For lunch, we slip into the pantry and eat some more decent food. I find a box of protein shakes, and grab 6 for my friends, and open another one and down it quickly as I start my hunt for the others. I find Claire first, eating some granola bars, and take a few for the others as I look for them. Dan and Ty are sitting in a far corner eating packs of trail mix. Ty is facing away from me and having a conversation with Dan, so I take the opportunity to scare him. He jumps, but not as bad as I thought he would. We laugh a bit and I hand them two of the drinks, and two granola bars, before snatching 6 packs of trail mix and hunting down Meg and Jaydia. They’re sitting in the front corner, by the door, eating a loaf of sourdough bread. I had them the last drinks and granola bars I’m holding, and two of the remaining 3 trail mixes I have left. They take them, and down them quickly. I stay for a bit and eat their bread for a few minutes before Claire comes to find us.
“Where are the boys? We should probably get going soon.”
“They’re in the back corner eating trail mix. I’ll go get them.”
Claire nods, and I run off into the back where Dan and Ty had been. I don’t see them, so I head back to the front, but I hear voices and not my friends. Guards. I duck behind one of the racks of food and listen to their conversation, or as much as I can understand. They both speak in hushed whispers.
“If they find out about our plan-” The first guard, a female I think, but It’s difficult to tell, starts. Another guard, obviously female, cuts them off, “They won’t. Jack cares too much about his sisters to let it slip, and Matt could keep a secret in any situation if you took a blowtorch to his foot.” I know they have to be talking about my brothers, so I risk a peek around the shelf. I can see the owner of the second voice, but the first is facing away from me. I stay out an instant too long, and the second speaker spots me, the other whipping around to see what she was looking at. As soon as we make eye contact I shoot back into hiding, but it was too late. They had already seen me.
“Claire?” The first person says in a hushed voice.
“Aydin,” The second corrects, “She has a stitched up wound on her cheek. I’m sure she isn’t here alone though, Claire is undoubtedly hiding somewhere too.”
“Aydin, or Claire, whoever you are, we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re working with your brothers to get you guys out of here.” The first person, the one who had called me Claire, says in a soft voice.
I reluctantly step out of hiding and see Claire, Dan, and Ty, and Meg and Jaydia do the same, appearing from behind various shelves nearby. I see the two guards’ eyes flick between us for a moment, not recognizing the other four, besides me and Claire, and almost reach for a gun at their hips. Suddenly, I recognize the first guard. I step towards them, my hands forward in defense.
“Emory, take it easy, they’re with usl.”
The first guard, Emory, moves her hand from her gun and signals for the other guard to do the same. I drop my hands to my sides and let Emory hug me tightly, her mid-length, platinum blonde hair fluttering against my ear and neck. She steps back and I consciously notice that the left ⅓ or so of her hair is shaved, the other side reaching her elbow, almost. A single, thin, french braid lays on the border of the two sections, falling down her back with the rest of her white-blonde hair.
“Hey, girl! How are you?” She says, her tone almost made me forget I was in prison.
“Good, I am in jail though, so that’s not the best,” I reply with a smile to match hers. She throws her head back and laughs, a sound that I had forgotten a long time ago, but loved. Her laughter was infectious, always seeing the bright side to a situation. After a second we’re all laughing, even Dan is laughing even though it’s silently. “Now that we’ve all given each other heart attacks, what are you guys doing here?”
“Eating. Whatever that is out there isn’t food, so we decided to find some.” Jaydia explains, part of a loaf of bread in her hand still.
“How long have you been stealing food?” The other guard asks with a playful tone and her eyes sparkling with a hidden happiness.
“Since we got here,” Meg says, referring to Jaydia as well as herself.
“Same.” Claire and I say in unison, casting a glance, accompanied by a slight smirk at each other.
“A few days after Meg and Jade found it,” Ty says, speaking for Dan, and watching our mouths.
“Well, you kids should probably head out. If we walked in on you it’s a wonder other guards haven’t.” The second guard says.
“Oh, they have, but we should get going,” Meg replies.
“Before we go, who are you? I know Emory, but I’ve never met you before.” I say, gesturing to the second guard, then Emory, then the second guard again.
“Oh, I’m Emma. Who are your friends?” She says, her voice hiding her excitement very well. I can tell she’s a very happy, hyper person.
“This is Dan, he’s mute, so Ty speaks for him, even though he’s deaf,” I say pointing to Dan and Ty off to the left of the group.
“I’m Meg, and this is Jaydia.” Meg says, and I realize she has a very similar personality to the second guard, Emma.
“And you know us,” Claire says with a polite smile and a bit of nervous fidgeting with her hair.
“Aydin and Claire.” I clarify, pointing to myself, then my sister, and walk over to her and hug her
“Nice to meet you all-” Emma says with a soft smile before she’s cut off by a shout from outside.
“We’ll make sure it’s safe, then you guys get out of here,” Emory says, opening the door and disappearing through it, Emma close behind her. A few seconds later Emma peeks in and beckons us out of hiding. We follow her to the cafeteria and her demeanor suddenly changes from the kind, happy girl, to a harden prison guard.
“Don’t let me catch you in a place you shouldn’t be again, or you’re all going to solitary.” She says, and I recognize her as the guard that had brought me to dinner on my first day. Come to think of it, Emory was probably the guard from yesterday when we stuck out to hide our stuff. That would help explain why she let us pass so easily, and she was wearing a hat, so that could be why I had a hard time recognizing her.
For the next few minutes we hang around the cafeteria, and I catch Markus watching us more than once. He’s excited for our fight tonight. I can see it in his eyes, even from across the room. I can’t help but feel anxious with his gaze constantly on me. Finally, the guards shout for our third classes, and I follow my friends to English, where we read a few chapters of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ then write short stories about our lives. I don’t really pay attention though. I’m planning the fight out. If the gets killed, oh well, I can’t be in prison more than I already am, and if I die… I don’t want to think about that. We head off to science, where we learn about atoms, something I had heard a hundred times over, but always loved. I loved learning about what the world was made of, but then class came to an end and we went to dinner together, all discussing things we found interesting.
Jaydia loves writing but has to have someone, usually Meg, help her write or type it. Meg loves reading, so she’ll spend hours pouring over Jaydia’s work, even if she’s read it a hundred times. Dan, Ty, Claire, and I love running, especially in races, but Claire’s favorite is sports like soccer, basketball, and volleyball, but for some reason hates baseball. Ty loves swimming too, and I’d love to have a swim competition with him once we get out of here. Personally, I love all of it. I like literature to escape reality, and I love sports for the team spirit and competitions. I love science for the sake of learning about the tiniest things in our world, and how they work, but math is terrible. I can never remember the rules, and everything has too much flexibility.
Someone taps my shoulder, they’re fingers getting tangled in my hair for a second before I spin around to see… Matt? He has a uniform on identical to mine, and his hair is messy and unkempt as if he hadn’t done it in days, which wouldn’t unusually in the summer, but it was the middle of the school year, so it was very strange. He had scratches on his face and a white scar by the corner of his left eye. He turns away from me for a second, I assume to run away, but then Jack materializes next to him. They both have cuts and bruises on their faces and necks, and I don’t have the first clue what they could be from. A second later I hear someone call my name. I turn, don't see anyone, and turn back to my brothers, to see that they’re gone.
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...
