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unknown magic
Chapter II - Escaping to the unknown [part2]

Written by Tadi

I walked down the hallway and stopped at the side entrance to the cafeteria. I looked around to make sure no one was watching. I turned the door knob slowly and peeked in. There was no one in sight so I sneaked in and closed the door. I tiptoed around the counter and in to the kitchen. I searched through the fridge and all the cabinets for any food. I found some canned soups, chips and some candy. I also grabbed a couple of bottles of water and stuffed it all in to the trash bag I found in one of the cabinets. The only good thing about the orphanage is that they have no cameras which makes it easier for us to escape. I was just about to walk out of the kitchen when I heard a noise. I sat down in the corner at the doors and peered through the little hole. Standing in the middle of the cafeteria were Lauren and another keeper. I couldn't hear what they were saying because they were too far away and whispering. It looked like they were having an argument. Lauren turned around and walked towards the kitchen. I sat as close to the wall as I could. The door opened suddenly and I held my breath. I heard cabinets opening and closing. I peeked around the door and saw Lauren next to a cabinet, opening some kind of a secret compartment. She pulled out a bag and opened it. Inside was more money I could ever imagine seeing. She took some out and threw the bag back in, hid the secret compartment and closed the cabinet. She walked back towards the door but stopped before leaving. She saw me, I thought to myself. But then she kept walking and slammed the door after her. A few seconds later I heard the cafeteria door opening and closing and then everything was quiet. I waited a couple minutes just sitting in the corner. After I relaxed a little I got up and walked to the cabinet I saw Lauren at. I opened it and lifted the fake bottom to reveal the secret compartment. I took out the bag and opened it. I thought about putting it back because missing money could prevent us from escaping but then again we’ll be gone before they even notice anything. I grabbed nine packs of hundred dollar bills. This should be enough for all three of us to survive for a while after we get out. I threw the money in to the trash bag with the rest of the stuff. I made sure of putting everything back in its place before leaving the kitchen. I lifted the bags and walked as quietly as possible through the side door. I looked around and made sure no one saw me while walking towards the bedroom. I placed the bags in my trunk under a blanket. Two hours later Lacey came back.

    “Where have you been? I though I told you to gather some clothes for us!” I told her as she sat on my bed.

    “I did. But I also thought we might need something to carry it all in” she gave me a small but just big enough backpack. She also had two more for herself and Anna.

    “These will be great Lacey thanks” I said while hugging her. I told her all about what happened in the kitchen and how I found the money and she told me about running and hiding from Katy, another keeper. Katy’s the one I saw in the cafeteria with Lauren, they must be up to something to be sneaking around and whispering.

    “Where’s Anna?” asked Lacey. That’s when I remembered that she was supposed to be the look out and yet I got no warning about Lauren coming in to the cafeteria. We got up and ran to the hallway. We looked around but she was nowhere to be seen. She must have been caught, I thought. We were running upstairs when I saw her through a window. She was sitting on a bench outside with Katy. Thank God it’s not Lauren, I thought. Katy’s one of the nicer keepers so she won’t give Anna too much of a hard time. We walked back to the bedroom and sat on my bed. If there’s anything I’ve learnt over the years it’s that you should never try to get involved. It’s not only stupid, it also gets you in a lot of trouble.

    “She saw me hiding outside the cafeteria” said Anna when she finally returned and told us everything.

    “I thought for sure Lauren would rip me apart but Katy stepped in and said she’d take care of me.” So that’s what they were arguing about, I said to myself. We kept talking for a while.

I put on my black jeans and a black leather jacket I found in the basement a couple of weeks ago. After washing it three times it was ready to be worn. I looked in the mirror one last time and smiled. For the first time in my life I actually have something to be happy about. I’m getting out of this hell and starting fresh. No more chores, no more bruises from making mistakes, no more fear of the keepers. I stuffed the money to the bottom of the backpack and walked out. Anna and Lacey have both already left. I opened the doors slowly and peeked through. I saw nothing unusual so I stepped outside and closed the door. A slight breeze flew through the hallway and chills ran up my spine. Everything was scarier at night. The moon was full and it shined bright through the windows, throwing light on object and making dark scary shadows. I tiptoed slowly making sure not to make any sound. Most of the keepers are asleep at night but some like to walk around, making sure no one is up and about. This made it harder for us to escape. The night was dark, pitch black and even though we were doing something that could get us killed, I felt good, strong even. I got to the stairway and paused for a moment. I though I heard a sound so I looked around but saw nothing. I had a strange feeling of being watched. I fiddled with the zipper on my backpack nervously, when I finally got it opened I pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. The hallway was immediately brighter and I checked out all the corners before making my way downstairs. The spiral staircase was long and it took what seemed like forever to get to the bottom. As I came closer to the bottom I saw light jumping around and I heard soft whispers escaping in to the darkness. I flicked off my flashlight and slowly got closer.

