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The Institution
were somewhere safe. I would have fallen into line as well, in despair
and tragically miserable, were it not for one particular person.
I scanned through a sea of gloomy eyes, until I came upon a pair of familiar
olive eyes. Evelyn. I was rendered speechless when I saw her; everyone thought
that she was gone. She had vanished from the small town of Bellhallow in the
blink of an eye, but then again, so had I. She had an imperturbable expression as
her dainty fingers fumbled with the drawstrings of her jumper. I eagerly pushed
my way to her and hugged her for the sight of her was a mere miracle.
In the institution, we stuck together like peas in a pod, literally.
We talked for hours on end, about everything; the past, present and
most importantly the future. We made a plan, an ingenious
concoction that had about as much to chance of success as the sun
rising in the west, but the one thing that I had almost lost, kept me
going. Hope.
We knew the schedule and meticulously planned everything to the smallest of
details. ‘Remember to do this... don’t forget that...’ Evelyn was a perfectionist and
she scrupulously strived for precision. Just after the chime of eight in the morning,
the nurse would charge to her next victim, leaving the door wide open. None of us
knew what was outside, but that was a risk we were willing to take. We spread the
word of our escape and tomorrow, we confirmed, would be the breakout.
The plan was an organised chaos. The diversions we planned had stirred up a
complete sense of confusion over everyone, especially the nurse. Thunderous
noises boomed in the hall and we bolted out of the open door. To anyone watching,
we were a gigantic cluster of children running amok. When the monumental fire
of the building was lit, we didn’t look back
.
A shroud of smoke filled the sky but that didn’t stop the sun. It was a refuge,
generously spreading its tendrils of warmth and we rushed towards it like water to
a sponge. We were finally free.
A pair of footprints I had not noticed struck my curiosity. Was I
hallucinating or could I smell rotting meat? I followed the footprints,
careful not to tread on them as they snaked outside onto the pristine
layer of snow that had just begun to fall.
The footprints in the snow suddenly ended and lying on the
ground was a straw hat.
‘
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