Broken Dolls Asylum

I placed the custodian sign out in the hallway, and walked in without anyone noticing. I stepped on the far left toilet right under the small window already open for me to go. By now all three of them should be heading to Loch Lynn Heights, the closest town there is.

I took out a cig from the box and quickly lit it up, taking in the smoke and blowing it out in puffs. “Ah... this brings me back...” I took in more smoke and blew it towards the door, just in case Erica got curious and came to check on me. As soon as she smelled the smoke she would leave.

I took it in once more and held it for a second, this time blowing it up towards the window. I was lucky there weren’t any fire alarms in the restroom. I placed the lid of the toilet down; quickly standing on top of it, then carefully placing foot my foot on top of the tank. It jiggled a little but as I grabbed onto the top of the short wall, I managed not to fall. Pushing myself up and remembering I did have some kind of arm strength, I swung my left leg to the top of the wall, and quickly slipped the other one up.

I stood up carefully, grabbing on to the window pane which wasn’t as high as I thought it would be. It reached my head just as I stood backwards and extended my arms through the window, carefully pulling myself all the way so I could be seated on it, my legs left swinging inside.

“Shit...” I muttered, realizing this probably wasn’t the smarter way to get out.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I turned my head down, towards Ozzie’s annoyed expression.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I whispered angrily. This wasn’t part of the plan. I was supposed to meet up with them in Loch Lynn Heights. They swore to me they would go. “You promised you idiot.”

He pointed at his heart. “I didn’t cross it.”

“Shut up and help me.”

He groaned, extending up his arms. He was pretty far down, but since he was about 6’2, it was really no trouble reaching up and holding on to my waist as he slowly slipped me down.

I thankfully fell on both feet, turning towards him and whacking him on the head. “Stupid moron. I told you guys to go.”

“There really isn’t any time to discuss this. Mona and Val already left. We have to hurry.” He yanked me by the arm as we started running through the back, crouching down when we came close to any windows. We ran all the way to the Suicide Section, until we finally found that broken window they had been talking about.

“So this is the famous S.S. I had heard about.” I murmured. The rumors weren’t so off at the end. It really was psycho killer creepy as I had heard.

“Yup...” Ozzie went in first, as I followed after, being careful with the ragged edges of the broken window. I looked up and find a clear view of the dark sky, as Ozzie tugged at my hood and motioned to put it on.

I did as he said, and for the first time noticed he was wearing different clothes as well. Along with a black hoodie he was wearing dark green cargo pants, and grey converse. He pulled on the rope wrapped around one of the small black towers surrounding the building, making sure that it would hold as we climbed up.

“Do you know how or do you want me to demonstrate?” Ozzie whispered, as I shook my head.

“Go first.” I directed as he stood on one of the broken toilet seats and wrapped his legs around the rope climbing up quickly. Soon enough he got to the top, nodding a couple of times so I could go next. I copied his exact moves, and started going up, making to focus my strength.

He extended a hand, pulling me up next to him, smiling. “I didn’t know you could do it.”

“Who do you think excelled in P.E.?” I wiggled my eyebrows, as he pulled the rope up and held on to it tightly. I stood figuring I could, but he quickly pulled him down once again.

“Are you dumb?! Jesus, if you stand up they’ll quickly see you. Follow my lead.” He slowly started to crawl down on the roof panels, being careful not to slide all the way down and not to make much noise. I did as he did, standing close to him.

We finally reached the edge, placing out feet carefully and grabbing on to panes. The tree branches were long enough to reach over but what I didn’t figure out was how we were going to keep our balance. Before I could ask though, he knotted to end of the rope into a loop, throwing it across as far as he could. It landed in one of the high branches, as He tugged on it, making sure both ends were steady; one wrapped around the tower and the other around the branch.

“Okay, I’ll go first then you follow.” He grabbed on to the rope and stepped on the branch, the noise of the bend making my shiver. He walked across it, his knees bent and slowly creeping across the branch, all the way to the end. “Come on... They have to be sear-“

Before he could continue to a booming alarm rang all throughout the center as if there was a fire. “All personnel please direct yourselves to the main building. All personnel.”

“Oh shit, come on, hurry.” I started walking, across, carefully and praying to god I wouldn’t look down. Instead I looked at Ozzie, whose arms were outstretched ready to grab onto me. ‘Were the barbed wires this close to the branch when Ozzie walked across?’

I went at a quicker pace and finally grabbed onto him as he quickly cut off the rope with his pocket knife letting it fall onto his hands and quickly throwing it towards the tower so it wouldn’t slip down. We climbed down, skipping a few branches and being careful to not shuffle with the leaves that much.

“Jump.” Ozzie let go, falling on both feet, stumbling a little to the side.

I let go of the tree branch, landing straight, thankfully, as he quickly grabbed my hand and started running through the forest. The only good thing about this place was that behind the asylum was a thick patch of woods, at least a mile long. If you got deep enough, there was no way someone could find you, day or night. At least that’s what I had heard from Tom.

“Where are we even going?! The road is the other way!” I asked in a low tone.

“Shut up and run.” He answered.

I pulled my hand away from him, as he looked back at me, annoyed. “I am not five years old. I do not need you to hold my hand; I think I can run on my own.”

He rolled his eyes and started running again. “Do what you want.”

“Ugh...” I followed, keeping one step behind him.

We kept at it for a good five minutes, until both of our legs started slowly giving up, as we ended up panting, leaning on some trees for stability. I looked over at him, sliding down the tree bark and sitting on the grass. “Now what?”

