I Need a Hero

“Brenda!” A boy with black hair and lip piercing shouted at an obnoxious level. I was tackled into a hug, the boy on top of me. “Holy shit I’ve missed you so fucking much!”

“It’s only been, like, a week Will,” I chuckled, hugging him back. “But goddamn I’ve missed you too.”

“Oh, what am I? Chop liver?” I looked up to see a boy with brown hair hovering above us. No facial piercings were visible, but the tattoo of a spider was peeking out from the side of his neck.

“Jared!” I squealed, holding my hands in the air. Jared laughed, grabbing my arms and scooping me into his arms. By doing this it made Will fall onto the concrete floor. He moaned in pain while Jared and I shared our hug. I let go and poked the whining boy with my Converse.

“Are you finished yet?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Yup.” With that he sat up and then stood as he dusting off his black skinny jeans. I always thought he was more of a girl than I was. Silly bisexual man. “So how boring is this place?”

“It’s pretty lame. I think the only reason I’m making it through here is because of my friends,” I remarked. I sat on one of the stainless steel chairs at the square table in the center of the room. Jared sat on the left side while Will sat on the right. In the center sat an ashtray which made me perk up. “Got a smoke?”

“When do I not?” Jared remarked. He held out one which I perched between my lips. Jared leaned forward, lighting my cigarette for me.

“Such a gentleman,” I joked after releasing a breath full of now harmless smoke. He rolled his eyes as him and Will lit up their own cigarettes.

“So what are your friends’ names?” Will asked.

“Jessica, Jimmy, Zacky, Matt, Brian, and Johnny,” I replied. Jared grinned, leaning forward.

“You said ‘Johnny’ with a smile creeping up on your face. Am I safe to assume this Johnny is something more than a friend?” Jared asked slyly.

“Damn. You can smell a relationship a mile away,” I laughed.

“Fuck your relationship, well, no offense of course. But I heard four other guys’ names. Want to give details?” Will asked excitedly, a sparkle in his eyes.

“Oh fuck you Will. And no, they’re not gay. At least none of them have hinted to it. And believe me, these guys are super open about everything,” I remarked with a shake of my head. Will sighed and slumping over with his palm holding up his chin.

“Well then what’s this Johnny guy like?”

“He’s nice, a sweetheart really. A bit stubborn but we all are really,” I replied with a shrug.

“Wait a minute; did you say one of the guys’ names were Matt?” I nodded. “Dude, some girl name Val was in the waiting room waiting to see her boyfriend named Matt. Any chance it’s the same guy?”

“There’s always a possibility. I don’t know everyone here.” A sudden thought rang out. “Wait a second, how did you two know where to find me? Rachel and Joseph wouldn’t have let you guys know.”

“It was not easy! Do you know how many times we had to break into their place while they were at work?” Will exclaimed dramatically. “By the way, did you know there’s some creepy dude in your room now? Every time we went over there was a hobo looking guy passed out in your room, which looks completely different might I add.”

“Oh. Sounds like Rachel’s alcoholic brother. There was conversation about her forcing her brother to stay there on his ‘road to recovery’ but there was always the problem of no room. Looks like there’s no problem anymore,” I muttered venomously.

“Who gives a fuck about them anyways? They weren’t real parents anyways,” Jared remarked, patting my hand affectionately - kind of how an older brother would. I gave him a weak smile, taking another drag and letting it out after a few seconds.

“So how’s life been treating you guys?”

“Tiring. Do you know how hard it is to try to find a loophole to get you out of here?” I began to cough on the drag I was taking. Jared patted my back as Will screamed something about not dying. Him and Jimmy would totally get along great. If only Jimmy was at least bisexual.

“What the hell are you going on about Hashford?” I demanded.

“Actually it’s both of us. We’ve been trying to find out how to get you out since we found out what this place is,” Jared piped in, rubbing his forehead.

“How’s that coming up?”

“Well here’s the interesting thing, there is no mention of this hospital anywhere,” Will stated. “No medical mentions, no licenses to have this place from the state, na da. And believe me, I’ve looked just about anywhere.”

“No way,” I gasped.

“You haven’t even heard the worst part.”

“What?”

“The only thing we found with the name ‘Bridgeview’ is some old war stories from the Vietnam time.” To my confused face Jared continued on. “Some guy from the Vietnam side was in contact with an American ally named Elizabeth Stiles.”

“Dude, the doctor here’s name is Stiles!” I exclaimed.

“It said she had a son. Well the thing is these two got caught. There was a rumor floating around that Stiles and the general were trying to torture soldiers for information. They shipped war captives from Vietnam to United States so they could interrogate in the safety of a country that wasn't nearby. No one ever found it though.”

“Why the hell would they keep it going?” I asked, shocked. Both boys shrugged.

“Maybe they find some crazy enjoyment from this all. Or maybe there’s something corrupted going on in this state. I always thought Utah was evil,” Will remarked with dark eyes.

“You just say that because they had a cookie company that sent you bad tasting cookies,” I pointed out with a roll of my eyes.

“Which is evil!”

“Anyways, so there’s something going on here. I seriously think the cops are in on this in Utah and maybe some states around the country. I mean, that Val girl said her and Matt lived in some town in northern California. You came from Colorado. It’s too much a coincidence that all these people were brought by authoritative people when this place isn’t even registered for medical purposes.”

“I hate to say it, but you have to be right. So the cops are going to be no help here.”

“When are they ever?” Will scoffed. Jared and I gave him a glare which caused him to fall silent.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked.

“We’re going to hopefully catch up with that Val girl. We’re staying in town for a couple of days and if we’re lucky she will too. I’m starting to think the only way we can get you all out of here is escaping.”

“You mean like a jail break?” Jared and Will nodded in sync. “No way dude. How the hell are we going to pull that off?”

“You leave that to us. We’ll find a way to get you out of here. We have to go now. We might be able to cut Val off if we go now and wait outside.” We all stood sharing hugs. They knocked on the locked door and a male nurse came, escorting them out. I slumped back down into a chair, running a hand through my hair as I processed everything I was just told. How the hell were we going to manage to get out of this? I guess the most I can do is just pray Jared and Will can think of something.

And soon.