Overview: Brittney despises being imprisoned within her own home, and Sabrina hears her cry for help. John Doe takes their interest in Brittney up a notch by meeting Brittney in person.
Sabrina
She dragged a pen across the board, pointing and explaining each label as she went along. Brittney sat on her bed, focussing on the board as opposed to Sabrina.
That was a relief – the girl's face was similar to that of a squashed pig's. Though Sabrina had no intent of letting Brittney know this, she continued expanding on each area of the plan, then finished talking.
"Questions?"
"Yeah – my parents aren't going to let me out. I must look hideous if-"
"You at least deserve to see what you look like."
"I… guess."
"I got in through your window. That's how we're going to get out."
The lack of the response was only sort of startling. Maybe Brittney's family was so determined that she didn't leave the house they had guards or something. Perhaps that's why Brittney had been forced to text her.
Her parents must've been downstairs, cocking their ears to pick up on any speech from Brittney, who was now huddling on her bed. So everything in the house was virtually monitored, likely meaning the bedroom was heavily monitored – heavier than other areas.
"Okay – you might as well just open your window, using your bedsheets to climb out like they do in the movies."
"That's absolutely ridiculous."
Sabrina bit her lip, but nodded in agreement.
Yes, yes, my plan's stupid. Nobody should listen to it.
"Do you have drainpipes or ledges or something?"
"What kind of house doesn't?" The sarcastic response isn't that much of a shock to Sabrina, who brushes it off and forces herself not to burst into tears. Or start begging Brittney to forgive her for her stupidity.
Then there you go, Sabrina thinks to herself, as she runs straight to the window. Her hand gripped the window's handle, and she turned it, pulling it open.
"Hang on," she mutters, leaning slightly out of the window, then tilting her head down to see if there were ledges or a drainpipe within their reach.
One of them was black, stretching down to the house, and there were various other ledges dotted over the house, but they were fairly far down from where she was looking. If they were lucky, they could've climbed down the drainpipe.
But she can see that the drainpipe's instability increased as it extended to the gardens, but perhaps it fed to the ledges scattered around it. They could probably make the jump from ledge to ledge.
Sabrina frowns in concentration, causing the image before her to blur.
Then she casts her gaze back to the drainpipe, which seems wide enough to support her weight, and Brittney's. Surely, though, they couldn't both go at once. She tries to think of a solution, but instead finds herself planning out a journey.
It starts with them hopping out the window, their hands scrabbling to grab the drainpipe, as Sabrina slides down first, landing on a ledge.
The curtains for the other rooms are drawn, to prevent anyone driving past to see Brittney, she assumes.
Her family had become a lot more determined to hide her – she could understand why, but felt a small amount of sadness for Brittney. Sabrina checked it off in her mental tick list – nobody would see them leaving.
The ledge was still too high to jump from. Her eyes sweep across the house's rear, stopping upon a second ledge, to the right of the first one she'd seen. If they made the jump, they'd be close enough to the ground to jump.
Providing they made the jump.
Is it worth the risk?
She turns back to Brittney, opening her mouth to speak, only to close it when she sees her misty eyes, the fog sticking to her ghostly, yet exaggerated flesh. It was probably one of the strangest things she'd ever seen – even the ruined side of her face was crying.
"I worked it out." She blurts, as Brittney begins to run her hands under her eyes, forcing the tears out and effectively wiping her face clean from all emotion. Sabrina watched in fascination as Brittney's face became a blank slate.
"Follow me. Down the drainpipe, get to the third ledge on your way there. Then jump to the ledge on the right, and jump to the ground. Clear?"
"You'll need to repeat that."
Sabrina rolls her eyes playfully, smiling at Brittney.
Brittney smiles too, through the dried tears.
"Down the drainpipe, third ledge on the way – then jump to the ledge on the right. And finally jump onto the ground."
"Down, third, right, ground... alright, I've got it."
"Good," Sabrina says, before she hoists herself out the window, disappearing down the drainpipe. She clings to it tightly, quietly repeating her own instructions under her breath before she leaps to the third ledge on the right.
And she lands.
Now, there was the next ledge.
It seems further away than it actually is, but Sabrina forces herself to waddle awkwardly all the way to the right of her current ledge, before lifting her head, to see Brittney, with a shawl pinned to half of her face.
Oh, Brittney.
The opaque wrap covers her, flapping like a curtain in the wind, as Brittney slowly makes her way down the drainpipe, taking each care with each shift she makes to avoid letting the air whip away her mask.
She's catching up!
Sabrina literally takes a leap of faith, and her feet snag the ledge on the right – but slip, as her hands shoot out, clawing and desperately clasping the ledge.
She whimpers, slowly pulling herself up, exhaling deeply in relief as she stands, stabilising herself.
The ground seems much further down than it is – but she turns her head again, seeing Brittney waiting for her to move, almost down the drainpipe. So she falls, and for a brief moment, she feels herself flying.
Everything, including the birds and clouds seem to be within her reach, as she swipes the sky with a hand, before discovering that she'd never flown up into the sky.
Rolling on the grass, she starts laughing in both glee and relief, until she spots the gates.
Another obstacle for her to overcome, another mini-game.
