The Sanatorium

Chapter Twelve

Jupiter enjoyed her life.

She and Wolfie would go melon picking everyday and trade them for more bread and other food at the Village Market. They had recently traded for a whole pack of delicious cheesecakes with ten Pride Melons, and enjoyed their cakes as they liked to collect the springwater from the nearby waterfall and lake. They were nowpicking mushrooms by the river to trade for a fishnet, so they can start catching their first fishes.

"How many mushrooms did the trader request?" Wolfie asked.

"Fifteen," Jupiter counted the mushrooms in her bag, "Each." They both needed one of their own, Jupiter had counted thirteen. She only needed two more.

"Done," Wolfie stood up with a satisfied grin, "You almost done?"

"Just need two more," Jupiter smiled, "Maybe after we go fishing today I can teach you swimming at a pond, since there should be no currents in a pond."

Wolfie helped find the other two, and then they headed to the market stall where the trader hung out. He was trading with an oily-voiced man and after the man left, he rounded on Wolfie and Jupiter, who held their sacks of mushrooms. He counted them, tossing them into a wooden bin. He beamed down at them.

"Alright," he said, "Two fishnets, here you go," he handed them a leather bag and there was two fishnets in them.

"Thank you," Jupiter said, bowing her head gratefully.

They were about to head out for fishing when there was a large clang against the village gong. The Sanatorium nurses are taking the patients to visit the village!

"They can't be finding us," Jupiter cried, "We have to hide!"

Forgetting about the fishing trip, they went straight to their home and wrenched open a small trapdoor on the floor. They dropped a rope ladder and climbed down, Jupiter shutting the trapdoor and the carpet fell back on top of it. They huddled in the darkness, on their sleeping bags, hearing the floor creak as the nurses stepped on top.

"We're looking for two patients, who were believed to have ran away a few nights ago," they heard a nurse snap above them, "We've searched our holy island with no signs, even interrogated our holy Gay Pirate. Now we are searching the village, they could be hiding."

"Very well," they heard a sly man say as he opened the door to Jupiter's house. Jupiter crouched low, with Wolfie cuddled in with them. They huddled as deep in the shadows as they could. They squeezed their eyes shut and crouched low, but then light approached them and a low hiss.

"Found those unholy children," the nurse hissed, holding up her candle.

There was a shriek of pain as the nurse knocked Wolfie out with her Holy Cross, and before she could react, the Cross knocked right against Jupiter's head and everything went black.