First time sneaking out ~ 9 years old
Half an hour after the time for lights out, Abby sat up in the bottom bunk in her dorm. It was completely dark in the room, except for a dim light on the wall near the bathroom. There were sounds of steady breathing coming from all around her. From experience, Abby knew that most of the other girls in her dorm were already asleep. And any who weren't wouldn't tell anyone if they heard Abby sneaking out. That's what she was planning on doing. Sneaking out from her room.
None of the kids at WICKED were supposed to leave their dorms or even be awake after lights out, but Abby had snuck out twice before. The first time, she was only curious when she checked the door handle and found it unlocked. She was incredibly careful that time that she didn't get caught by any person or security camera. Between that time and the next, Abby made sure to memorize the locations of all the security cameras to make it easier sneaking through the hallways. However, during that second time of breaking the rules, Abby was almost caught. She had stopped at a corner when someone walked right past her. She almost fainted and it felt like her heart was beating so loudly that the person who walked by must have heard it. After she got back to her dorm safe, Abby swore that she wouldn't go out again. She told herself that her night adventures were over.
But, Abby now had a reason to sneak out again. She wanted to talk more to the boy who was in two of her classes, Newt.
Carefully and quietly slipping out of bed, Abby set her bare feet down on the cold floor. She tip-toed over to the door and pulled down the handle. It was unlocked once again. Perfect. Abby pushed the door open, stepped outside, and gently closed the door again. Looking down at her watch, she waited a couple seconds for it to be the ideal time to start dodging the security cameras and then started silently walking down the hallway. At each corner, she would pause just to be sure no one was coming, and she would check that the camera above her was pointing in the other direction. Then she would continue on.
There were only two dorms for the nine-year-old boys. Abby had learned that from one of her classes that talked about the structure of the WICKED buildings. They must've not thought about what kids could do with that information.
At the door to the first room, Abby stopped and stood up on her toes to see through a small circular window that was on the door. It was hard to see in the dark, but none of the boys' faces looked like Newt. So, she moved on to the second door while still being conscious of the cameras. That time, Abby recognized Newt's face almost immediately. He was lying on his back in the bottom bunk of the bed closest to the door. Abby smiled slightly and started to open the door, which wasn't locked either.
As soon as the door opened, Abby saw Newt quickly sit up and turn around to look at her. He looked scared with wide eyes at first, but he calmed down when he realized who it was at the door. Thankfully, no one else in the room woke up. Newt cocked his head to the side slightly and whispered, "Abby?"
"Newt, come here," Abby motioned for him to come with her hand, "I want to show you something."
Reluctantly, Newt got out of bed and came over. "Abby, we're not allowed to leave our rooms after dark," he scolded.
"Shhh," Abby cut in, "We're going to run out of time. Stay right behind me." She left out the door. Newt waited for a second, clearly knowing that he shouldn't follow her, but he went after her anyway.
They didn't stop until reaching a door that was labeled 'SUPPLY CLOSET'. "What are you-" Newt tried.
"Shhh." Abby opened the closet door and hurried inside, Newt right behind her. There was actually a lot of space inside the closet between mops and buckets and a variety of boxes. Once the door was shut, Abby sat down on the floor and folded her legs underneath her. "Wasn't that fun?" Abby asked Newt, still talking quietly.
"Fun?" Newt emphasized, sitting down next to her, "That was bloody scary."
Abby looked at him curiously, "Bloody?"
"My dad used to say it all the time," he told, "My mum doesn't - my mum didn't like me saying it." He looked down at the floor.
Abby scooted closer to him. "You miss your parents, don't you?"
Newt nodded, "Yeah. Of course, I do."
"Me too," Abby spoke, "I don't remember my dad. I only saw him once when I was a baby. But my mom was amazing. I always felt like I had the best mom ever. I'm sure everyone probably thinks that, but I really believed it."
"My parents always seemed like the best people ever too," Newt described, "My dad always protected me from the people who came by our house. And my mum always wanted us to be happy and safe. They did anything for me." Abby nodded and they shared a couple seconds of silence as they both thought about their parents. Newt was staring at the floor. "Do you believe that WICKED is really going to find a cure?" he questioned.
"I don't know," Abby said, "They probably can. I just wish they didn't have to use us for it."
