A Perfect World

Chapter 9

“Alright. We found it, but there’s a lot of it. It might take a while to find all of it.” Meg explains hurriedly and quietly. Everyone nods, and I add, “Everything is organized by first names, oh, and I found these,” I say, taking the folders from their spot under my arm. Matt takes them excitedly and quickly flips through them, “I’ll put these in your cell. If they find these they’ll know we’re up to something.”

“Good idea. I’ll get your stuff for you if you wanna go do that now.”

“Thanks, little sis,” Matt says with a slightly lopsided smile, before walking briskly down the hall to my cell.

“Alright, are we ready?” Jack asks.

“Yeah,” I say, still watching my other brother, “Let’s go.” Meg tugs the door open and we all disappear inside, going immediately to the third door on the left, where Meg had found the inmates’ belongings.

“M-Z it to the left, N-A is to the right. Go quickly, then meet back here. No one leaves without the others, okay?” Jaydia says softly.

“Okay,” I say nodding and taking off up the right side of the hall and to the very end, where my stuff is. It doesn’t take long to find it, since I’m at the very end of section A, and I have few belongings. I find my black leggings, blue shirt, pale leather jacket, and tan boots. My bag takes a few minutes longer to find, but it still has all of my belongings in it, including my headphones and cellphone. I tuck my knife into the side pocket and fold my clothes nicely so they fit in the gap between my books and the right side of my bag. My shoes fit nicely on the other side if I put one in right side up, and the other upside down, so the opening of one is on the toe of the other. I close my bag and pull it over my head so it rests on my left shoulder and my hair cascades over it.

I make it back to the door first, so I hide my belongings behind the N shelf and go off to find my siblings. I find Matt first, near the beginning of section M, and give him the dragon knives. I can’t tell the difference between them, but I know he can. He hands one back to me, tucking the other one into his pocket and resuming his search for his stuff. 

Next, I find Claire and Jack near the beginning of section J. Claire already has her bag on her shoulder and is helping Jack hunt his down. I hand them their knives and help them look. It takes an unusually long amount of time to find it, but eventually, we locate all of Jack’s belongings. By the time we get back to the door, everyone else is there waiting for us, backs over their shoulders or on their backs. It makes me happy to see them like this. They look happier, their smiles brighter.

“C’mon guys,” Claire says, her smile bright, the way I’m used to seeing it, “Let’s get out of here.”

We make our way to our cells as stealthily as possible and hide our things under our respective beds with a black blanket over them to help camouflage them from being seen. After we had finished tucking our things away under beds and behind sleeping bags, we go hang out in the hallway and talk, in sign language of course, for the next hour or so until we have to leave go do our jobs. For the first few minutes, we all talk together for a few minutes, but a question keeps nagging at me. I know it would be rude to ask, but I can't help thinking about it. Finally, I decide to just go for it.

<Peace, can I ask you something?> I sign, glancing around the circle I add, <Privately?>

He nods and signs, <We’ll be back soon.> to our friends, and follows me a little ways away.

<What’s up?> He signs, glancing back to our friends once or twice before giving me his full attention. I hesitate for a few seconds, then decide I may as well just ask.

<Is it okay if I ask about stuff that happened before you and Silence came here?>

He answers instantly as if he knew what I was going to ask before I mentioned it, <Yeah. That’s fine.>