Welcome to Hell {Prinxiety}

Chapter 14

Virgil's POV

First things first; I have to get in trouble. If I can get sent to that 'dark room' then I can find a way out, hopefully, and get the locket. But what would actually get me there and not in one of the other cells? The last time I was in enough trouble to go to an open cell, I passed out from the pain. So unless my pain tolerance is suddenly tripled along with my strength, I'm not gonna be able to get out of there.

Jacob said having a personal item confiscated got him sent there, but I can't risk losing the key or my journal. Roughhousing might also get me locked away for the night but I really don't want to punch a kid. Breaking equipment might be my best option then. It's one of the most irritating things they get mad at us for, as if it's our fault the old stuff breaks, but it wouldn't warrant a whipping from what I remember. Only problem, I'm a total weaka$$.

Sure, I can swing a pickaxe and take a whipping, but so can the seven year olds that live and work here. If Logan was here he could develop a plan where 'hitting it at this angle will cause this to break off' or something.

I notice Jacob has one of the older, and weaker, looking pickaxes so a little switch couldn't hurt. I just have to figure out how to ask this without sounding like a complete idiot. Why do I even care about his opinion of me again when he's like eight? Anxiety? Yeah that makes sense.

"Switch pickaxes with me," I whisper to him.

"What? Why?" He asks, already getting that 'holy crap you're an idiot' look that I wore most of the time I spent with Roman.

"Just do it," I plead, hoping that all kids are scared of teenagers and not just me.

"Okay," He agrees, even though he clearly doesn't know why I asked.

I offer him my own pickaxe as he holds out his. We switch and get back to work, but I put a lot more effort into my swings. Soon enough, I got tired of that strategy and decided to try a different tactic and wedge the pointed tip of the tool under a rock and pull up on it. Hopefully, it'll pull the metal top off the wooden handle.

I notice it comes loose so the next time I swing the metal top of the tool will come flying off and possibly hit someone in the head, so it's not my best plan ever but it's in the top ten. As predicted, the head of the pickaxe practically flies off when it hits the wall and immediately catches the eyes of the guards.

One of them walks over, "Breaking equipment huh?" He says smugly.

He's probably expecting me to protest or something but I know better than that and just let him drag me off without a fight. I'm brought down the same hallway as before, just further down. I spotted a cardboard box that, if I had to guess, held all our confiscated personal items from over the years. I don't get a great view of it before I'm practically shoved into a completely dark room. The door is shut and locked behind me, and I'm left unable to see my own hands.

It's for Roman, it's for Roman. Why are you panicking it's just the dark! I haven't been scared of the dark in years! At least now I understand why everyone's so scared of this room, if that can be considered a good thing. Now, I just have to find a way out.

If I were to just stay here all day like someone that actually cares about their safety, then I'd just be dragged out tomorrow and have no chance to get the locket. So, that means I have to find a way out with no light, and no clue as to how safe it is for me to leave. Great. I'd have to wait until night, if I could even figure out when that is, and I'd also have to be able to get back in here. Dammit...I really should have thought this through better before doing it.

I feel around the ground, finding bits and pieces of rock that had come loose over the years. I don't really know what I'm looking for, but if there's something in here I can use to pick the lock, I have all day to find it. There are a couple bits and pieces of wire laying around, but all of them are too thin to be helpful so I keep up the search. I need to have some hope of being able to get out of here before anything else, so if I want to take a nap, too freaking bad.

My hands brush over a small letter opener, why someone would have one of these with them I have no idea, but it might help me now. I grab the tool, finding it to be similar to the one Logan has, it's shaped like a small dagger except it would be the most useless thing in a fight ever. Blindly, I go over to the door, finding it quickly and try to figure out if the letter opener will fit in the lock. Just barely, I can slide the thin blade in, wiggling it around to see if it'll actually be able to unlock the heavy door. I may not be a locksmith, but based on the faint clicks, it's safe to assume that I'll be able to unlock the door with it. Just to be sure, I grab a couple of the wires from earlier to hold down some of the further back mechanisms. Let's hope this works.

- - -

Once the hallway is silent for ten minutes, yes I counted, I attempt to unlock the door. It's pretty obvious that I've never done this before by the way I just move around the letter opener in any possible direction. I pause and listen to the slight clicks it makes when I push the dull blade up, so I leave it there deciding it's a good thing. With the help of a couple small wires, the door unlocks.

I push open the door slowly, ready to shut it again as if that would make it better since someone could easily see me. No one's really around so I can hopefully get to the box without being shot in the back. This is such a bad idea, this is such a bad idea, this is- I bump into the box, jumping back thinking it was a person. I relax slightly when I realize what it is and start looking through it quietly. The locket was near the bottom, probably having slipped past the other stuff because of how small it is, but at least I found it. At the last second I decided to grab the photo sitting at the top of the stolen items, recognizing a certain little kid in it.

No matter how bad this place is, at least one of us gets to remember their family. 

A/N: I need someone to send me an apple before my doctors appointment