"Yeah," Newt agreed.
"At least, you know, they're letting us live here instead of living somewhere terrible in the rest of the world," Abby suggested.
Newt scoffed and shook his head.
"What?" Abby asked, "You don't think that this place is better?"
Newt shifted, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I think that this place is definitely safer, but I don't know if that is enough to make up for being taken away from your family."
"You're right," Abby admitted, "It can be pretty lonely here." She turned to Newt, "Hey, maybe we could be friends and then we wouldn't be as lonely."
Newt smiled, "Sure."
Abby grinned, "We'll be the best friends out of everyone here at WICKED. This will be so fun!"
Seeing Abby so happy because of him made Newt thrilled. "You know what," he admitted, "sneaking through the hallways like that was actually really cool." Newt was about to say more when suddenly, the door handle started to move. Abby and Newt's eyes went wide and neither of them knew what to do. There was nowhere they could go. They were trapped and now they were about to get caught. As the door started to move, Newt covered his face with his arms and Abby hugged her knees, closing her eyes tight. The door opened, however, nothing happened.
"What the..." a girls voice said, coming from the doorway. Abby opened her eyes and looked up. Standing in the doorway, was a boy with brown hair and brown eyes and a girl with black hair and blue eyes. They seemed to be around Newt and Abby's age. Maybe a little older. "Who are you?" the girl asked as both of them stepped inside and shut the door.
Abby hesitated, "I'm Abby. And this is Newt. We snuck out here."
"This is the place we sneak out to," the girl told, "I'm Teresa and this is Thomas." Teresa was slightly taller than Thomas. They both sat down.
"I guess we all had the same idea tonight," Thomas spoke, "Have you guys come here before?"
"It's Newt's first time," Abby answered, "But I've come here twice before."
"That's weird how we haven't come across each other yet," Teresa puzzled, "I've never seen either of you in class either."
"Abby and I have two classes together," Newt announced, "But, you're right. I've never seen either of you before."
"What do you do here?" Thomas asked.
"Well," Abby began, clasping her hands together in front of her face, "I usually come here and try to imagine that I'm a spy going through the hallways. And then when I get here, it's almost like I'm playing hide and seek. I wish we were allowed to play hide and seek. There are probably so many places to hide here."
"No one would find me," Thomas grinned.
Teresa looked at Abby. "You know how the security cameras work?"
"She does," Newt told, "Abby knows all about the cameras. I don't know how she does it."
Abby started blushing slightly, but she was mostly smiling. "It's really not that hard," she said, "You just have to remember where they are."
"Well, I couldn't do it," Newt added, "I think it's amazing." Newt glanced at Abby and they shared a smile.
For around ten more minutes, the four of them continued to sit in the closet, talking about whatever came to mind. It was almost like a breath of fresh air being able to have a conversation with other kids without worrying about anyone listening in. And laughing whenever someone made a joke felt wonderful. Eventually, Abby and Teresa began looking at their watches practically every minute.
"Guys-" Teresa and Abby spoke at the same time. Teresa shook her head, "Sorry. Abby, you go. I think I know what you're going to say anyway."
"Okay," Abby continued, "We need to get going back to our rooms soon or we're going to get caught." She was mostly talking to Newt.
"Alright," Newt acknowledged, "Let's go then."
Thomas and Teresa said goodbye to Newt and Abby, hoping that they would run into each other again. They went their separate ways and it only took a few minutes for Abby to show Newt back to his dorm. When they got there, the two of them both went inside. Abby closed the door most of the way and stood in front of Newt.
"I'm so glad I decided to break the rules with you tonight. That was so much fun," she spoke, stepping up to hug Newt. He was about an inch taller than her, but Abby rested her chin on his shoulder for just a short second. "See you tomorrow, Newt," Abby beamed and left out the door.
Newt stood there longer than he needed to, watching her leave. He was kind of shocked that she hugged him. The last time he had anyone hug him was back when he was still with his family. Lizzy hugged him. And before that, it was only his family who gave him hugs. But somehow, he felt the same amount of emotion in Abby's hug.
Newt finally closed the door and turned back to his bed. He hadn't felt that calm and overjoyed since before he came to WICKED.
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#2! Thanks for reading! Also, happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it!!