    “We should go check what’s taking her so long” said Anna. I saw her turn around and head towards the stairs. I took a few steps back so the light didn’t hit me.

    “Are you crazy? She said to wait down here no matter what!” whispered Lacey while quickly grabbing Anna by the hand and pulling her back.

    “What are you guys fighting about now?” I asked with a smirk while leaning over the railing at the bottom of the staircase. They both gasped and took a step back. The pointed their flashlights directly at me and I closed my eyes and looked away from the brightness.

    “Oh thank God you’re here!” said Anna while hugging me a little bit too tight. Lacey simply patted me on the back and we slowly walked down the hallway away from the stairway. I leaned closer to the basement door and tried to listen to any kind of sound of movement or voices. I heard nothing out of the ordinary so I opened the door and we walked in. All we have to do now is find some secret passage to get us from the basement to the tunnels. We split up and started checking the walls, behind closets, even behind pictures for any hidden triggers.

    “Guys! I think I found it” said Lacey. We ran to her and she pulled away the carpet revealing a wooden hatch. I wondered how I haven’t noticed this before when cleaning the basement. We opened the hatch and pointed our flashlights down in it. It had a ladder going down far, further then our flashlights could reach. I reminded Lacey, who was going last to shut the hatch before coming down. I slowly climbed down, holding the flashlight in my hand and pointing it down to see where I was going. Anna went right behind me and was blinding me with her flashlight. I stopped and called them to make sure we were all on the ladder. When they replied I continued climbing down.

We finally reached the end of the ladder and jumped down to the ground. We were in a room with what looked like cages. I walked closer to one of the cages while Anna and Lacey looked for the tunnel. At the top of the cage was scribbled ‘Here he shall stay, imprisoned forever’. I walked closer to the cage trying to see through the opening with bars on it. I raised the flashlight higher trying to see the inside of the cage. I heard them calling me in the distance but I stepped even closer to the cage determined to see what was inside. I lifted my hand higher and closer to the opening. Anna called me again and this time I turned around but something grabbed me. I turned back in fear and pointed the flashlight at my hand. A strong hand was grabbing my wrist. Its long nails bore in to my skin and I gasped when it pulled me closer. I wanted to scream but was afraid someone could hear me. I could see half of its face appear. I held my breath as it smelled my hand and smiled crookedly. I tried pulling as hard as I could but it didn’t help, it just held me harder. I heard Anna and Lacey coming closer. I wanted to scream, I wanted to warn them to stay away but I couldn’t. I tried hitting it with the flashlight but nothing helped. As Anna and Lacey came even closer and pointed their flashlights at me it let go. I stumbled back and watched the cage in horror.

    “Didn’t you hear us? We’ve been calling you!” said Lacey. She put her hand on my shoulder and shook me. I couldn’t move, I was in shock from what I just saw. Was it even real or was I just imagining it all. I turned around slowly and Anna gasped.

    “Alice are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!” said Anna. I took a breath to calm down. Lacey walked to the cage and looked inside.

    “What’s in here?” I turned around and pulled her away.

    “It’s nothing! Let’s just go.” We walked away from the cage and I glanced back once more before it disappeared completely in to the darkness. We walked to the tunnel on the other side of the room with a big bird above it. Next to the bird in small letters was the word LIBERTAS.

    “What does that mean?” asked Lacey.

    “Freedom” I answered.

We walked down the tunnel as fast as we could, excited about what awaited us at the end. The tiny hope in our hearts was the only thing that kept us moving forward. We were so close but yet it seemed so far away. We weren’t in the clear yet and even if we get out we will need to be on the run for a while. No way are they just going to let us get away. I kept thinking about what I saw in the cage, it was horrible. When it touched me I felt nothing but emptiness, sadness and horror. The part of its face I saw was familiar, like I’ve seen it somewhere before. We came to the end and there was a big wooden door. I tried the handle but it wouldn’t budge. I tried pushing but I couldn’t move it. All three of us ran into it hard and finally it gave in. We pushed it until the opening was just wide enough so we could get through. We stumbled out one by one and pushed the door back closed. We looked around; there was nothing around us; just trees. This was the hard part, not only did we not know where we were it was also dark and we had no idea which way to go. We walked around a little, each our own direction but never going too far. I came to a hill and started climbing up. As I came to the top I saw it, standing there big and proud in the valley, The Eurynome orphanage. I waived around with my flashlight to call for Anna and Lacey and a few minutes later they were standing by me looking down at the orphanage. We turned off our flashlights and sat on the ground. The lights from the orphanage were bright enough to give us the light we needed.

    “We should go before they figure out we’re gone” said Anna. I could see she was terrified so I put my hand around her and pulled her in to a hug.

    “It’s over now” I reassured her, even though I knew this was only the beginning.