Jailbreak

Chapter 4: Jay

We finally break apart when we hear a knock on the front door.

"I wonder who that can be?" Anna says as she fixes her messy hair and pats down her creased clothes. She also rubs at her red puffy eyes, but she soon gives up, and rushes out into the hallway towards the door.

Raven and I hastily push the aeroplane and the tools into the corner of the workshop, covering them with a large piece of cloth. We can't risk them being seen by someone, especially if that someone is a keeper.

We each grab a heavy sack from the floor, filled to the brim with precious bits of metal we worked so hard to get. What I wouldn't give to keep these metals to ourselves. But that isn't an option. I shake my head to get that ridiculous wish out of my head, and hurry after Raven into the hallway. Sadly, we have a good idea who our sudden visitor(s) is(are).

"Well well well!" I hear, and feel myself tense up. Standing in the doorway are the last people I would ever like to see: keepers, three of them. They are all wearing their uniforms; long black coats lined with golden thread, black leather boots, white gloves, and the black military hat with the keeper emblem sewn on front. But the most strange and frightening part of them are the blood-red bandages covering their eyes. With these blindfolds, it is impossible to know what the keepers are thinking, and that makes it even more creepy.

I'd once asked Raven about those pieces of cloth, back when we were young: "Why do the keepers wear blindfolds, Raven?"

Raven knew anything, and if I came upon anything I didn't know or understand, the first thing I did was to ask him.

What had he said? I was only 8 years old back then, and I'm not those kind of people who can remember every single thing that has happened to them. Oh no. Actually I am quite the opposite. I seem to forget everything. Darn...What was it?

"It's so they don't have to see anything, Jay. If they can't see anything - all the horrible things they do to us, all the dreams they crush under their boots - they won't have to feel guilty or despair, right? The keepers are just sickening cowards. They seek comfort in a dark world, because they don't have the courage to look at the world as it is."

"But..." I'd murmured, confused. "How do they find their way around at all? They can't just see nothing, or they'll hurt yourself."

Raven had shook his head at my question. "How should I know? I'm as clueless as you are; you can't just block out the bad stuff without blocking everything else as well. But the keepers must have found a way, 'cause you don't see them bumping around into things and falling over, do you? Though I must say, it would be hilarious if they do." He had laughed scornfully at the thought.

But I was still terrified back then. I could only tremble as the men in the crimson blindfolds walked past, wielding guns almost as tall as myself.

I remember all of this as I stare at the three keepers before me. I still find them scary, but at least I'm not terrified of them. The keepers all seem young: the oldest is the one with silver-gray hair, probably around 25 years old, and the two younger ones - one with straight black hair, and the other with unruly orange hair, just like me - are in the 20 to 22 area.

The oldest keeper glances at each of us in turn, and then breaks into a dazzling smile. "Hello, I see you have your metal. We'll take them from here, thank you very much. Shadow, Blaze, please let these kind gentlemen give you the metal."

The other two keepers takes our sacks, and open them up carefully to peer inside. The black-haired one, who seems to have a permanent scowl plastered onto his face, looks up at his boss. "Commander Sedge, this cannot be all of the metal. Our research shows that there should be much more metal here than what we have here."