The statue slams its foot down as the girl pushes back landing in a puddle. The second one squeezes in-between two thick threes and spreads them apart like a forgotten spider web. Her hands slide in the muck, slipping she tries to stand up but is too late. She cries out for her mom with one last attempt of finding safety in solace.
Her screams echo through the woods followed by an abrupt silence. The ground begins to tremble again as the angels make their way back to the institute, each one holding half a torso. The angel on the left holding the upper half of her body, her hazel eyes frozen in a look of sadness as blood leaks down her torn flesh and bone.
Arriving to the steps they turn and drop the mangled pieces onto the floor as they land in a sopping mess. The angels arch backwards onto the doors as they adjoin with the doors once more. Their eyes close while the bodies stiffen into solid masses.
Mrs.Cranston steps out and looks down at the meat and bones forged into a mess. She chuckles and looks up at the statues. “Good job.”
She heads back inside to find the janitor to clean up outside. He pushes a mop bucket with a trash can past her, dark crevices folded under his dead eyes as he walks by.
“And save me the heart will you love?” She spoke with the innocence as if she was asking for a cup of tea. The janitor stays silent as he walks out the front doors.
The following morning Gil wakes up gasping for air. His lungs still sore from being suffocated all night in the other realm, he chokes and coughs forcing himself to sit up. His leg is full healed along with the rest of his body.
“Oh thank God. Curse and a blessing at the same time, who would of thought?” He chuckles.
He looks around his confined room and stands up attempting to push the door open. Of course it wouldn’t budge, but worth a shot. He plops down onto the floor, his stomach aches in worry thinking of that night. What if that thing gets to him before he can escape again?
A small amount of light fills the room from the window, it’s enough for him to feel safe for now. He decides to try to find help and stands up yelling.
“Hey someone! Anyone can you please help, please! F**k man, I’m begging you guys!”
He slams his hands on the window but the thick glass on the tiny window makes his strained voice bounce back to him. He slides down to his knees crying.
“This is b******t man. I don’t deserve this…I don’t.”
A lock slides and the door releases as he falls forward. He catches himself and looks around confused. A figure runs off in the distance crawling into a hole in the wall.
Against his better judgement he decides to follow the being through the hole. Crawling through spider webs and darkness he yells out, “Hey hold up who are you? Hey wait up!”
The being looks back for a second, his face covered in a rough beard and thick shaggy hair. He mutters, “Follow me.”
The sun sets down on the side of the building shining light between the bars on the windows, dinner time once more. The same routine as before, everyone lines up in order and come out to the recreation room. Kiel gets butterflies in his stomach wondering if he’ll get to sit with Lola again.
He comes out into the room and sees her sitting by herself, she looks worried. Her green eyes scan the room looking for Gil when she spots Kiel. She waves her hand over as he heads over. Pulling up a chair he says, “Hey it’s nice to see you again.”
“Have you seen Gil? Sorry, not trying to be rude I’m just worried. I saw the staff dragging him but I had to go to my room and don’t know what happened.” Looking at Kiel and the sadness in his eyes she says, “But it is nice to see you too, Kiel. Sorry, Gil is my best friend. We’ve had each others back since we met, I wish I knew he was okay.”
Kiel leans in placing his hand on her knee. “I’m sorry to hear that Lola, I’m sure he’s okay though. He’s a tough guy.”
Lola looks down at his hand, Kiel turns red and pulls back. Lola smiles, her messy hair covering one of her eyes she pulls it back. Kiel still flushed tries to change the subject. “Oh hey I had a question? How are we supposed to bathe over here?”
“Gotta use the sink in your room. I’d do it at night, depending on who patrols your hallway they tend to watch through the window if it’s during the day.” Lola turns her head as the staff come out with dinner.
They drop a blue tray with two bowls filled with what looked like grey mashed potatoes. Kiel squints his eyes staring at the concoction. “Now what in the hell is this?”
“It’s dinner if you’re hungry enough.” Lola dips her fingers in the bowl and begins to eat the slop. Kiel copies and has to put his hand over his mouth to hold back the vomit about to spew.
Lola giggles showing her beautiful smile. “I like you Kiel, you’re funny.”
Kiel feels butterflies battling in his belly as he tries to mutter the words, “I like you too Lola.”
Lola gets a sparkle in her eye and whispers, “Hey, you wanna go somewhere more private?”
Taken back Kiel spouts, “What? Really?”
“Listen, the way I see it this place deprives you of everything. If you’re lucky enough to find someone or anything that brings you some kind of joy, use it while you can. Everything goes away too soon here. So might as well skip the get to know each other part, so what do you say?”
Smiling back Kiel feels like he’s about to throw up, he gets nervous and excited at the same time and just nods his head.
Lola and Kiel walk back to the hallways and sneak past Nurse Penny, making their way to his room. The rooms are left unlocked during dinner time, she closes the door behind as she pushes Kiel on the filthy mattress climbing on top of him.
Four months pass and Kiel and Lola move from just dinner flings to catching feelings for each other. They begin to open up more about their personal life and what dreams they had before they got to this hell.
There was no sign of Gil. Lola began to think he was left for dead somewhere but held onto the hope that Gil would come back eventually. He was tougher than anyone she ever met, still it broke her down at times that her best friend was gone. Kiel brought new light to her life just in time, there was no way she was gonna survive on her own.
One night during dinner Lola tugs on her outfit as it feels a little tighter around her belly, although she doesn’t get to eat much. They get their dinner and upon smelling it Lola turns around and throws up on the floor. Kiel gets up pulling her hair back asking if she’s okay.
Lola shakes her head and spews again. “What can I do to help babe? What’s wrong?” Kiel says with a shaky voice.
Lola sits up wiping her mouth crying. “S**t, this is bad, I knew it! I knew something was wrong!”
“Baby talk to me,” Kiel drops down on the chair next to her, “What’s wrong, are you sick?”
“I was hoping so, but I’m not. This on top of me being late…Kiel…I’m pregnant.”
Kiel’s eyes widen and he loses his voice for a second. “Wha-what? Are you serious? I don’t know how to react I mean I’m happy but we can’t have the baby here! We have to get out babe we gotta do so-”
“Wait, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
Kiel feels a lump in his throat, almost too afraid to ask what, he says it with his eyes.
Lola sighs with tears forming and says, “I don’t know if it’s yours or Lenny’s.”