Flying High✔

The cold bit at my skin and I shivered, my dirty, torn blanket doing nothing to help me. Thunder clapped and boomed outside, making the stone walls shake. Through the rusting, metal bars I could see the grimy corridor. It was deserted. The only thing illuminating the stone passage was the frequent flashes of lightning and the small, damp glow of the oil lamp that sat on the cold floor of our cell. The cold stone was more comfortable than our beds. Ernie and I sat next to each other, the soft glow of the oil lamp illuminating his tired face. In another life, his face would be smiling, and he wouldn't be tired. We wouldn't have pale, malnourished skin. In our might life. I looked over at Hazel's limp body. She was already fast asleep, the lucky thing. Ernie and I froze in terror when we heard the clomping of footsteps down the corridor. The echo's reverberated on the stone walls.

"They're coming Emily!" Ernie whispered to me, placing his hand over my mouth to stop the shriek. "Get. Into. Your. BED. NOW!"

You would think that after 3 months of this, I would be used to it. But I wasn't. I would never get used to this kind of treatment.

My eyes fluttered open as I heard the shrill bell signalling the start of the day. I was slowly getting sick of this. Sick of everything. I ignored the bell and faced the wall. The one question I had been constantly asking myself for the past 3 months pinged violently in my mind again. "Why should we be arrested for wanting to be safe?"

I'm sick of this!" Lavender groaned as she took a spoonful of cold mashed potato. Her eyelids were droopy, and the bruise on her cheek was purple now. "Why us?"

I glared at her wary that the guards could be eavesdropping again. That's how she got the bruise in the first place. Her complaints. We sat on an empty bench far enough away from the doors where the guards were stationed. It didn't take long for us t down our abnormally small portions and get checked by the guards so we could be escorted to our cell. We always looked forward to it after lunch. Somehow, Ernie had managed to sneak in his English and Maths textbooks. We spent our time reading by the dim glow of the oil lamp, in the corner where the guards couldn't see us. Our studying was usually rudely interrupted by Lavender, who never failed to complain about living here. I also felt like complaining, but I shut my mouth. There was only 1 way out of here. And we were going to get out of here.

"Shoosh!" I whisper and screamed in a deadly voice as Ernie closed the cell door. I don't know how we did it. Fear pounded throughout me and my heart was beating a million miles a second. I pushed all the negative thoughts from my head and tiptoed across the hall. The guards were in a meeting, on the other side of the secluded prison. I creaked open the storage cupboard. There, right in front of me, were what looked like three bubble-like objects. I picked up the inflatable bubbles and tiptoed to the large brass door that separated the prison from the exercise yard. I knew the way out because I remember the day we were brought here clearly.

"Emily! Stop dawdling and open the door!" Ernie whisper yelled at me, snapping me out of my daze.

"Calm down! I'm trying!"

"Shoosh!!"

Shaking and shivering I pulled open the heavy door and found myself outside. Free. I let the fresh ocean air engulf me, until I realised wet drops were pelting down at us angrily. It was raining. I opened my mouth and when the water hit my tongue, it felt like heaven. In the distance, a slow war was stirring.

The guards were released from their meeting and were back to their positions. It was only a tiny amount of time until they realised, we had gone.

GRAB A BUBBLE!" I yelled at the other two. "There's a boat over there!" I distributed the bubbles and zipped my own up so I didn't catch a cold...

"Emily!!! Where-" Lavender asked, tears slipping down her wet cheeks.

All three of us pelted from the sky like raindrops and landed with a massive crash in front of the escape boat. It was no more than a small fishing boat, and it could barely fit us on. But time wasn't on our side, meaning we had to hurry. Staggering forward, I grabbed the boat and swivelled around. I examined the debris quickly, noticing Ernie was stirring on the dewy grass. His hair was even more knotty and tussled, and a new bruise on his face had appeared Before he could open his eyes I lunged forward for his bubble and threw it overboard. A

"Emily?"

I jumped with a start.

"Ernie... you nearly killed me!"

Ernie just smiled brightly and reached out for my hand.

"Together?" he said.

"Together"

We heard more shuffling behind us and knew that Lavender was limping towards us. I turned around. Rain pelting hard on us and hand in hand we stepped onto the boat together to start a new chapter of our lives. Or continue the one we left open.

It had been months since we saw land. Since we saw fresh water. I was starting to go crazy. It was very uninspiring in the middle of the ocean. With nothing to do I mean. All we could do was hope we would someday reach land again. I was sitting with Lavender, as Ernie tried his hardest to steer the boat. Pondering about whether we would see our parents again. See our friends. See our land.

"Guys! Land! its land its land! "Lavender shrieked shrilly.

Finally reaching land after a few months, we were ecstatic. We had enough motion sickness and cold to last us a lifetime.

But mortal peril lay ahead of us.

"You thought you could escape." A deep voice cackled.