Escapee

Chapter 5: Rina's home

They think I'm dead.

They think they killed me.

They are so wrong.

My mind reeled, putting the pieces together. The government had mistaken Rina for me, because she had written Test Subject 261 on her hand. It must've been the government officer that was at the Pizzeria. It must've been him who killed her.

Anna's small voice broke me out of my reverie.

'We have to leave,' She said quietly, eyes glazed over slightly. I nodded, throat tight. I grabbed the small slip of paper, still hardly believing what had happened.

Test Subject 261.

Eliminated.

The words echoed in my head, bouncing around the now empty room of thoughts. I couldn't help but wonder. Why? Why kill the test subject? Or rather, try to kill the test subject? Didn't they want us for more experiments?

I caught myself unconsciously glaring at the innocent looking piece of paper. Almost as if I was angry that it had delivered this message, or clue.

'We'll take our money,' I said, referring to what we should take when we moved, then after an afterthought, 'And hers too.'

Anna's eyes widened in shock, 'We're taking Rina's money? That's not right! It's her money. It'll be like stealing!'

I shook my head, 'We need all the cash we can get, and Rina doesn't have any other relatives, we were her closest people.'

She paused, contemplating what I had said. I knew she knew I was right, Rina had always been alone,'Fine.'

I smiled thankfully, her acceptance helped lower the guilt down slightly.

'Come on, let's go,' I said as I opened the door to Rina's home.

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I realised as I entered her house. That I had never once been inside it. Always, Rina had either been outside her house, or coming over to our house to bring cookies, never had I once even seen a light through her window. The inside was dusty and and dark, as if it hadn't been lived in for years. I looked around for a light, and instead, found a small rickety candle waiting to be lit. I quickly lit it with some matches I found nearby. Even in the warm glow of the fire, I still felt cold. Colder than the Antarctic, or ice itself.

'Hey Laura, got over here,'Anna's quiet voice drifted over from the next room. Grabbing the candle, I quickly moved to the next room where Anna was kneeling. Now meeting my confused eyes, she pressed a piece of paper into my hands.

'Anna, what's wrong?' I asked. She shook her head, 'Read it alone, I'll go get the money.'

With that, she rose from her position and left the room.