I ran throughout the house, finding a hallway, the elevator room, and finally the front door. A gospel choir in my head sang 'Hallelujah.' I opened the door with difficulty, though. British handles are harder than a normal one stateside. I planned to take a few moments to appreciate the wonderful freedom of the outside world, but my green utopia was replaced with grey and black clouds.

"Wooooooooow- Where's the rest of the ground?" I asked myself. I closed the door behind me and walked out to the edge. Then I laid down and stuck my head over the grey stone, causing a stone to fall. It hit off the jagged rocks, broke into tiny pieces, and fell into the abyss.

"Heh heh heh…bye-bye rocky…" I nervously chuckled. It seemed like there was no way to get down, but I remained calm and quickly thought, 'In order to have gotten me here, they had a car.' Soon enough, I found a garage and tire tracks. "Ah-ha!" I said aloud and found a road that curved around the hill. "Yes!" I cheered and jumped around happily until I heard a loud thunder crash. I jumped and rapidly ran down the hill, watching my step, and avoiding the edge at all cost.

When I finally reached the bottom, I was really worn-out. I mean, it was a BIIIIIIIG hill!

I looked back up the mountain and couldn't see the top of it, or the building. It was shrouded in dark clouds and I knew it was going to rain soon. Before I turned around to see where I was headed, tiny pieces of stone fell on my head.

"Took long enough." I said before noticing something…off about them. The piece that I threw up top was grainy and crumbled. The small pieces now were very much animated like a cartoon and were colored a heavy gray with a stark black outline. When I held it in my hand, it was flat; two-dimensional really.

"I've gotta get outta here," I mumbled and turned my body. "Whoa!" I breathed out when I saw a graveyard on my right and a landfill on my left. "Not weird. Not weird at all," I stated, shrugging and trying to stay calm. I mean, I saw a green man with a red eye. Life doesn't get any weirder than that.

After that statement I ran into the graveyard to avoid the horrible stench of the trash and stepped up to one tombstone. I bent down and looked at the worn out name, realizing, 'Wow! Murdoc wasn't kidding when he said he could bury me out front! Huh!' I smiled at my deduction skills and- wait…

'Murdoc wasn't kidding!'

I stood up and ran to the speed of light searching for the tire tracks again. When I found them, they led to an iron gate; the exit! Gates where holy normal light called out for me to return to where things made sense!

Hallelujah was heard again. I ran towards the gate and just as it was in my reach, they closed and I slammed into them, forever trapped in this cartoon world.

"Oooww!" I complained rubbing my shoulder that was hit.

*Yeah, that's what you get.* Murdoc's voice came over me. I looked to my left and, on the pillar where the gate, was connected lie a small speaker and camera placed "incognito." I rolled my eyes.

"Open the gate, Murdoc!" I said staring intently at the small red bulb.

*Mmmm, no. Not until we make a few negotiations.*

"I don't want to make nego- nega- neg- whatevers! I want to go home!" I said shaking the rattling gates violently.

*Mhm…and where might that be?* the voice automated again. I stopped shaking the bars, leaving an echo of the rattling sound. The ground beyond the gates evolved from a green utopia of freedom to a bleak world of solitude and running away. Headlines would go crazy. 'Child Prodigy Lost Again!' 'Forlorn Prodigy on the Run!' 'Child Prodigy or Child Waif?'

'When I get out of here I'm going to go…where?' Damn logic!

"Alright, Murdoc, what do expect me to do? Stay here and be forced to play as your headliner or whatever?" I asked the camera leaning on the gates with my arms crossed. "It's not exactly a step up."

*Well, when push comes to shove, love…* Aw. Come on! I'm so not going there again! *I was merely wondering if you really wanted to go to that old lifestyle.*

I slid down the gates and sat on the ground. "I don't. That's the point I'm trying to get at. Not playing the Queen's show…I'm trying to avoid that."

*Yeah, right, whatever.* Murdoc's dismissive voice made me glare. *So, say if you did get outta here-*

"Can I negotiate with Russel instead?"

*No. If you did get outta here, what'd you think you do?* He seemed like he really cared. His voice had an enlightened spark of concern…

But then I think of his dirty smirk and evil glare. I'm no sap, so who does he think he's talking to?!

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I was thinking of getting a new home. Start fresh, and find my parents or maybe adoption-"

*You can't do that! You're a kid!* I glared at the small bulb and frowned.

