The Red Room

𝕊𝔼𝕍𝔼ℕ𝕋𝔼𝔼ℕ

Morgan and I slept under a tree that night surrounded by bugs and leaves. In that moment I let everything sink in. I was the first person ever to escape the Red Room without dying or graduating. I had killed Madame, the women that terrorized my life ever since I could remember. I had finally gotten rid of her. I also saved Morgan, the first person I ever loved.

I felt accomplished but not quite. I still had no idea what to do. What if no one was willing to help us? What if we have nowhere to go and we starve to death?

I told myself I was being ridiculous. I could always just threaten people into helping us.

When day broke we started walking again. I tried to make conversation because I hated the awkward tension between us. I wanted things to be back how they were when I was Iz, fully Iz. She's all I ever wanted to be. "Morgan, I have made up my mind." I started.

"About what?"

"I've decided that I'm Iz." I took a deep breath.

He gave me a weird look that said I was crazy. "Uh huh, that's your name."

"No, that's not what I mean." I smirked. "I have been at war with myself ever since I moved to America. I couldn't decide whether I was Izabella, the assassin girl who does exactly what she's told, or Iz, the girl who can be herself and not have to worry about dying all the time, because take it from me, it's no fun." I glanced at him. To be sure he was listening, and he was, very intently. He looked at me when I spoke. "So what I'm saying is I've had a lot of time to think about it and I'm choosing to be Iz. Iz is happy and free, but most of all Iz is the girl you love, and that's what I really want to be."

He smirked. "Your a roller coaster ride, you know that, Iz?"

"Yeah, trust me, I get dizzy from it too." I giggled just like Iz would, like I would.

"Well, you know how much I like amusement parks." He smiled and so did I. Then he kissed me and it was like nothing had ever happened between us. If I closed my eyes I could picture us in my old bedroom or in the kitchen doing homework. Anywhere less problematic than the middle of the woods fighting to survive.

As soon as we broke away I heard a rustling in the bushes and I put finger to my lips telling him to be silent. They rustled again and I approached them cautiously; whatever was in there wasn't an animal, I was sure of it. It was too big. It was big enough to be a person. I lunged at the bush and tackled them. I only saw flashes of pale skin and blonde hair as we fought. Finally, I pinned them to the ground and got a good look at their face. I jumped off of her, it was my ally. The one that was killed.

"It's you!" We said at the same time as we embraced.

I giggled. "How are you alive? And how are you here?" I looked into the brown eyes of the first person who had ever been kind to me.

"I ran away when they tried to take me. I used the teleporter to get here. I live in that town over there." She pointed North. "I was just out for a walk. I just heard you say the word 'assassin' and I hid. I can't believe you're here. How are you here?"

"I killed Madame." I said.

"What? How did you do that?" She looked shocked.

I told her the whole story about how I got the assignment and how I fell in love with Morgan and ended up escaping.

"I can't believe you actually killed her." She smiled.

Morgan cleared his throat rather loudly and then looked around.

I rolled my eyes. "This is Morgan, my boyfriend."

"Morgan this is..." I realized I didn't know her name.

"Kira." She clarified.

"This is Kira. She and I were something of allies for a while when we were in the Red Room."

"Oh, okay." He stuck his hands in his pockets and nodded.

"What about your name?" She asked

"Iz. My name is Iz." I said confidently. It felt good to introduce myself like that.

"So you guys are like fugitives now?" Kira asked a little too excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess we're something like that." I said.

"You guys can come stay with us." She started walking away.

"Wait, who's us?" I asked as Morgan and I followed behind her.

"Oh, yeah." Kira laughed a little. "We live in an abandoned house in this little town up here." She pointed in front of her. "We're all fugitives running from something. I'm the only Red Room runaway, but you'll meet the others when we get there."

We had just reached a clearing when she finished talking. Outspread before us was a town that looked about the same size as the town where I had met Morgan. He and I shared a look. We both missed home.

"That's it right there." Kira pointed to a broken down abandoned house. "That's your new home."