They were in the large garden, filled with grass and all sorts of flowers. Sabrina begins wading through the ankle length grass, standing so she can see Brittney and her progress on the house's walls.
Brittney anxiously judges the distance from the ledge, but still throws herself off, before landing on the next one.
At least her landing was neater than Sabrina's.
Sabrina watches curiously, waiting for Brittney to jump onto the ledge to the right, turning for a brief moment to scrutinise the surprisingly high gates, searching for anything to climb up and get around the gates.
Bingo. The internal voice whispers, as she scrabbles to find some sort of holds for her feet and hands. When she figures them out, she beckons for Brittney to come to her who lies, motionless, in the grass.
"This way." Sabrina hisses, pointing and making as obvious and vast a gesture to the gate possible. Brittney picks up on the message immediately, and tightens her shawl, before outstretching her hands and gripping the gates.
"I've never done this before," she tells Sabrina, who laughs, as she swings herself off the gates and onto the pavement, patiently waiting for her.
"I don't think anyone has." They're staring at each other by this point, with Sabrina awkwardly shifting from toe to toe.
"True. Let's go, then."
They steal through the day, with Brittney trailing behind Sabrina, undetected, until they finally reach a department store.
"This has to be quick. Your parents'll realise you're missing soon, so you need to run in and check your reflection."
"I don't get why you didn't just bring a mirror."
"You have to admit that it's way more fun this way."
"I guess. Didn't know you were one for adventure, Sabrina."
There is much you do not know about me.
She grins and says No problem as Brittney shyly mutters thanks, then sees Brittney vanish with a swish of the automatic doors, the shop swallowing her whole.
John Doe
In she came – attempting to blend in and hide behind a group of girls all fingering a rack of shirts, giggling excitedly. The girl in the shawl continued, neatly weaving through the racks before snatching up a shirt in a rush, still on the move.
They waited patiently, their eyes trained on her – Brittney. Although she considered herself impossible to be seen, the shawl gave her away immediately. Their eyes follow her as she stops by the fitting rooms, holding a pair of sunglasses and a shirt.
Brittney wore also incredibly distinct shoes – they were black flats, with small bows attached to their tips.
Quickly, they grab a shirt from the rack next to them – one that clearly wasn't their size – but they couldn't risk losing sight of Brittney, so they sped off, only to be stopped by an assistant.
She smiled, and John tried to let a smile penetrate their lips. Nothing came through – their eyes stayed pale and dead – yet it still didn't affect the assistant. The smile tightened on her face when she saw the small shirt in John's hand.
But they made no comment.
Time was disappearing with each second wasted talking to the assistant – they needed to get rid of her, fast.
"Are the fitting rooms that way?" They point to the left.
"Yes." She points in the same direction, smiling. Her lips are pursed, and John dares her to question the size of the shirt. She seems to understand not to say a word.
"Thank you," they murmur, briskly heading in the left direction, cradling the shirt in one hand – the assistant moves out of their way immediately.
As soon as they're out of sight, the shirt is flung down and John Doe immediately inspects each of the booths for the same shoes they'd spotted on Brittney's feet. The black flats had returned, in one of the booths making the least noise.
They stop, crouching slightly to check if the person could possibly be Brittney – who they were sure was a prisoner in their own home. Her face had been destroyed, they'd heard, to the point where her parents refused to release her from the house.
And if only John would be able to sneak one look at her… it was finally possible.
She'd be the perfect subject – and perhaps they could convince her to bring Sabrina with her. It'd be perfect. Two people for the price of one.
John Doe blinks, and the doors of a booth swing open, revealing Brittney.
She almost leaves, almost escapes, with the too-big sunglasses perching upon her face, unfolding them and enveloping herself in her shawl.
John finds themselves stood behind her.
Their hands, fingertips, writhe, until they reach her shoulder – they can feel her jolt to attention, swivelling to face the pair of eyes stood before her.
In a brief moment, John pulls their hood up slightly, exposing only their cold gaze and frozen eyes, seizing the shawl, as they both watch it flutter to the ground.
"Hey!" She protests, seemingly unaware that they can see the damage, her secret.
In those temporary moments where Brittney has her gaze on something other than the shawl, John subtly drops a slit of paper into it. With their hood pulled up over most of their face, they keep their semi-blind look upon Brittney.
By the time Brittney acknowledges her exposed face it's too late – John sprints through the shop, praying that she'll take long enough to reattach her shawl that by the time she even exits the changing rooms, they'd have gone with the whistle of the wind and the high-pitched chirping of the birds.
A bird mimics the same noise they imagined, and they catch a glimpse of another girl – Sabrina – looking on at them with surprise, with a bemused expression – before everything stops and their feet are pounding on the ground.
Breaths heave out of them, curling around their throat and attempting to choke the fight out of them, as the image of Brittney's face plays over and over in their mind. The image is so vivid that they can't block it out, conceal it into the deep folds of their mind.
"Good Gods." Their voice is hoarse, the words interrupted with small coughs.
Sabrina is long behind them, and they can only see roads stretching out, a fork sure to appear eventually.
John smiles with the knowledge they're safe, and their feet continuing padding on the ground, still running.