Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 28: Free Roam

Today was a new day, Lauren had gotten up exceptionally early today given that she hadn't slept at all. She kept arguing back and forth with herself about yesterday's events with Kaila. On the outside Lauren knew she shouldn't have treated Kaila the way she did, but inside she felt different. A strange warm feeling she hadn't felt since she was young, long before she started working in her parents company.

Getting work done on her laptop to take her mind away from it all, Lauren was done with her work load for the day before her morning alarm even went off. Climbing back into bed for a while she managed to close her eyes for a what seemed like a minute before she had a certain little girl jumping around her and a loud siren going off.

Groaning she slapped her alarm clock off and wiped her tired eyes trying to focus them on the blob of colors in front of her. Once she was finally adjusted to the day, she could see Kaila running and jumping around her room excited.

"What're you doing up so early?" Her voice croaked.

"I wanna play!" Kaila squealed continuing to run around the room as if there was no tomorrow.

Tiredly sitting up, Lauren stretched her arms out wide as she yawned seeing the clock besides her. Already she was two hours late to work, not caring about going in today she laid back down in bed closing her eyes to try and sleep longer.

But Kaila was not having it, she wanted to go outside today. For far too long Kaila felt trapped in this facility. Sure Lauren had taken her out to the greenhouse, but it was still caging her within the walls of the building. She needed to get back out to the real world and do things, see things, and in her highest hope to see the people she cared for.

Not wanting Lauren to let precious daylight go to waste, she ran up and jumped onto the bed. Finding the courage in herself, Kaila began jumping on the bed, especially near Lauren. Knowing it would wake her right up, Kaila was getting ready to jump once her feet hit the bed again, but was surprised to feel a strong grip around her ankle pulling her down. Falling onto the bed, Lauren was lucky Kaila landed a few inches away from her body.

"Knock it off." She scolded with her eyes shut still.

Taking that to her advantage, Kaila persisted to further annoy Lauren knowing it would end in her getting up. While her eyes were closed, Kaila sneaked her finger close to Lauren's eyes. Finding the joy in it, Kaila laid the tips of her fingers against Lauren's eyelids dragging them open. "Hi" her soft little voice called while she happily waved.

In the blink of an eye Lauren had a death grip on both of Kaila's wrists. Sitting up irritated in the bed Lauren held Kaila's wrists in one hand out in front of her and slapped them hard with the other. "Stop it, be quiet. I'm trying to sleep." She grumpily said harshly releasing Kaila's arms.

"But I wanna go out!" Kaila whined pulling her wrists close to her chest rubbing them softly trying to ease the stinging pain throbbing through them.

Mumbling in response Lauren just laid back down trying once again to sleep when Kaila had an idea spark in her brain. 'If I leave then Lauren has no choice but to follow me, then we can go out!'

Thinking her plan through, Kaila stumbled off the bed and walked over to Lauren's closet, throwing on another one of her outfits. Being mindful of her still aching wrists, she twisted Lauren's bedroom doorknob making sure to creak the door as it opened. She turned waiting for Lauren to sit up. But of course as all things, this didn't go as planned. Shockingly to Kaila's surprise, even despite the loud croaking of the door, Lauren didn't wake. Instead Kaila could hear deep snores and heavy breathing.

Taking a look outside into the hallway the little girl decided to take a step of faith. Leaving Lauren's room and shutting the door behind her, it was as if all senses came right back to Kaila's head. All her surrounds and current situation reminded her of the dreadful situation she was truly in. Seeing the beauty in her plan, she spent no time wasting it.

Sneaking through the halls Kaila winded up in what looked like a private library. Large shelves filled with thousands of books lined the walls as one lonely desk sat in the center with four chairs all around it. Besides the books and interesting choice of fur furniture collection, Kaila saw a window behind the desk. Running up to it she noticed how high up the window was.

Looking like she was three floors off ground level it was obvious the small girl began to panic. Trying to notice anything else from the view, all she could see in the distance was trees spreading out for hundreds of miles.

Quietly running out of the library she tried looking for the front door. Unbeknownst to her, the entire house was massive. Time and time again she hit dead ends, leading her back to where she had already been.

Feeling trapped within the confine space she felt herself getting angrier by the second. The more she hunted and failed for the front door, the more frustrated she became. "Where the hell is this door?!" She was ready to pull her hair out as she stormed down one hall for what felt like the hundredth time.

When all hope felt lost she felt her instincts telling her to take a specific path. Almost like a magnet was pulling her, she felt her body being dragged down different pathways. It was clear to her she had never been down this way before, and by the bright light coming in on her she felt her heart rate increasing.

Finally feeling the pull leave her body, she was standing at the very top of a staircase seeing her one prize at the bottom. Adrenaline was quick to fill her body. Running down the stairs she eagerly looked towards the door. Unlocking every lock, unbolting every bolt, and twisting the knob Kaila felt relief rush over her body when the door popped open.

Her jaw dropped when she was met with a large wall blocking off the way out. 'What the?!' She threw her hands on the wall trying to push it out of her way. But it was stable. The wall was going nowhere. Before panic struck her body once again, Kaila tried to think of a way around this.

Turning around in circles she saw the keypad Lauren had punched a code into. Thinking back to yesterday as she watched Lauren doing this exact task. Replicating it with shocking ease, the wall retracted revealing a long corridor to another set of doors leading into the facility.

'This is it. I'm one step closer to freedom.'

All her effort of hard work finally paid off, staring out at the empty hallway that laid in front of her. Just as her foot was about to leave the floor a striking thought occurred to her. 'What about Lain? I don't want anything to happen to her? I don't her to be in more pain because of me! But...but if I can find her, we can get out of this place. Is it worth the risk?'
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Let me know what you think Kaila's going to choose. Thanks Lexx signing off