Yin's Story

48

On to step five. I need to go talk to Mitch about some wire cutters. His work station is always loud, hot, dark, and dirty. As I step inside I'm greeted with the sound of roaring fires and the smell of burning coal.

"Mitch?!" I shout above the noise. It will be practically impossible to find him through all the noise and machinery.

"Mitch?!" I shout again. Nothing. I sigh as I walk through the loud dirty room searching for him. I find him at the back welding something together.

"Mitch?!" I shouted doing my best not to startle him. He turns around pointing the flame coming from his tool away from me.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?!"

"Sure!" he shouts back turning the tool he was using off.

He leads me into the quiet side room we once talked in before. He shuts the door muffling the noise from the large machines, takes his protective goggles off and places them gently on the large metal table beside me.

"How have you not gone deaf yet?" I ask jokingly.

"I have no idea," he smiles as he washes the ash and dirt from his face.

"By the time you're in your late twenties, we're going to have to be shouting to talk to you,"

I feel a pang of sadness hit me as I realize that this is probably the last time I'll ever talk to my dad.

"Most definitely,"

"Or I'll just have Olliver teach you to sign language,"

"That would make things much easier. So, what can I do for you, Yin?" he asks cleaning off his goggles.

"I need wire cutters," I state quickly. He looks at me confused his hair flopping into his face.

"Wire cutters?"

"Yeah,"

"Why in the world would you need those?" he asks moving his hair from his face.

"I absolutely cannot tell you why," I answer.

"Secret?"

"Very secret,"

He sighs.

"I'll give you the cutters but you need to promise me something," he says pulling them from his tool belt.

"What is it?" I ask.

"You need to promise that you'll bring them back,"

"Why?"

"The Warden does inventory checks every month and if he finds just one thing missing he'll have a fit," he answers.

"I will, I promise,"

I probably won't be able to. He gives them to me and I shove them in my pocket. I should leave but I need to talk to him one last time before I'm gone forever.

"H-Hey, dad?" I ask.

"Yeah,"

"If I were to leave The ScrapYard today, what would you say to me?"

"But you're not leaving, Yin. No one leaves," he answers staring at me like I'm fucking insane.

"I know, I know, but let's say that I did, what would you say to me?"

He takes a deep breath and says

"Yin, I have known you for so long. Six years maybe. You went from this scared and gullible little girl to this smart tough young woman. I've always known you were special and have loved you since day one. Goodbye, I love you and good luck,"

I hug him as I fight back tears. God, I love my dad. He hugs back pulling me closer and covering me with soot.

"Love you too, dad," I answer pulling away and dusting myself off. He smiles and pats me on the head.

"Don't forget to bring those back," he says leaving to get back to work. I leave the loud work station running the plan over in my head again. My next step is to go see Leah about some shoes for Olliver. On my way there I get a glimpse of the clock tower. I am running out of time. If I actually want to escape I'll need to stop saying my goodbyes and just get what I need. I get to Leah as fast as I can.

"Leah!" I exclaim as I burst through the door. She whips around.

"What, sweetheart?"

"I need shoes,"

She looks down at my feet and frowns.

"Yin, your shoes are just fine," she says turning to work on her sewing.

"No, they're not for me," I say hastily knowing I'm running out of time, "They're for Olliver,"

She turns an eyebrow raised.

"There's a lot of broken glass around and he could step on them and I don't want him to get hurt,"

Leah smiles.

"For my grandchild, anything. Do you know his size?" She asks kneeling by a laundry basket.

Shit! Of course I don't! In the fucking three months I've known him I've never once asked him his show size. I think it would be weird if I asked him that.

"Sm-Small..." I answer unsure. She chuckles.

"You don't know, do you,"

"Nope..."

"Lucky for you I'm sure he wears the same size the twins did at his age,"

She pulls a pair of small tan shoes out of the basket tied together with dirty shoelaces and and hands them to me. They're not the best shows. Some of the fabric is peeling off and one lace is shorter than the other, but they'll have to do.

"Thanks Leah,"

She smiles in response.

"You should probably get back to work before The Warden gets mad,"

"Y-Yeah, definitely, see ya," I answer bursting through the door and running to my cell for step seven. I need to hide in my cell and wait for Marigold to bring me the guard schedule. Considering the fact that I'm running late on time she's probably already there. As I turn the corner I find I'm correct. Marigold is leaving on the wall outside my cell holding a piece of paper.

"H...Hey Marigold!" I say completely out of breath.

"Yin! You shouldn't be running!"

I lean against the wall catching my breath.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just...running out of time..."

"Yeah, you are,"

She hands me the folded piece of paper and then hugs me.

"Good luck, Yin," she says.

"Heyyy, I don't need luck," I answer.

She lets go smiling.

"Goodbye, Yin,"

"Bye," I say smiling back.

I slip through the bars of my cell, sit down , and lay all my supplies out in front of me. I need to make sure I grabbed everything. I've got five loaves of bread in one Zip-lock bag, one pair of wire cutters, and one pair of shoes for my boy Olliver, a guard schedule, and a pair of- wait, where the hell is it? Don't tell me I forgot to ask Mitch! Shit! I didn't get the gloves I needed! Now my chances of getting tetanus are higher! Fuck! I can't go back for them now. I'll just have to do without them. Now I just wait for spring and we'll study the schedule together. After that we start phase two. I lean against the closed wall and shut my eyes. It's almost over.