The Confined

9. Violet

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I hope you keep following along to the end of this book! BYE♡

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2302. 04. 14.

I knew it from the start. When I was being beaten and helplessly lying on the floor, his face had floated in my subconscious. The moment I saw his eyes, those rich brown eyes, I knew that there was something about him. Something different. Something special. When he helped me, I knew that I could pull justice out of him. His potential was just under the thin surface of following the rules. Now, Ego had finally given in to his inside. He himself knew that deep inside of himself, he wanted to fight back against the RL. He knew that one day it would happen. I was just a catalyst.

I paced down the hall. I had a plan in mind that would work perfectly if only there were no distractions in the way.

This week, our bunker was on laundry duty. I dashed into the laundry room and pulled out a cart that had lots of sheets in it. I could get there just in time for the boys to start distracting the police. Then, we’d be safe to go.

I had to be careful so that my behavior wouldn’t be questionable. I had to look perfectly normal. Whenever the cart’s wheels squeaked louder than they should because of my quick walking, my heart pounded in my chest. There were police and CCTV cameras everywhere. If I got beaten again, I don’t think I would live much longer.

Twenty minutes to go. I had received laundry from nine bunks so far, and there were fifty left. I got to know that it took about five minutes per ten bunks because people didn’t have their laundry ready yet. Some people just took their clothes off in front of me.

There were two minutes left before Ego and the other boy, who seemed to be Finn, were going to ring the sirens. I had to be on time. Trying not to rush too noticeably, I got to Ego’s bunker, took his other set of clothes, and put them in. In the next bunker, I saw her. The little girl Ego was talking about. Her blonde hair was all messed up because she was hiding under a bunk bed. You couldn’t tell if her dress was supposed to be gray or it was gray because of the dust underneath the bed. Her big green eyes were moving frantically around the room in fear. Her big brother was talking to her, saying that it was okay to come out now.

“Hey, I’m here to help you,” I said to the big brother.

He eyed me very suspiciously. He couldn’t help it. “Aren’t you the new girl?”

I nodded. “Hurry, the sirens are going to ring any minute. I’ll sneak her to the woman’s shower room. There aren’t any CCTV cameras there. She’ll be okay there. The police are probably checking the bunkers now. We have to get going,” I explained the best I could.

“Tell me the reason I can trust you,” he said.

“You can’t. But it’s the best shot you’ve got, isn’t it?” I nodded my head to his little sister. She seemed terribly scared. “Come here, girlie. I’ll take you to the woman’s shower room without being seen. Hop into the laundry cart, okay? Before anyone sees you.”

The girl nervously looked at her brother as if asking him what to do. He just sighed and told her to hurry up. I pulled the cart inside and lifted up the sheets for her to get in. She fit perfectly inside of the cart and when I covered her in sheets, the sirens started to blare. I just needed to get laundry from three more rooms in order to avoid the suspicion of the police. All of the police were running away from the woman’s shower room. I quickly picked up the laundry and started heading back the way we came.

From then, everything made me sweat. The alarms, they seemed like they were meant for me and whatever I did would expose us. My hands wouldn’t stop trembling as I pushed the cart down the hall because every police officer that jogged past me seemed to watch what I was doing closely. My knees were shaking and I breathed heavily. And I almost screamed when someone grabbed ahold of our cart.

Thankfully, it was Eva. She took my hand and nodded to me in encouragement. I could go on with her. Everything would turn out okay.

We swiftly walked past all the bunkers and even the laundry room safely. But when we got to the shower room a police officer was in front of it. As if he was waiting for us. I stopped breathing. It was over. I was going to be punished for providing shelter to a criminal. I was going to be beaten again. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get up again if I was.

The police looked at us with no expression under his sunglasses.

“Dad?”

“Eva,” the man replied with no expression.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Anything for you, my darling,” he said again with no expression. He was acting in front of the cameras. “Now hurry, I’ll keep watch.” I didn’t understand a thing but I went inside.

The girl popped out of the cart and shook herself from the odor of the filthy clothes. “That smelled gross.” She shivered. She climbed out and sat down near the lockers. I pulled out a sheet cover for her so that she could sit comfortably.

“Stay here. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll come back with food tomorrow,” I ordered her. She nodded and when I turned around, ready to leave, she grabbed a hold of my skirt.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her green eyes were not shaking anymore and she looked calm. This was why Ego had wanted to help her. You couldn’t resist helping her.

I patted her on the head and left with the much lighter cart. She didn’t seem like heavy, but my arms were aching of pushing her weight. Eva’s father was outside and when he saw me coming out, he started going to the laundry room like he saw nothing.

When I entered the laundry room, there was a man behind the door who wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of boxers unconscious on the floor. Now, I understood. Eva’s father had knocked him out somehow and disguised himself as a policeman. His acting was marvelous.

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” I said to him. Looking at him made me think of my own father. He would have done this for me in the same situation. Tears swelled up inside me as I thought of him. I sincerely missed him.

“No problem. This fella was in the laundry room already. He didn’t even see me before he got hit. Poor fella. I even found a forgetting pill in his pocket. I made him swallow it. He won’t remember a thing.” Her father laughed heartily. “My, that was the biggest thrill I’ve had in years.” He rustled Eva’s hair. She grinned.

“Maybe we’ll get to do this again,” I shrugged.

“Oh, I hope so.” His eyes twinkled.