Disclaimer: I don't own The Promised Neverland. It is property of Posuka Demizu, and Kaiu Shirai.
Act 20
The time between informing Phil and the night before Ray's 12th birthday disappeared before we knew it. Everyone was keeping busy; pretending everything is normal, secretly bringing the kids aged 6 or older into the plan, disguising practice for the night of the escape as play, and gathering supplies. It was easier for me to collect medical supplies, both by being cooped up in the infirmary with a broken leg and because since I was Isabella's first aid apprentice, I still had a spare key to the medicine cabinet that I conveniently 'lost' and couldn't return to her.
I spent the nights secretly spiriting away one thing at a time, from medicines for colds, gauze and bandages, to scalpels and tools for dealing with any bigger wounds we might receive out in the wild.
I made sure to tell Emma that she had to do as little as possible, in order to appear as though she'd totally given up, to which she squawked in disapproval. But after explaining my point to her, she begrudgingly conceded, leaving it all to Don, Gilda and Nat, for the most part.
Ray, though I'd asked him to consider visiting me in the future a while back, still hadn't come to visit.
But tonight, I'd finally face him. I'd finally face everyone, with my truth.
It was all going to happen, tonight.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared, for various reasons, but Emma was there with a reassuring smile and hand squeeze, which really helped.
"Anna, are you sure you want to do this? You've been growing that out your whole life…" Don asked me, looking uncertain. The three of us were in one of the bathrooms, near to our dormitories, lit by a single candle's light.
Gilda nodded, "You said you might not even have to do it, so why are you doing it anyway?" she added, also appearing to be against it. I mean, I understand why they are.
This is silly, but…
"I know what I said… I know this is silly. But Ray decided to live. So, I want to support that decision, since I want him to keep on living too," I told them with a soft smile, as I lined up the scissors below the part I'd tied.
Seeing them shuffle uncertainly, biting their lips, I laughed a little, "Don't worry. This isn't as much as was originally cut off, in the story. It'll still go past my shoulders, even when braided!" I said to reassure them.
Don was still fidgeting, and he looked away seeming sour, "All to support Ray, huh…" he grumbled, before shaking his head, "Well, if it's what you want…" he added, sounding like he still didn't like it regardless of his words.
Gilda smiled nervously, "Let me do it then. It'll come out more even if someone else cuts it, right?" she said, and came closer to take the scissors from me.
"Thanks, Gilda," I said gratefully and the glasses-wearing girl nodded with a small smile.
"We better do this quick. You said you were gonna meet Emma with Ray a little before we start the escape plan, right?" Don asked, looking from us to the door as Gilda carefully snipped at my hair.
"Yeah. I'm going right after this." I agreed, nodding my head unconsciously.
"Keep still!" Gilda scolded me.
"S-Sorry…!" I gasped, and kept as still as I could.
"Alright. Then, I'm going to gather up the others," he said, and placed down the spare boys' shirt and pants, and shoes, "See you guys in a bit." He added, and headed off into the dark.
Gilda and I sat quietly as she finished clipping off the second braid and after checking myself in the mirror and feeling satisfied that my braids still sat below my shoulders comfortably, I bid Gilda luck in her part of tonight's plan.
Taking the clothes, shoes and braids in hand and shrugging my backpack over my shoulders, I blew out the candle and slowly crept my way down the stairs, skipping the ones that creaked as I went to join Emma with Ray in the dining hall.
(Emma POV.)
As planned, that night I was the one to go greet Ray in the dining hall, where Anna had told me he'd likely be. It was the moment of truth for us to find out if Norman's theory about Ray's plans for tonight was accurate, or not.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Anna had said it was a pretty close call, originally, and it was only down to me catching the match he dropped, that such a horrible thing was avoided.
I really hoped that Norman and Anna were right about him changing his mind…!
I opened the door to the dining hall and slipped inside, closing it behind me. Ray was sitting on one of the tables in the dark, looking up at the clock on the wall. His head turned slightly when he heard me coming in.
"Ray." I spoke up, softly, "What are you doing at this hour?" I asked him.
Ray gazed over at me with a neutral expression, before moving to look around the room, "It's the last chance… to say goodbye to this house." He answered.
"Oh…" I voiced, not sure what to say; After a moment, I continued with another question, "It's your birthday tomorrow. Your 12th… What are you going to do?" I asked.
