Quarantined

Chapter 7

I tore at the room's confines until they were unrecognizable. My fingers were injured and bleeding, but I paid it no mind. I had already made significant progress on dismantling the prison; the bars were mostly off by now, and several of the wall's paint chips and wedges were scattered haphazardly around the floor. But my job was still yet to be finished. I could still see a lot of blue near the ceiling, which I unfortunately could not reach by myself. I frantically looked around for something I could possibly stand on top of, in order to heighten my reach. My gaze landed on a nearby dresser; not that tall, but still better than nothing. Plus, I was able to move it around as I pleased, that I could cover the entire length of the room's walls. The bed, too, was capable of giving me a sufficient boost, but unlike the dresser, I could not move it no matter how hard I tried. Finally, I noticed a bookcase near the opposite wall, which, I thought, I could get to the top of with the aid of the dresser.

I stayed up all night scraping every inch of that insufferable blue design off the wall. I did not take even the slightest moment to rest, and the lack of sleep pushed me further to the brink. But after several hours of work, it was done. The bars.....no, the entire prison, was a thing of the past. And I immediately began to see the results of my efforts. The silhouettes were no longer trapped inside the wall, as they had been on prior days and nights. Now, all of them were free to move about the bedroom as they pleased. I....I did it, I thought. I tried to get off the dresser, but I suppose I stepped in the wrong place, and I took a rather nasty fall to the floor, injuring my ankle upon impact. I attempted to stand up, but I couldn't. I looked around the room again. A rush of excitement flowed through me as I spotted all the shadows finally able to have some room of their own; no longer having to spend time confined anywhere. This.....this is what I had always wanted! They're free.....free! And come to think of it, I had also released myself as well! That forsaken blue cage was separating me from them just as much as it was separating them from me! Now, we could all be together.

I crept slowly in circles around the room, just as the figures did, moving over Reginald's lifeless husk, which lay on the outer edge of the room, on multiple occasions. It was around morning now, and I knew Chris and Sam would come looking for me. As I suspected, I heard a knock on the door, followed by a slight wobbling of the doorknob, which grew more and more frantic. It was Chris. Initially, I said nothing. Do not even bother trying, young friend, you are unable to open it up! "Chris," I said, in a soft voice. "I threw the key out the window.....it is now on the porch." He did not believe me at first, and cried out constantly for me to open the door. "Open the door, please. I am sorry I did not believe you last night. Could we talk about this peacefully?" he asked. "And, by the way, have you seen Reginald anywhere?" "Yes....I have." I replied. "I cannot open the door for you. Find the key if you want to get in." He still did not believe me, thinking I was hoarding the key for myself. I said it again and again and again, tenderly and gently, several times. He and Sam eventually left me for a while to search the porch for the key. Even I did not know exactly where on the porch it was; I simply saw it falling into that general area last night, before I turned away from the window.

He found it near a potted plant, of course, returned to the room quickly with Sam in tow, and opened the door.

"What the.....what happened to you?" he cried. "And is that Reginald on the floor?!"

With sheer madness in my eyes, I turned around to look at them. "I have finally escaped the blue prison at long last, despite its resilience, and all of your futile efforts to keep me restrained. And you will never catch me in there ever again!" I snarled.

I do have to wonder why they both collapsed before me. But they did.

And I just kept right on creeping.