Monster Minds [completed]

Chapter 28

"I thought...you wouldn't...come back." He whispered between breaths, clutching onto my hands. His skin pealed back to reveal his vulnerability. Underneath all his layers, he was but a scared child in my eyes; scared of death and of loneliness.

"I'm here now, and I'm not leaving you. Never again." I said quietly, stoking my thumb over his cheek.

He breathed heavily and, doing the best he could with the limited space and the bars between us, brought me into an embrace.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" He asked and I caught his change of pitch. He was hoping I would say yes and not leave him behind. But he didn't have to hope, it was his reality.

"Yes. Yes it does." I smiled and took a moment to absorb the happiness that began to radiate off of him in waves.

I could tell he was smiling just by feeling his muscles relax and his heartbeat quicken. I bit my lip and broke away from his embrace to look upon his face. His entire being was lit up by the brilliance of his smile, as if it were the cure to all that was bad in the world.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I don't have a life left for me here anymore, Vans." I shrugged, still grinning with giddiness. "I'm ready for a fresh start, with you."

"But what about the risks? What If you get hurt?" He reached out for me in concern but I slapped his hands away.

"That's for me to worry about. I've made my decision. Don't try to talk me out of it." I pointed at him and raised my eyebrows, daring him to challenge me.

He held his hands up in mock surrender and laughed quietly to himself.

"Okay. Well how do you suppose we do this?" He questioned, lips turned up in a permanent smile.

"I have a plan. It's going to be difficult, but we can do it." I didn't know whether it was determination or fear that drove me, but a newfound confidence swept through me like poison, overriding the timid, shy girl that I was known to be.

He nodded and came closer to the bars so we could talk quietly without being overheard. The cell that used to house Even Parker was still empty, so we were mostly unheard when it came to the rest of the inmates placed in the same hallway.

"You're going to have to do everything I tell you to do, or this will not work. Everything has to play out smoothly if we want to get out of this place alive, okay?" He nodded, a lopsided smile on his lips. "I'm only going to tell you what you need to do. What I will be doing can certainly not be overheard, even by an inmate at the end of these halls."

 I dropped my voice even lower and pointed to the cell about twenty meters away from where I was standing. What I was doing was too risky to be overheard, but what Vans was doing was nothing compared. All he had to do was wreck a little havoc. 

"I need you to start a brawl in the cafeteria without getting too injured. But it needs to be you who throw's the punches; you who get's detained by the guards. They will put you back in your cell while the rest of the prisoners continue eating lunch and all the guards will be centred around the cafeteria. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Vans nodded curtly and pulled me into another disjointed embrace. I chuckled and ran my hands through the back of his hair, craving the days where I would be able to do it without bars between us.

"After you're in your cell, wait by the door for me. You need to be ready to run, perhaps even fight, if we are going to get out of here." My voice trembled as anxiety began to burn in the back of my throat. There was every chance that we might not make it out.