The Younger Escapees

Chapter 28: Maybe I Should Stop Remembering

               It didn’t take Max long to wake up, maybe an hour at most. Anna fell asleep on me. Why is it that kids feel so much heavier when they’re out cold?

                Darius and I took turns holding Anna because I couldn’t make myself lay her on the floor. It felt good to hold on to something so solid and innocent, it created the illusion that some of that innocence was rubbing off on me.

I watched Darius when he held her, he looked at her with a soft gaze so much like the one that he normally used when looking at me. He loved her and he wanted to protect her. When he looked at me there was something a little different that I didn’t want to put the effort into figuring out then.

“Max, do you have any idea what you just did?” Darius asked after Max had been awake for a few minutes and hadn’t spoken.

“Punched someone who deserved a lot worse,” Max answered, showing no sign of the remorse that Darius had obviously expected.

“No, Max. You made an enemy out of someone that you don’t want as an enemy,” Darius said slowly as if talking to someone younger than Anna who had stolen a cookie and needed to be told it was wrong.

“And what exactly was I supposed to do genius!? Just smile and nod?” This was the second maddest I had ever seen Max, the first being an hour ago.

I watched all of this without saying a word; all I did was silently beg for it to stop. I didn’t want them to be mad, they needed to be stable, and they need to be my constants that I could hold on to. I could feel myself losing my grip.

“You could have done something that didn’t endanger all of us. That guard saw us run to the door with you,” Darius seemed at his wits end. That was rare and that scared me.

“Oh… I’m so sorry guys,” Max said making eye contact with both Darius and me.

Both of them seemed to calm down. Thank God the argument was over.

“Don’t let Anna know; I don’t think she’ll figure it out herself. There’s no reason for her to be scared,” I said holding Anna a little closer to me as if I could protect her in some way.

Both Darius and Max nodded. They knew how violently protective of Anna I could be, and even if they didn’t care about her, that would have been reason enough. Minutes passed without anyone saying a word, and then Max broke the silence.

“What do you think they’ll do because of me?” he asked.

“They probably won’t do anything to you. They’ll find out who you care about and torture them,” I answered. Darius cringed, he still felt guilty about the time he had made them mad. My mind yanked back to then.

Darius had been scheduled for testing that day. He’d thrown a fit when they came for him and he refused to take his medicine.

We both noticed them watching us. Darius was scared and I was beyond terrified for him.

They waited almost three days to come back into the cell. I could see that Darius was shaking and I grabbed his hand. When the two guards made their way to us they didn’t grab Darius; they grabbed me.

I might have protested if I had the energy, but they rarely fed us enough and we stayed malnourished. Darius on the other hand was more stubborn. He swung at the guard that grabbed me and I’m pretty sure he broke his nose. The other guard pushed him down.

“You’ll learn not to do that soon,” he said, before he shot Darius. I was drug away, and it wasn’t until two days later when they brought me back and I found out it had just been a tranquilizer.

They started by taking to a small cell that was barely lit. The walls were painted black which made the room seem even darker. I was just thrown in and left there for an hour. I was so scared. I could feel myself shaking, and I was so nervous that I almost threw up but it was just a dry heave since there was no food on my stomach.

The first one to come in was the guard that Darius had punched. He punched me in the nose, hard. It was definitely broken. I hit the ground, and then he kicked me in the side and walked out.

Next was someone who loved mind games. He was an older guard that had flecks of gray in his black hair, but his eyes hadn’t lost any of their black malice. He told me Darius was dead and that I needed to forget him. Then he set a speaker up out of my reach that constantly spewed out “forget him” on a loop. I didn’t sleep.

Then was an expert in torture. I can’t remember what he did, I just know that I felt more pain than I ever had and I bled a lot. I’ve blocked that out. I know that if I could remember it I wouldn’t be able to function.

A younger guard with blond hair and pretty blue eyes came in. She smiled sweetly and she was holding a tray of food. I thought she was an angel. Then she sat down and ate it in front of me and walked out.

Lastly came a red-haired boy. He was the youngest guard I’d seen, he barely looked 16 to me but he had to have been at least 18. He just sat down in front of me. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“I don’t believe you,” I replied.

“I wish they didn’t do this,” he said making eye contact.

“Sure,” I said.

“You remind me of my sister.” he said.

“Good for you,” I snapped sarcastically.

Then he left, but he came back the next morning and took me back to my original community cell. Then I hugged Darius and tried to sleep but kept screaming in my sleep and waking myself up.