Silence Falls

“I’ve seen what Hermanni can do. I’ve witnessed his powers being used to protect us all when those assholes came for us at the mall we called home.” Otep expounded shortly, not wanting to go into the exhaustive version which would honestly seem like an eternal account of impossible magical abilities so damn improbable no one would believe it the second they heard about it.

Jack frowned at Otep’s pithy explanation. He’d been hoping for more details then that and found it strange she kept it so concise. Nothing about Hermanni’s abilities could be chronicled so succinctly, it wasn’t possible! “Hold on, what exactly do you mean when you say you witnessed his powers? What did he do that night?”

Otep rolled her eyes at his insistence for more information. She didn’t exactly want to look back on that day because it frightened her deep down in her soul that this boy they allowed to tag along with them had this kind of power all along, and could've killed them all with a blink of an eye at any given time! Something about that fact quaked her when she recalled it to herself. “More like what did he NOT do?! Look Jack, I don’t want to go into this right now. Just believe me when I say that…Hermanni can help you, it doesn't matter what the favor is. Don’t doubt his words or his capability. But also always remember that he’s not like us. What we’re not suited for doing or even fathoming, he can.”

Jack stared at her before reluctantly nodding. He already knew Hermanni was something different and that he can do the type of things that people only witnessed in the movies. It didn’t quell his fascination to hear more about what Hermanni could do. However, he wouldn’t push Otep for more knowledge. Right now, she was trying to equip him for more of Hermanni’s magical talents in the near future.

“Alright, tell me about this plan, Jack.” Otep changed the subject, reminding Jack on why he was here looking for her in the first place.

“Oh right! Sorry, I got lost there for a second. Uh, the plan is to smuggle everyone out of here in the laundry carts…with the exception of Connor.” Jack whispered to Otep, not wanting even the few birds perched outside the Psychiatric Hospital to hear him from the window sill.

Otep’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Wait, why is Connor the exception? You guys aren’t talking about leaving him behind are you?”

Jack shook his head, dispersing the idea. “Hell no, Connor’s just a big guy, that’s all. I can use his help pushing the rest of you guys in the carts to the elevators. Anyway, the plan is you guys are going to be buried under a light load of laundry for cover while Connor and I transport you guys throughout the hospital. Now since you guys are going to be hiding in laundry carts we’re going to have to go to the basement first where the laundry gets washed and dried.”

Otep nodded slowly, following along. “I suppose It’d be weird to just roll us out through the front door. And I imagine the security will shoot us down if we try to make a run for the front door on foot.”

Jack was surprised she was smart enough to figure that out on her own after having only been down on the ground floor once since she arrived here. “Yeah, that’s…that’s actually a pretty good guess.”

Otep shrugged her amazingness off because she didn’t have time to boast about it. “Go on.”

“Right. Bert and I thought we could make some kind of large-scale distraction that will catch the attention of everyone on the ground floor, and so we agreed I’ll have to cause some kind of explosion with the water heater in the basement.” Jack expounded further, not realizing his brown eyes were locked on Otep’s face seeking her approval in their plan much like Bert typically would.

Otep frowned at their diabolical resolution. “Seriously, you’re gonna detonate something?”

Jack eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Uh…yeah…why not?”

Otep casually shrugged. “It just sounds a bit too extreme, doesn’t it?”

Jack rolled his eyes at the concern of going out too extremely. For him, it was all or nothing. “Trust me, an explosion would definitely garner everyone’s attention. We once had a patient make it into the kitchen unsupervised and he almost blew up that entire kitchen! He died in the process, of course, but still. EVERYONE on that same floor came running to the scene of a crime. I know for a fact that they’ll come running again if we blow up the water heater in the basement.”

“Okay then, whatever you think is best. How are you going to go about blowing up the water heater though?” Otep asked Jack, studying him with a face lackluster of emotion.

Jack sighed at that part and rubbed his hands together to buy him some time so he could fully explain that step. “I have to admit, that part was originally the most difficult part. Bert and I decided that it would be best to get our hands on a gun from one of the security guards in order to set it off. My only problem was which guard would be the easiest and safest to steal from? Hermanni informed me that Chase will be…under the weather that day, and so he’s gonna be visiting the restrooms a lot. If that’s true, it’ll automatically make him the perfect choice.”

Oteo could see that being so too. Nodding along, she asked him another question. “Are you going to knock him out in order to get his gun while he’s on the shitter or what?”

Jack cringed at the thought, but nodded to confirm. “Yeah, that seems to be my only option.”

Otep opened her mouth to say something but then a loud bang from the next room cut her completely off. Jack jumped up from the bunk bed he’d been sitting on to stare at the wall he had his back to and from where the sound originated from. Otep watched concern flash across his face before he turned to interrogate her about it.

“What the hell was that?” Jack whispered to a calmer Otep, paranoid that someone was trying to listen in on their conversation from the next room. If that was the case, then they were all finished!

“Oh, that’s just one of the Orderly’s raping another one of the girls again.” Otep replied bluntly, her face not showing any kind of empathy or alarm on the matter.

Jack, on the other hand, reacted oppositely. His brown eyes widened with horror at what Otep said. The thought of something like that still going on after he thought the board had shut it all down…it was inconceivable. It was horrible! It was…Jack couldn't think of any other word as he hissed down at Otep like it was somehow her fault. “Are you fucking serious!?”

Otep gave him a weird look for reacting like he didn’t know his own co-workers went around raping the patients in the Women’s Ward. It wasn’t exactly news. It should be, but unfortunately it wasn’t. “Duh, what do you think the male Orderlies come over to our ward for? To get their nails painted?”

Jack shook his head in denial as he stared back at the now silent wall, utterly speechless and frozen on the spot. He didn’t want to believe this was happening all over again. No, not the damn rapes!

Otep stood up and brushed herself off like nothing had been going on in the next room. “Look you better get going before someone comes in here and finds us together. I‘ll tell the others about the good news.”

But Jack couldn’t move. Couldn’t let this go. Glaring at her, he demanded. “How can you be so-”

“So what? Unaffected? Because I don’t care. I’m looking out for only myself and my friends. Besides, there are worse things that these men can do to us other than rape, so if you ask me she’s got nothing to bitch about?” Otep coldly replied as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared right back at him.