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5…
4…
3…
I take a cautious step backwards. I face Tyler who somehow jumps on the lady’s back and starts to pull at her hair. The lady screams out in agony.
As soon as it’s done, I need to get the chip that the file downloaded onto, as well as collect all of the paper, get Tyler out of there and run to Mum’s office quick enough that the lady will hopefully be scared off and run away.
2…
1…
File Downloaded…
I grab the chip out of the photocopier and slip it into my back pocket without detection. I go to get the paper out, but she steals a look at me. She must know that it’s done, because she forgets about Tyler, who is still trying to pull out her hair, and sprints over to me. Tyler falls to the ground from the sudden burst of strength. There is no way that I will be able to get both the paper and me out of here safely.
So, I make up a plan B. I run.
I dodge the woman and run straight past her, hoping that she thinks I already have the paper and doesn’t check the copier. I stop to help up Tyler, who is already scrambling to his feet. “Let’s get out of here,” I say.
“Nah, I thought we were going to stay and have a tea party,” he replies, breaking out into a sprint. I want to laugh at the atrocity of the whole situation, but everything inside me is racing too fast to think about anything other than just putting one foot in front of the other.
‘Just keep going’ I say to my already aching feet, my thundering lungs, and my drumming heart.
Tyler on the other hand isn’t even puffing. He looks more like he’s going for a casual stroll, rather than the suffocating fish I know I look like. The lady is clearly startled at our sudden absence; however, she recovers immediately and pursues us, shouting in her radio transmitter, “Target is resisting. Get a unit in here now!”
“She’s calling reinforcements,” I call to Tyler, who is yards ahead of me, in case he hadn’t heard her shouting down her radio transmitter.
I speed up to run in line with him. “Why didn’t you run when you had the chance? You knew you had time.” I ask through panted breaths. Whatever is going to happen next, whether we escape or not, I want to know why he didn’t run. “You’re going to be punished for this, Tyler. I’m not. You know that! You should have run and saved yourself.” I say angrily.
I have never had a friend like Tyler. I’ve also never really had any other friends at all. He’s the one person who has stuck by me even after all that my father has done to him. There aren’t a lot of kids in Calveron to begin with, but I’m glad he’s here. And I would preferably like to keep it that way.
I hate knowing with almost complete certainty that he will get thrown in The Cuffs for being a ‘bad influence’ on me. I know that’s my fault. I’ve never been in the Cuffs, but I’ve witnessed firsthand what it does to people. I have never seen someone go in there who has come out the same person. Something happens in there that changes you. I shiver, reminiscing on the times when my father, tall and proud, made me watch them from behind one-sided glass. He made me stand there and watch, glorifying himself and his ‘amazing’ work.
‘Giving people what they deserve.’ He would say. No, they didn’t deserve that. Even the worst people don’t deserve that torture. Despite how much I hate him, not even my father deserves what happens to those people in The Cuffs.
“What? And miss out on all the fun?” Tyler slows slightly to run next to me. “You’re my bro. We stick together till the end.” Tyler grins a ridiculous grin and sprints ahead of me again. “Keep up if you can!” I sigh between staggering breaths.
It is such a Tyler thing to make running for our lives a game. Every time we needed to run from my dad, to avoid getting in trouble, he would always be so casual about it. He’d treat it like a game of Tag, as if he can’t and won’t get in serious trouble. I have no idea why.
Maybe it’s just a ransacked thing? If so, I accept that; it makes Tyler, well… Tyler.
“In your sweet dreams,” I call after him as I speed up. It’s a really stupid idea, treating this like a game, but I need the thrill to distract me.
We are coming to a t-section in the path, and I slow down. Great, of course I am naturally leading us to my absolute favourite place in the whole prison. I was meant to be taking us to mum’s office, but I’ve definitely made a detour. I look down each path and soldiers are coming on the right. The left is the only way to avoid being captured.
“Tyler, we are going to the statue,” I say as I turn left, purposely avoiding his sceptical eyes. He knows how much I hate that place and is certainly wondering why I would ever want to go there of my own free will. “It should be busy there,” I explain convincingly, “The 12:00 meeting, remember? We will easily be able to lose ourselves in the crowd,”
‘Hopefully,’ I mutter under my breath. Tyler hears me and laughs; just a game to him. It’s all just a game.
Every Sunday at 12:00, a holographic image of my dad stands in front of the statue and presents the same boring speech. Members of the CSO are required to stand and listen, to remind them of what they are doing here and how they are impacting the world. Prisoners who don’t cooperate also have to listen so that they can ‘fully grasp the meaning of their creation.’
The golden statue in itself is a group of five people, standing on a raised platform, all holding hands. This is supposed to symbolise the unity that humans were created for. It seems all well and good until you look underneath. It is hard to tell from a single glance, but when you look at it for seventeen years, you begin to see that these five people are being held up by other people. These other statue people are in rags, and look extremely strained, crushing under the weight of the bigger statues. It is almost like the five people want to smash the other people out of the statue completely.
Or that could be me just over analysing it.
I hear the lady’s footsteps coming around the corner, and I quicken my pace. “There is no point in running,” she says while taking deep even breaths. “Reinforcements are coming on all sides. You should come willingly, Jasper, it will make this easier for everyone.”
