Paralyzed In Happiness

Part The Eighth

Summary
In which a prison break occurs, and Sera has to leave.

Part The Eighth

Four hours later

Sera and Zoie were lying on Zoie's enormous couch in the den, watching a horror movie on the flat screen, Kyra had changed into some jeans and a t-shirt and was in the kitchen making something, and so far, the night had been a good one, unbeknownst to the three women, certain other forces were working to ruin that night.

Redcrest County Prison

Red lights flashed throughout the prison, that along with the shouting of the prisoners and the knowledge of what those red lights meant started to seriously worry Officer Grant Harris. He was running through cell block D-4, headed towards the commotion. When he arrived, he found that the light in one of the cells was off, and the inmates around that cell were all gathered at their cell doors.

"What's going on here? Why's that light out?" Harris asked the men in the Orange Jumpsuits.

"What'chu thinks goin' on hyere? You knows what them red lights mean." answered one

"How'd he get out?"

"Hell if we know. Said 'e was gonna take us with 'im, sumbitch lied to a mothafucka."

"Dammit."

Harris clicked on his radio and said "Carl, tell me who was in cell D-687."

Carl Hanson's voice crackled through the old radio, saying "Prisoner 8659-77, um.... name is Cain Carr."

Zoie's House

Sera's phone vibrated off the table and onto the hardwood floor, waking the couple from their nap. Sera groaned and reached down to answer the phone.

"Hello?" she said grumpily

The soft, silky voice of Harper Quinn spoke over the phone in a harsh tone, saying "Sera, where are you?"

"I'm... at Zoie's... what do you want Harper?"

"Get here now."

"Why?"

"Your Mother called, you're both in serious danger, your mom is here. Just get here now."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Just. Get. Here."

"Fine." Sera said, hanging up.

The dark-haired girl looked down at her girlfriend, who had fallen back asleep, and smiled. She stroked the artist's face and quietly walked to the kitchen and told Kyra to tell Zoie that she had to leave, but she'd see her later.

Sera's drive to The Mental Vine was a silent one. She knew something was going on, she knew it was an ending, but for what, it could be anything. The brightly painted sign of her therapist's office seemed ominous in the dark, but Sera entered anyway.

Harper Quinn and Karen Carr were sitting on the carpeted floor in Harper's office. Karen's knees were pulled up to her chest, and Harper was calmly rubbing her back, trying to comfort the clearly terrified woman.

"What's going on? Why are we here, Harper?" Sera asked, crouching next to her mother

"If she could, I would let your mom tell you, but she's apparently gone mute. She got a phone call from Redcrest County Prison about twenty minutes ago... Cain Carr escaped from his cell and hasn't been seen since. They're sending a cruiser to your house right now, but they want to put you two in protective custody until they can find him."

"That... But..."

Without finishing her sentence, Sera sat down with her back against Harper's couch. The dark-haired girl let her jaw go slack. Faced with such a dilemma, she didn't know what the answer was. Getting out of Carron, that had been her goal for so long, since she was eleven, but leaving Carron meant leaving Zoie, leaving the life she had just begun to build, and what kind of life would Protective custody get her?

"What if I don't want to go into protective custody?" Sera asked quietly

"You'd be risking the safety of your friends." Harper replied

"Why do you want this so badly, Harper? Why do you want us to leave?"

"Because I want the two of you to be safe, Goddammit. Sera, your father broke out of a prison. A prison. Why do you think he did that? He knows what happened, he knows you told me about him, and he wants revenge. He wants to hurt you and your mother. That's probably the only thing that's keeping him from having a complete psychotic break and killing everyone he sees. His is an incredibly violent and tortured mind. He stabbed two inmates on his second day in Redcrest. He will kill you if he finds you, and he's currently roaming free in the world."

Sera's jaw clenched and was set into place from that point on.