rolled her eyes, Ten was smiling from ear to ear and Oliver’s mouth twitched upwards into a small smile. The Doctor had a fake smile on and was scribbling something down. He gave a small nod in our direction and left the cafeteria.

            “I guess it’d be too much to ask for a beer?” Jack smiled, and we all lost it.