"I bet you- like- a thousand bucks I could! Just open the gates!" I knuckled the bar behind me, gesturing he should. "I could go to the nearest police department! I bet they'd like to hear of what I just went through!" No reply. "Hello?!" I tapped the bulb and the speaker was dead. I lost it. I growled and started trying to climb the damn thing, but to no avail. I fell on my butt every time.

Spinning on my feet, I shook the gate as hard as I could. "Murdoc, you nob!" I cursed with British insults. "Let me out, you selfish freak!"

"I got a better plan."

I turned my head and was encased in another potato sack. "Nob…dolt…dullard…when I get out…" I mumbled, arms crossed, as Murdoc carried me back up the mountain.

This time when I was dropped to the ground, my upper head was poking out of the sack so I wouldn't escape. I sat on the floor across from only Russel and Murdoc in the lobby and my mouth was covered, so I stopped swearing at Murdoc.

"Murdoc, you've gone too far! She's only a child; she doesn't need to be gagged!" Russel noted with a nervous expression.

'Aw. For me?' I sarcastically thought, glaring at the opposite wall.

"Relax, Russ. I just want the bird to listen to my plans." Murdoc lit a cigarette (or cancer stick, as I call it) and blew out deeply. Then he knelt in front of me and stared into my glare. A dangerous move, I think, as my blood pressure rises. "Listen, runt, 'cause I'm only explainin' this once: You want out, we want you in. It's logical thinking, see? You play with us and you can stay in our abode as much as you want."

I glared in silence; sticking to my commitment of not talking to people I'm annoyed with.

Murdoc, not taking the hint, continued anyway, "And there isn't gonna be a gig every other day. I don't work that way. Just an album, music video or two, and then ya chill, get it?"

'Glare. Glare. Don't respond, and glare.' I repeated in my head, however listening. I was sick of shows, true, but living with this maniac what was made this deal impossible! 'Doesn't he take the hint? No means no!'

"That's it; Murdoc, get that off her!" Russel shoved Murdoc aside to get in front of me and gave me a gentle look. Surprised by his action, I looked at him with wide innocent eyes as he cautiously and gingerly moved the sack from over my mouth and untied the string. My face was still blank. Why is a man this nice and awesome hanging out with his exact opposite?!

He picked me up from under my arms and set me upright on my feet with a huge smile. "I'm sorry for his behavior. But what we do have the best intentions on doing exactly that. I know that you don't want to stick around, but we could really use your help," He said happily and turned his head to Murdoc. "And I do mean all of us!" He said sternly.

Murdoc waved his hands dismissively. "Yeah, yeah! Aaaaoull of us, you giant doughboy."

'Russel just changed my mind. It's true that this probably isn't what Derrick would've wanted, but…' I thought over my options, but needed a few answers first. "Do I get rights to privacy?"

"Only when I do," Murdoc retorted.

"What about my stuff?" I wondered. "Instruments? Clothes?"

"We'll send for it," Russel confirmed. I don't know if this was a good or bad thing.

"How?"

"Christ! We'll get new ones or some shit!"

"Alright…last question-"

"Oh, for the love of Sweet Sata-Ow!" Murdoc cried when Russel jabbed his arm. I gave him a glare before continuing.

"Don't I need some kind of papers? Legal junk and stuff?" I sadly got a blank face from Russel, who I thought would have it covered because he comes off as the responsible one. "Then, you realize this is technically kidnapping, right?"

"But I've got that covered," Murdoc sneered taking out a stapled stack of yellow paper.

"YOU!?"

"And why is that so surprising?!" He said angrily and I shut myself up, taking the pen he held out.

I felt like I was signing the deed with the Devil to trade away my soul…which I kinda was, now that I think about it. I mean, we're talking about Murdoc here! Of course, I read it before I put my name down for anything. I was taught that by my stiff manager. He appeared to be good for something, after all!

"And…don-Hey!" I glared at Murdoc after he snatched it from my hands and looked over each document carefully. "What? You don't trust me?" He shifted his eyes from me and back to the paper. Russel was slumped on the couch, rubbing his eyes. 'This must've really stressed him out.'

"Ah ha….uh huh….Okay, you're in the green," He said darkly and dropped the stack of papers. Then he turned to me with a big evil smirk and only his jagged teeth were displayed against his shadow. Thunder rolled in the distance. "Welcome to Kong Studios."

Thanks for reading. Follow the story and review if you'd like. To see artwork that I've made for Gorillaz and the story, watch gogorillazgone on Deviantart