In 1965, my mother lost the battle against leukemia and died. That night, after the funeral, our uncle tried to kill us; furious that our mother left everything she had
to us and not him. Out of a jealous rage, he went after my sister. The only family I had left, I found a gun in a dresser and threatened him, trying to keep away from
my sister. I aimed poorly, and fired. Luck not favoring me, I hit my sister instead of him. At first I thought she was dead, but after he placed me in an asylum, I was
told that the bullet barely missed her heart. She was in critical condition, but she would live, at least that what the doctors told me.
In the asylum, I met four other girls: Amber, Blondie, Rocket and her older sister, Sweet Pea. I told them I decided to escape, and they decided to join me; I
graciously accepted their self invites: the more help I had, the better.
In order to successfully escape, we needed five items: a map, a key, a knife, fire, but the fifth item was a mystery. Not even I knew what it was. One by one, we
secured the items for the escape. So far, everything was going great. But when it came to getting the knife, that's when Rocket got stabbed by the chef. She lived,
but was taken to the hospital; the knife pushed her lung aside instead of piercing it. Then, to make matters worse, Blondie got cold feet and told Blue what we were
up to. He shot Blondie and Amber, but when everyone left the room, he tried to have his way with me; that seemed like a good time to stab him with the knife we
obtained from the kitchen. Miraculously, Amber and Blondie were still okay; when Blue shot them, the bullets didn't go through their brains: they only got stuck. I
cleaned them up to the best of my ability, wrapping bandages around their heads to hide the damage. Blondie apologized for ratting us out and swore to never betray
us again, but Amber and I assured her that it wasn't her fault and to just forget about it. Wasting no time, I snatched the key from Blue's neck as he lied
unconscious on the polished wood floor. Before leaving, I stared at Amber and Blondie, and they stared back.
As we continued to gaze at one another, I only said seven words that gave them enough courage to get them on their feet:
"Let's get the hell out of here."
We quietly ran through each corridor, rapidly searching for Sweet Pea. It didn't take long before we found her. I threw the door open, and she stared at me, tears still
streaming down her face. Sweet Pea saw Amber and Blondie, and let her jaw drop in awe. I stood in the doorway as they took a moment to embrace one another in
each others arms. When they were finished, they looked at me for reassurance; not knowing what to do next.
"Sweet Pea, Rocket's alive. She should be okay, but she's still in critical condition", I informed the grieving sister. Sweet Pea covered her mouth with both hands,
barely muffling a relieved 'Oh, my God'; but this time, cried tears of joy, confident that her sister would make it. More motivated than before to leave the asylum,
they helped Sweet Pea to her feet as she wiped away her tears. We smiled at each other and she said:
"Let's go."
The four of us crouched behind a corner, observing the guests for tonight's entertainment. Amber swore in frustration and Blondie put her head on her knees.
"Great, a welcome party", Sweet Pea whispered sarcastically, "now what are we gonna' do?"
I thought long and hard on what are options were. But then, it hit me:
"That's it. The sacrifice; it's me," I whispered. The others looked at me in solid confusion.
"Baby Doll, what are you talking about?" Blondie whispered in concern.
"She's right – we have to get out of here!" Amber said. I shook my head in disagreement.
"You guys leave while I distract them," I explained. I turned to a tearful Blondie "It's the only way." One by one, I hugged them goodbye, wishing them well on
their journey.
Sweet Pea and I looked at each other.
"You better know what you're doing," she said sternly, tears rolling down her face. I nodded. "I do."
I was about to get up, when the most unexpected thing happened: Madame Goreski appeared and led the guests inside.
"What's she doing?" Sweet Pea whispered. It didn't take long for us to figure out that Madame Goreski was part of our escape; looking in our direction and winking
as she smiled at us: kind of a red flag. She waved and mouthed 'good luck' as the four of us made our way out of the front gate.
Forty-five years went by. Seems like a lifetime ago since our escape. How we managed to stay hidden all this time still remains a mystery even to me, but a lot has
happened since then: first, Madame Goreski found out that Blue forged her signature for my lobotomy, which caused Blue to panic and spill everything to the police
about my step fathers' evil plan for me to remain silent: it made headlines all over the state:
"Attempted unauthorized lobotomy plot on sane patient in mental institution revealed"
And when it was, Blue and my bastard step father both got life in prison. Rocket eventually came out of her coma, but to this day, she still has trouble remembering
how to do certain things. As for Amber and Blondie, they occasionally get headaches due to the bullet wounds in their skulls, but the doctor said as long as they take
aspirin twice a day every day for the rest of their lives, they'll be just fine.
The first three years, we went from place to place and job to job, never staying in one place for more than two weeks at a time as we saved up what little amount of
money we could to support ourselves. When we saved enough, we bought a ranch and some horses to go with it, riding them as a pass time, and as stress
relievers.
My younger sister, who we've nick named "Lotus", eventually joined us when she came out of her coma, two weeks after Rocket did.
After all the hell we've been put through, it didn't really matter what happened to us next; because we we're free, and that's all that really matters.
The End