“Everyone to your cells! Lights out are in an hour!” A guard shouts through the corridor, their voice echoing against the walls and reverberating harshly.
“Shut up!” A girl yells back, the first world long and drawn out as if she were talking to a schoolmate rather than someone that could shoot her lights out in less than a second. Everyone else obediently files down the hall in two lines, girls on one side, boys on the other. As we pass different Blocks groups branch off and go down the corridors, each with one or two guards, depending on the number of people in the group. When we get to Block D there are still about 60 people left in the group, and the only people to split off are me, Mutyrey, Dan, Jaydia, Meg, and Claire, followed by a female guard, and… Markus and his gang.
Thankfully, I split off first, since I’m only the second cell, but I don’t close the door all the way. I tuck a small, unidentifiable object between the guard that stops the door from opening inward, and the edge of the door to prop it open just enough not to close, but just close enough to closing that it won’t be noticed by a passing guard. While I wait for the guards to go back their quarters, or wherever they’re supposed to be, I lay on my bed and pretend to sleep.
After about 15 minutes I decide to look through the stash to see what we really have since I didn’t really take note of it while putting it away. I pull everything out and sort it into piles. I count 4 pocket knives, 7 lighters, 4 sleeping bags, 3 tubs of clay, a mug, the lockpick set, a hammer, a screwdriver, nails, screws, and Claire’s rainbow knife. I tuck the sleeping bags back under the bed, far into the corner where they’re hidden by shadows, and hide the knives around the edge of the fabric, so even when it is cut open you can’t see them. I put the lighters into the mug and hide them around the other side of the fabric of my box spring.
I’m suddenly aware of someone screaming in the hallway, and the sound of footsteps and someone fighting being dragged. I peek through the small, barred window in my door and spot a guard holding a knife in one hand, and dragging Jaydia down the hall with the other. I quickly grab two pocket knives, pop the door open a bit, and throw them and the guard’s exposed throat, drawing on old, despised skills. One misses, harmlessly bouncing off of their protective gear, but the other one connects and buries itself into the side of the guard’s throat, forcing them to let go of Jaydia and the knife, and collapse to the ground.
Jaydia drops down next to them and gropes for the dropped knife for a second, before finding it and stabbing it into the other side of the guard’s neck, twisting it, and carving a deep ravine through their throat and spinal cord. I glance around for other guards before running out into the hallway to meet Jaydia.
“Jaydia, it’s me, Aydin,” I say in a harsh whisper, crouching down next to her.
“Aydin?” She asks quietly, turning her ear toward me, “What are you doing here?”
“We killed the guard. They were dragging you away, so I threw one of our knives at them.”
“Thanks for that, by the way. We should get back to our cells before someone finds us.”
“Too late,” I say in a slightly somber tone, “The cameras would have caught all of that.”
“Not if just a half hour ago Meg and Dan cut all of them, and we pretended it was me.”
“What? Why? Why didn’t I know about this?”
“I’ll let Claire explain,” Jaydia says, and starts walking away. I catch her wrist and force her to explain, “Jaydia. Tell me what’s going on.” She sighs, then explains with minimal detail, “Jack and Matt were planning to break us out, and part of the plan requires that the cameras are out of commission for a while. Meg and Dan know how to disable the cameras, but we need both of them for the plan to work, so we pretended I cut the wires.”
Now it’s my turn to let out a heavy breath, “Fine,” I say letting her go, “Don’t leave me out of future plans though, okay?” She smiles, before nodding and saying with a slight giggle, “I’ll do my best.” And disappearing down the hall into her cell. I retrieve my knives, clean them on the guard’s uniform, and disappear back into my cell. I tuck the knives back into their place, stitch the hole up, and jump into my bed, twisting the blankets around me tightly.
About 20 minutes later I hear voices outside my cell, so I quickly and quietly walk across the room and peek through the window to see three guards standing around a black body bag in the middle of the floor. One of the guards turn to me, and I instinctively duck away from the window and look down at my hands. The first thing I notice is that they’re shaking so badly I can’t stop them. Second, the spider web-like veins running across them. I cry out in fear and drop to the ground, curling up around my legs and crying.
Suddenly the door bursts open and two armed guards rush in, both with guns pointed at me. One yells at me and demands that I stand up. I hesitate, and he yells again, this time pulling me to my feet by my shoulder. They drag me down the hall to a dark room. There are no lights on, and no one moves to change that, instead, they sit me down in a hard, wooden chair. I feel leather straps come down around my arms and get hit by the full force of what’s happening.
I start screaming and crying and fighting against the guards trying to place attach a wire to my head and ankle. One of the guards yell for someone to restrain me, and I elbow him in the face, the leather bonds breaking apart into shards around my feet. A shot rings out and I jump awake, forcing a scream back down my throat. I struggle to untangle my legs from my sheets and climb from my bed, my whole body shaking.
I collapse to the ground and start sobbing uncontrollably into the side of the bed. I don’t know how long I go on, but I do know I can think a little bit straighter after it. I quickly change into the new jumpsuit, this one a dark teal color, from off my desk. I fold the only one neatly on my bed and spot a note on my door.
Clean your room for inspection
Change into the new uniform
Remove the sheets from the bed
Lay everything flat on the bed
After lunch, we will have checked everything and you can make your bed again
I do as the note says, and fiddle with a knife for a while until I hear guards outside, then I quickly and carefully tuck the knife away and stitch the hole up so it blends into the rest of the fabric. A guard pops my door open and gruffly tells me to come outside with him, so I follow him and off-handedly notice the black veins stretching across my hands. The guard leads me into line with everyone else and leads us to the cafeteria, just like last night.
Right, Left, Left, End of the Hall.
YOU ARE READING
A Perfect World
FantasyA young girl by the name of Aydin Hale is caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle. It started with breaking her sister out of jail, how did it turn into a full blown war? A battle between Fate, Destiny, Balance, and Karma? Along the way, Aydin...
