I woke up in the morning completely on the wrong side of the cot. First, I really needed a shower, but wouldn’t be able to get one for another two days. My hair, all limp and greasy, annoyed me. Second, Taylor would still not budge in her escape opinions, and she even wrote me a nasty note, explaining that since she was the leader of APE, she should be the one making the decisions. I wrote her back, saying that she had advisors for a reason: to help her make the big decisions. I told her again that Massingale knew that’s what we would use. Why didn’t she get it?
Third, Thalia was in a bad mood. Since I was around her 24/7, this made my day miserable. She answered everything I said to her with a grunt, and was generally unpleasant to be around. I knew she’d gotten called to Massingale’s office early in the morning, but I didn’t know what had happened, and if her bad mood was connected to it or not.
Around lunch time, she seemed a little happier, so afterwards, I asked her about her call. Immediately, she closed up again. “What’s wrong?” I asked again.
“Nothing.”
“Come on. Tell me. It’s not like I have anyone else to tell, and I’m not going to judge you or make you feel bad. I want to help you.”
She softened a little at my words, and said, “Fine. When she called me to the office this morning, that was the first time I’d seen her since she put me in here.”
Wow. “And how did that make you feel?”
“She seemed… older, obviously, but… more in command, I guess. Like she knows she is the boss and she’s not afraid to exercise her authority.”
“I got that feeling from her, too. What’d she talk to you about?”
“She said that she was happy my mental condition had improved, but that I’d not be able to get out of here anytime soon.”
“How do you legally get put in here? Doesn’t, or shouldn’t, an official come by periodically and check on the facility?”
“They should, but they don’t. I suspect they get paid off to not show up. How did you get here, anyway?”
I filled her in about how I got here, skipping the whole interdimensional travel bit and most of the APE goings-on. She understood. “Do you know what town this is in, anyway? They drove around for half the day before getting here.”
“This is pretty close to Chehalis, where I grew up.” She sighed, and I silently mourned for her lost young adulthood, spent instead in this fortress-like correctional facility.
“How did your mom rise to the top in only five years?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t have much contact with her, as you already know. While she was a guard, she talked a lot about this crazy dude who developed these mirrors that were portals to other dimensions. Maybe he had something to do with it.”
My heart skipped a beat. My first reaction was to defend my dad, but I held my tongue. I shouldn’t tell her about the portals. “That’s weird. What did she say?”
“Mostly, she talked about investor opportunities, but after his business failed, she quit talking about it. You know anything about it?”
Do I know anything about it? I went through it! I’m the daughter of the person who invented it! “No. I remember hearing about it, but I didn’t look into it.”
My conscience stabbed me for lying to her, but I had to. She would learn the truth eventually, when I went to my own dimension. For now, though, a figurative blindfold would not be a bad thing. Less complicated that way.
Stolen novel; please report.
Finally, after Indie was released, we met. She returned to her original cell, thankfully. We decided, through notes, that Torrin would get Taylor and Cassidy, sneak in Finni, and meet at our cell at the end of the hall. One at a time, they snuck downstairs, and they safely made it. Even though everyone was deeply asleep, we whispered.
“Good to see you again, Cassidy. How’ve you been?” I asked. Of course, I’d seen her at meals and other activities, but not been able to talk because rules, though we were planning to break out.
She replied positively, and the six of us started the meeting. We needed to keep the meeting short. Taylor started us off by stating the reasons why we should take the laundry shuttle. I’d heard these half a dozen times before, so I tuned out. I did notice everyone nodding along, agreeing with everything she said. Then came my turn.
“I know that Taylor’s idea sounds nice. And it would be. Problem is, Massingale, the dean, knows that’s what we’d use. So, we can’t. She showed me the schedule on purpose. Our best option, everything considered, and I’ve had a lot of free time to think about this, is to either take the garbage truck out or get smuggled out through Torrin. Of course, we’d need transportation if we went Torrin’s way, but at least Massingale won’t have seen it coming.”
“I see what you mean,” Cassidy said. Finni agreed. Taylor kicked against the goads: “Who wants to go out using the garbage truck?! That’s disgusting! The laundry, on the other hand -”
“-will be full of dirty jumpsuits. It doesn’t matter, as long as we get out. Who’s with me?” I interrupted. Why couldn’t anyone see my point? I made it clear enough!
Torrin scratched his head. “I dunno, Byrd. Or Taylor, or whatever we’re calling you now.”
I jumped at his pause. “Torrin, come on! Why doesn’t anyone believe me? We need to get out of here! Massingale knows! We need to act quickly. In fact, why can’t we just go know? What prevents us?”
“Planning,” Taylor said. “Torrin only has a bicycle. What are the rest of us going to do? Run alongside? How are the guards not going to notice four others sneaking out?”
I would’ve recorded the rest of the discussion (read: argument), but I want to spare you, the reader, all the harsh words. I’ll sum it up:
1. I try to state my case in a reasonable way.
2. Taylor argues against it.
3. Everyone agrees with her.
4. Repeat, over and over, for fifteen minutes.
They left after agreeing on a date four days from now to escape through the laundry system. Still, I didn't agree, but they pretty much ignored me at this point.
For the next four days, I stressed. Every night, I dreamt of various ways our escape could go wrong. My palms were constantly sweaty, and I'm sure everyone could discern the distress in my eyes. I hoped nobody would connect the dots and figure out that we were planning to escape. I still tried to convince Taylor of the danger, but she ignored me. At this point, only Thalia believed me.
The big day came with much dread. The bats in my stomach beat themselves around in there, trying to escape. I felt that everyone in the room could hear my heartbeat. My extremities felt cold and numb, yet my head felt too hot. I knew everyone could see my burning ears.
Although anxiety plagued me all day, Thalia looked the picture of tranquility. “How do you do it?” I asked her conspiratorially in our cell. “I'm shaking in my boots here, and you look fine!”
“I'm trying not to think about it. If I did, I’d be the same.”
“How are you not thinking about it? Our plan is all I can think of! I'm so worried about the laundry. We're not even fully ready!”
“Just chill on your cot for a minute. Focus on your breathing. Prepare to get out, but don’t dwell on it.”
I tried her advice, with limited success. “What am I supposed to prepare for? It’s Taylor and Torrin who are doing the bulk of the work.”
“Prepare to be there, and to do whatever it takes to escape with your friends and your life.”
“Sounds like you’ve tried to get out before.” I tried to joke, but she went dead serious.
“Just once. Didn’t make it, obviously. Tried to hijack one of the cook’s cars.”
“What went wrong?”
“She was in it, sitting on the backseat. Didn’t see her until she’d seen me. Back to my cell I was taken.”
“How’d you get out of your cell?”
“Slipped a guard’s keys off his belt when I distracted him.”
“Do you think you could do it again? I know Indie has a key. Dunno how she’s kept it all this time, but she does. We could use a spare.”
“I think so. It’ll have to be at dinner. I’ll do it right before we leave.”
I felt slightly more secure in our scheme, now that we’d have an extra set of cell keys. Still, I kept on worrying. Thalia managed to pilfer the keys without a hitch from an unsuspecting guard.