Shadow Escape, the sequence(Book 2)

Chapter 3

↠Jack↞

As we finally escaped that horrendous robot — who looked very stupid by the way —, a room appeared in front of us which made me think that my hypothesis was right after all. Wow, I just said a smart word. Go figure.

As a reflex, I put my hands in my pockets to look cool. Duh! This was usually how I fit in with the cool crowd at school. Both of my parents weren't too proud with it, but regardless of the pain I had to endure changing myself, I still did it. Back then, my relationship with my parents was perfect and that's what I thought until I noticed how other kids' parents at school acted differently. It wasn't hard to spot at all, but I had trouble understanding why. Why exactly did my parents not give me this certain thing? It was one of the many things they failed to provide to me. It was the lack of attention.

I wasn't sure if the lack of attention was what brought me here. If my parents actually paid me attention or really cared, maybe I would not be here, in this torture place managed by some evil dude. They're the only ones I can blame for now.

Noises behind me reminded me of my present situation. Paying attention to my surroundings, I took note of how large the room was. Violet, Mike and Cora looked like ants compared to the rest.

I slid my hands all the way through my pockets, hiding my unease and felt something ruffle. Hm.

Was I lucky enough to get sunglasses to add to my cool look?

Grabbing the maybe-sunglasses, I slid it out of my pocket. What I found wasn't normal and it wasn't there before. It was a note. I would be lying if I didn't say I felt the slightest of disappointment.

Finish them, It said.

I didn't understand and thought nothing of it so I put it back in the pocket like an empty candy wrapper. It was too vague. Just give me facts, not this crap that can be interpreted in twenty different ways. I didn't have time to get lost in those words and honestly, I couldn't care less.

The room we just entered looked like some type of servant's bedroom. It was quite empty, with thick walls and huge with low ceilings and no windows except for one at the far back which let in shadows of light. There was a table to the left and multiple cabinets to the right. It was poorly-lit with lit candles that emitted almost zero light so it was pretty hard to see.

I walked around the room and as I neared the window, I realized we were pretty far off the ground. We were on the 9th or 10th floor. The building we were in was built like a castle and the view outside looked like something out of a fairytale. Everyone had looks of awe including me and I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping to the floor. Outside, were plains of grass almost too green to be true that ended on the horizon and willow trees triple the size of normal ones were scattered around the field. The field was flat, dotted through with tiny white flowers that almost gave the lime-green grass a silver sheen. There were even fruits too! Delicious-looking ones. With the sun shining, I had an urge to lie in the field and watch the world drift by. I couldn't believe a place of such beauty was to be the grounds for something as horrible as a prison.

Another smart word.

I was the last to leave the window because the scene was captivating but I had to look away.

Dragging my fingers along the dusty walls, I gagged at all the dust accumulated and awkwardly wiped it off.

Ouch!

I said that mentally because I didn't want to lose my cool. I looked down and winced as a trickle of blood fell from my finger. When I checked my pants to see what it was, I noticed a sharp knife sitting at the bottom of my pocket. I gasped, but no one heard me because now Cora, Mike and Violet were all busy searching for hints.