“Now... now I tell you that there is a plan.” He huffed, sitting across from me.

“There is?”

“Of course there is! Jesus, you really think I did the rope thing from the top of my head? That is Val’s trick. That’s how she got out of her house late at night to go get high. I am clever but not that clever.” He sighed, rolling his eyes.

I ignored him. “Where are we going? The plan was to go to Loch Lynn Heights.”

“We’re going to Loch Lynn Heights. Val and Mona are probably very close to it by now.”

“Walking?” I raised an eyebrow.

“No, crawling.”

“That’s funny.” I stuck out my tongue. “When are we getting over there?”

“We can walk during the day just around the town, avoiding people and keeping ourselves hidden through the woods. There’s a cave, according to Val, just about fifteen minutes from where we are right now. We can rest there.” He stood up extending his arm and helping me stand as well.

“Hey I think I heard something over here.” A man’s voice called out, much like one of the guards. We stood close, very close, hiding behind the tree, as Ozzie hugged me tightly, hiding my body under his.

‘Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit,’

“You heard wrong then.”

‘Da- Tom?’ I lifted up my head from Ozzie’s chest, as he looked down at me, scanning my eyes as he quickly nodded, pushing us tighter against the tree.

“Whadda you mean I heard wrong?” The guard sounded annoyed. Only Tom would be courageous enough to face the fat chum. Then again, Tom was a giant.

“I meant what I said. Some people just saw a few kids running down the streets with hoodies on. As far as I can remember, we lost four kids who wouldn’t be stupid enough to run into an incredibly large forest, without a GPS system.” I could just imagine him grinning. “They would take alternative routes, like alley ways.”

“He’s right.”

My eyes widened at the sound of Erica’s voice. I didn’t know I was valuable enough for her to ruin her precious time over.

“I know my cousin. By now they are probably heading for the bus station where they can hide in the bag compartment. They have no money. They can’t go far. They’re probably just thinking it’s smart to travel overnight. They’re probably going to head to Oakland and hide there for a while until they can get enough money to go somewhere even further.” She scoffed.

I rolled my eyes. ‘As if bitch.’

“Whatever. All I know is that we have to catch up with them at the bus station.” Tom’s voice suddenly grew louder. “They can’t be dumb enough to hide in the few caves around here. It is bear season.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Erica sneered. “Wait...”

“What?”

“How do we know you’re not just lying to help Freddie out?”

“Oh yeah.” The guard pointed out. “You always hang around her and her friends.”

“Wanna know the reason?” Tom was going to win. “Because I need this job, and I don’t save anyone’s ass over mine. I have four brothers, a mother, and a grandmother that I take care off. So when you realize I’m on your side, give me a call. For now, I’m gonna go look for the escapees that may cost me my job.”

“Jeez, fine.” Erica muttered sourly, as we heard feet shuffle away. “Come on.”

We heard the guard’s steps, along with Tom’s, and Erica’s, slowly fade away until they were pretty much gone. Ozzie slowly removed his arms from me, placing his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. We didn’t speak at all, as we walked deeper into the forest, realizing that sleeping in the cave was a very bad idea.

“Shit.” Ozzie muttered. It had grown dark enough for us not to see much, aside from a very thin reflection above our heads.

“What?” I yawned, rubbing my eyes a couple of times, and stretching my arms above my head.

“I think we’re walking in circles.”

“What?! How?” I squinted my eyes, trying to see his face.

“I don’t know. I just... know we did... well... I guess we should camp for the night behind a few bushes or something.” He looked around. “Dammit...”

I took out the lighter I took from Erica and lit it on, staring right into Ozzie’s angry eyes. “Um... I found this on the floor?”

“You had that in your pocket, this whole time and you didn’t tell me?! Jesus, it’s not as if we can afford to make a camp fire! I tripped like six times and for a fact, on the same thing.” Ozzie hissed angrily as he passed a hand through his hair.

“Don’t be a pansy.” I walked over towards a bush, and sat in front of the nearest tree. “What did Tom tell you?”

He sat next to me, leaning back. “He gave me a cell.” He took out of his pocket a nice black phone. “It includes a GPS system. He bought two cell phones, one for us, and one for Val and Mona. He gave us 4000$ and we split it up, half and half. He told us not to take the buses, nor walk close the popular routes. He will pay for our cells until we gain enough money to pay for them by ourselves.”

I groaned. “He’s so goddamn nice it burns my insides.”

“Heh... I know. He also told me to give you this.” He took out a small heart shaped enveloped from his pocket, passing it to me. I passed the lighter to Ozzie who flicked it on, as I slowly opened it, being careful.

“Freddie, I’ll cut this short since I don’t want to make you cry. You know that life is at is it is, and sometimes it just plain sucks. Stop thinking about how everyone hates you in this town, and dedicate your turns to those who do give a crap about you.’

‘From here on, I’ll contact you only once a week, maximum five minutes. I’ll text you often, updating you on what I find out. The world isn’t a nice place. You’re valuable enough for your cousin to come get you on her own. She will do anything in her power to catch you and you must not let her. You may think that she overpowers you, but there is a thin line between running away and being a coward. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. No matter what it is.

‘I know you know what I’m talking about, ‘cause you have it imprinted in your mind. If anyone can do it, you can. I’ll see you later, but just keep running if I don’t.’

“Love, your chocolate afro bear.” I smiled, nodding at nothing in particular. “I’ll do what I gotta do.”