Born Mad

Chapter Thirteen: On My Way to Victory

Oh, it was just too good to be true! I was finally on my way to victory, to freedom, to vengeance! I finally felt pure and utter joy as I broke free of my straitjacket and moved to pick the lock on my shackles. I was giddy with excitement, and I knew that there was nothing anyone could do to break that smile. It felt like a dam had burst, and I could finally feel everything! It was as if my containment had locked away my happiness as well, but not anymore!

I tossed aside the chains once unlocked, being careful not to make too much noise in my stone prison. I got up, peeking through the small grate in the door to check that the guards were changing shifts.

I was quick and swift in my actions. Getting to my hands and knees, I checked every inch of that floor for an edge or crack I could use to grab hold of the trapdoor. Nothing. My smile faltered for a moment, my mind whirling for possible answers. Suddenly, it hit me.

I always heard a certain knocking when the officials gathered for a meeting. It wasn't Morse Code, but it was the same pattern repeated over and over again.

It was something like: - - -- - -- ---

They would always repeat the sequence before. It's rather difficult to explain, but their knocking would be: Knock (Pause) Knock (Pause) Knock Knock (Pause) Knock (Pause) Knock Knock (Pause) Knock Knock Knock. ...If that makes any sense, which I doubt it does.

I tried the pattern on the center of the trap door beneath, and before I could react, I fell through the suddenly opened door and tumbled headfirst down a flight of stairs. My smile finally fading with that brutal landing, I groaned as I sat up. "I so did not need that."

My ears pricked up at a swift click and soon the room was mere darkness, trapdoor closed.

"And I did not need that either. Well that's just dandy. I don't suppose the lights here are voice activated? Lights on! ...Okay, didn't think so. Is it one of those clappers? ...Nope. Alrighty then, where is that bloody switch?"

I groped around for a bit, just trying to figure out where the heck that light was. I eventually found a small lamp, and, as I turned it on, I found enough files to cover all of France.

"Well, time to get to work."

I think my biggest mistake in those three hours I spent looking for information was my shouting for joy when I found the correct paperwork. File in hand, I ran up the stairway, pushed open the trapdoor and climbed out, only to be greeted by a cloth pressed to my nose. I inhaled something sweet, and before I could say the word "chloroform," I was out.

I woke tied to a chair, but I wasn't gagged so I finally let out the string of curses that had built up inside.

"Condemn you to Oblivion! Rot in Hades! May the demons of Tartarus rip apart your flesh and show now mercy! I will make you experience nothing less than the tortures of the Seventh Ring of Hell! You will be crying out for mercy by the time I'm done with you, you sick, twisted, monstrosity of a human being-"

A stinging slap across the cheek cut my swears short, and I found myself staring directly into a pair of black eyes I had to loathe more than Parkhurst itself.

"You aren't escaping me this easily," Veneel growled, but I merely spat blood on his new shoes, which, might I add, made me feel particularly better about the situation.

"Escaping would imply that I am being confined here," I snarled, easily breaking my (oddly loose) bonds and kicking him in a place that I knew would hurt for quite a bit of time. "And it's rather obvious that I'm leaving now."

I snatched the file from where he had placed it on the floor before running back up that stairway and bursting out of my cell, screaming my head off for Mister Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, and Doctor Watson to follow me as I was chased through Parkhurst with a good twenty of Veneel's guard dogs (and men) right behind me.