Telekinesis

seven

I felt cautious fingers touch my hands that were clamped onto my ears. My eyes flew open at the touch, fearing that maybe it was them, that they had really caught me this time. My hammering heart quietened considerably when I realised it was just Theo.

He looked at me for permission before slowly detaching my hands from my ears, and I let him.

"It's okay, don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here." He reassured me, he looked like he wanted to say more, something behind his eyes, he must have thought better of it.

I ran my fingers through my hair, bringing my hands to my mouth and biting my nails. It was a bad habit I had picked up years ago, a way to satiate my constant anxiety of living in the same four walls day in and day out. I needed some way to remain sane.

"It must be the back-up generator or something, which triggers the alarm, so we have about ten minutes to get out before the whole place goes into lockdown." Theo looked at me in confusion.

"And how do you know all of this?" He queried, walking back towards me so he we were only standing a few feet apart.

"It's not the first time I've heard one of those alarms before." My voice drifted off at the end, remembering when the whole place went into lockdown before because a patient had escaped. I remember the chaos, the same alarm blaring and the flashing lights blurring my vision. I remember wishing it was me, that I had the nerve to escape and finally get a taste of freedom. My dreams were shattered when, in just a few short hours, the patient was found, locked and bound into her room and there hasn't been another escape since.

When I chanced a glance at Theo, he looked like he was in some kind of pain. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering if maybe he was hurt and I didn't know about it. I quickly put my fingers on his face, checking for any signs of injury.

"Why do you look like you're in pain?" I asked, "Are you hurt or something?"

Theo cracked a small smile, shaking his head and averting his gaze to the ground, "Yeah I am," I was about to ask him where it hurt and why he didn't tell me when he said something that made me halt all my movements, "I'm in pain for you."

I just blinked at his words. I didn't understand. How could he be in pain for me? But, deep down, despite the fact I didn't exactly understand what Theo meant, there was an unquestionable sincerity and rawness in his eyes and in his voice that lead me to the conclusion that it had something to do with the fact that, for some unknown reason, Theo cared about me.

I removed my hands from his face, unsure how to react to his words. I decided to just try and preoccupy my mind with us getting out of here instead of racking my brain over Theo and his cryptic words.

"I think I know where we need to go from here." I said, moving towards the door, ignoring the faint look of hurt that flashed across Theo's face. I felt a pang of something in my chest that I didn't understand. He just needed to wait, once I was sure we were out and we were safe, I would stop ignoring him.

He nodded and followed me out of the room. The alarm was still blaring overhead, I hadn't noticed before but there was a countdown displayed on the wall of every room in bold, white letter reading 7:57 and it kept on going down. I felt a rush spread throughout my body, Theo saw the countdown too and I could see it in his eyes, crystal clear like the ocean I had seen once during an experiment years ago. Fear.

I swallowed thickly as I tried to dip into my memory further, trying to recall the correct way to go. I pulled my hands into fists as we stopped at a corridor that had two longer corridors leading on from it. My eyes darted from left to right, unsure which way to turn. I willed myself to think, the time I needed my brain the most it was failing me. I made a snap decision, deciding to choose the corridor to the left, my feet going faster and faster as the alarm continued its vengeful cries and the angry timer kept going down down down. I was about to round the corner when I was begging tugged back rather harshly by Theo's hand, I was about to scream at him for washing time,  but he pulled me towards him with my back pressed firmly against his front, his palm covering my mouth and preventing any sound from coming out. I furrowed my eyebrows, fear growing in my stomach as I came to the realisation that Theo was working for them. He didn't want to help me at all.