Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
— THEIR BREATHS WERE RAGGED AND GASPING. The only light in the room came from a barred window near the roof. The experimentation block they were in was covered in dust and cobwebs, but there had been plenty of movement within.
A mass of clothes and hair and bodies were tightly huddled into a corner of the room, where the only sounds were their inhaling and muffled crying.
It was cold, messy and dark.
Just as it had been for the last two years. Nothing had ever changed.
Not until now.
Jonathan had heard the horror stories from the other boys. How many lives were really lost in this grim and terrifying penitentiary. But he never thought he'd have to experience such a thing as loss.
For the reason they were huddled together was because they were hovering over another dying lost boy.
The skin around their eyes were red and irritated as they tried not to break down.
Jonathan King shakily wiped at his eyes to avoid looking too weak, smearing dirt along his cheek.
He had to stay strong, he told himself. He had to stay strong for his brother.
"You guys know the drill, right?" Vincent coughed, his hand clenched at his side to try and ignore the pain.
"He'll be gone for six and a half hours at most." DJ replied with a wavering voice, his curly hair matted against his forehead by a mixture of sweat and crimson. He was shaking violently, either from the cold or the fear, Jonathan couldn't tell.
"There'll only be about a mile of land on the outside before we reach a fence." Ethan was leaned up against a wall just next to Vincent's head, his knees to his chest.
"From the fence there's a stretch of road, the right leads away from any proper civilization and we'll probably die of exposure before we make it anywhere." Chris was still pressing a cloth against the stitches just above the curve of his hip, the hem of his old dusty cargo shorts being pulled down slightly for easier access.
"To the left, we run for about twenty five minutes and we'll be in Riverdale. Get to the sheriff's station, and make them find the rest of us." Neil finished, a shaky nod to follow as he huddled closer to Ethan for warmth.
Vincent's dry cough heaved through the air.
"And?" He asked, prompting the group to answer.
Johnny sighed, pressing a stick into the pavement, "If someone gets left behind you keep going, no matter what."
"That's right." Vincent nodded. "If one person can make it to the sheriff's station, maybe they can stop others from being kidnaped."
Johnny glanced at the other boys.
They were just children.
Just children, who had tucked themselves as far away from the world as possible, like a mother would tuck a child into bed and away from the angry long legged monsters that would plague their imagination.
They were just children, huddling as close as possible without really touching, just to feel anything resembling comfort.
Children lost and confused, tortured and scared.
They were just children.
— THAT MORNING WHEN JONATHAN KING BEGAN TO WAKE, he felt pain bloom in his chest, not from the injury but from the memories of the life he escaped. It was as if wretched, burning claws were digging viciously against his skin, trying to tear its way through him and reveal itself to the world.
It made him feel uncomfortably horrid, his skin crawled and itched in the most dislikable ways.
Yet he tried to just exist for a few moments, those few minutes when you're still half asleep, and the world is still quiet.
Yet of course, his hearing came back to greet him with the faint, high pitched squealing ping that his tinnitus always sported. The other sounds in the room were the rattling air vents, and metal gently scraping against glass.
He sat up, allowing his eyes to adjust to the ridiculous lighting of the room.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." A female voice spoke.
"Andie," Johnny greeted with a slight groan, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"I have no idea what she means with 'beauty', you look like shit." A boy said.
Johnny glared at the bed next to his, where a boy with curly hair sat.
"Shut up, man." Johnny stuck his tongue out childishly.
"Yeah, DJ, shut up." Andie spoke up again, pointing a spoon at him but in no way paying attention to where she was pointing.
Andie has been spending enough time listening to Jonathan talk to air to know who he was speaking to, by reaction alone.
"She's cool." Ethan laughed, sitting weirdly in the chair next to the bed DJ had perched on.
Johnny looked at the girl, who was eating chopped up strawberries out of a little glass bowl and occasionally sipping lemonade from a glass with purple floral designs.
"If you're just gonna insult me," Johnny began, ignoring Ethan and just focusing on DJ's first statement. "Then we can forget about this whole 'I'm crazy' thing and I will kick all your asses to the curb."
Andie snorted slightly in response.
"What did we do?" Another, smaller voice asked.
Jonathan looked at Chris, who sat politely at the end of his bed.
"You're fine." Johnny assured, waving a lazy hand.
An argument flared up in the three boys, like a fire that just engulfed more dry wood.
Johnny ignored it, still waking up and shedding the memory he had dreamed.
He had to speak with sheriff Keller soon about what happened.
He wanted to.
But he also knew living just now in blissful ignorance, unsure of who made it out or not, he just liked to believe they were all okay. It was stupid, but it was the only thing he could grip tight and hold onto. The only thing keeping him on his feet, was the shear possibility that someone else made it out alive.
He couldn't be the only one. But his heart sank in his chest as he imagined the worst.
They were just children. His heart called, tightening in his chest. We're only children.
author's note
I didn't finish this at 2 am,, what?? You're delusional and I totally don't have a problem 🤩😖👊🏻
any suggestions for stuff you wanna see in the future of this book? I'm still tryna piece together an outcome and it's only shreds of ideas pinned to an open bulletin board so lemme know 🤷🏻♀️
