Fighting My Way Out

Hello

Down one hallway, I encountered a large painting and my stomach dropped farther than I thought it could. It depicted the couple I had met in Jill and Allen's basement not too long ago, the one's interested in buying me. Turned out they didn't have to pay anything for me after all; they must have been waiting for the opportune moment to steal me. I had done all the work for them by breaking myself out and practically delivering myself into their hands on the side of the road. Now I could see what they did with the people they "purchased": kept them in some house seemingly drugged up. After that, I didn't want to know what they did with those people and certainly didn't want to stick around to find out when buyers came around to choose their companion.

But the halls went on forever, winding around turning corners that lead to more hallways and no doors within sight. I was starting to get frustrated and was tempted to break a window to escape into the wintry land, again with no shoes or coat. Finally, I went to the nearest large window, looking for a latch to open it. Finding none, I started looking for a heavy object to break the glass; I figured there was no one around to hear the smash and I could make a run for the treeline.

I found a small metal sculpture, deciding it would be perfect. Just as I was rearing back about to throw it, I heard someone approach from behind.

"That won't work," said the voice.

I turned to find a young man about my age standing with a sour look on his face.

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "I tried escaping last week just like you are, they hunted me down using their hounds until they found me and drug me back here."

I was suspicious. "You don't sound like the others who want to stay, they sound, I dunno, drugged or something."

The man nodded. "Yeah, it's the food, they put something into it. I've avoided eating the food they provide, I go down to the kitchens in the middle of the night and stock up on packaged food in my room. I only pretend to be drugged for the sake of my safety, and I suggest you do the same."

"So you never tried again to get out? You just want to stay trapped here forever?"

"Of course not!" he said. "I want to escape, I just don't know how."

I smiled, walking up to him. "Well, now there's two of us. We have a better chance if we stick together."

The young man looked hesitant, but after a moment nodded, holding his hand out to shake mine.

"I'm Holden, let's get the hell out of here."