Ray nodded his head, then dipped it lower, "Yeah… Ordinarily, that'd mean I'm getting shipped out tomorrow, huh…" he thoughtfully commented.
'Ordinarily…'
"What do you mean by that?" I asked him, a little nervously, 'He's not really going to… what Anna told me… Norman's theory… Did he really change his mind?'
Ray then looked right at me, with a serious frown on his face, "Hey, Emma. Tell me. Did you really give up?" he asked me, "You didn't really give up on escaping, right?" he added.
I blinked, and nodded my head, "Yeah, I haven't given up. None of us have. You haven't either, right?" I asked him, wringing my hands absently, 'Please say you haven't…! Please let Norman and Anna be right!'
Ray nodded his head, "Yeah, I haven't. So, in the end, everyone's on the same page, right?" he smiled ever-so-slightly, "We were all planning the escape while pretending to have given up."
I nodded again, "Right. Let's all run away together, Ray. Tonight. I came to talk to you about that." I told him, feeling hopeful. The way he worded makes me want to believe that everything's going to be okay, in this version of events.
"In the end, this is the last chance to talk about it. We couldn't talk for two months because we were worried Mama would see us," Ray agreed.
"Yeah. We couldn't let Mama know our true intentions." I replied.
"True intentions?" he questioned, looking at me curiously. He must want me to explain what we've been planning, ourselves.
"Yeah. Anna's and mine. I'm sure she said she told you about it, too, right? She said she did." I said, eagerness slipping through, "Mama is tough to beat. You, Anna and I were always being watched. She never lets her guard down. Even though we were both doing nothing, Mama didn't stop watching us. She's really cautious. In that case, we could use that against her. If she was watching me, you and Anna then we could keep her eyes away from people who weren't us." I explained to him.
Ray tiled his head thoughtfully, "Don and Gilda, then?" he guessed.
I nodded, and began walking closer to him; I saw he had a couple of cardboard boxes next to him on the table; "Uhuh! Even if Mama was watching us like a hawk, she only has two eyes. The more she guarded us, the less she watched the others. So, Anna and I left everything to them. Training and all of the preparations." I agreed.
"And? How far along are you?" Ray prompted.
I began listing things off with my fingers, "Supplies, food and warm clothing. And Anna got us plenty of medical supplies without being detected, too. Everything is ready. We can leave any day." I said, and gave a nod to myself.
"That's pretty good. Now for the method. How will we run away? Have you guys thought of that, too?" He kept asking questions, but one thing immediately stuck out to me throughout our conversation before and it left me feeling lighter.
It was like all the anxious thoughts melted away, all of a sudden!
'…! He said 'we'…!'
I grinned, nodding my head again, "We've come up with a scheme, and we're certain it'll work. We've prepared for everything, too. We're going to run away… right now, if you're ready to go!" I told him, 'Please, say yes, Ray…'
"…Right now…?" he muttered, raising his eyebrows, "So, you want to escape during the night. I certainly agree that escaping during the day is too risky. Past the wall is a cliff, so we can't go down it. If we're getting out it's via the bridge Norman saw. But there's only one bridge and it's leading out of headquarters. That's the kind of situation we're in right now," he mused out loud.
'That's true. But with Anna's information, we don't need even that bridge.'
Ray eyeballed me curiously, "You sure look confident. You knew that too, then. Yeah, there's two problems with escaping during the day. Mama's watchful eyes, and the security on the bridge." He commented.
"Yeah. The problem with Mama's eyes is that she is watching us and she'll always been holding one of the younger ones, right? She'll be doing that during the day, and at night the babies are in Mama's room." I added, bouncing off his point.
"Right. That's why, when we escape, we'll have to shake Mama off to run. And unless we separate the little ones and Mama it'll be difficult to take everyone." Ray nodded, "Next is the security on the bridge. It's the only way out. I'm sure there's security to begin with. Once they find out there's been an escape, guards will rush in to reclaim us." He spoke;
"And even without that, it's at the edge of headquarters. Those monsters are going to be all over the place…. Which means… it's over if Mama stops us. It's over if she notifies headquarters of our escape. It's over if we're spotted on the bridge. A reasonable person would give up. It's impossible," he said pessimistically. But then again, that's so like him!
I shook my head, smiling over at him, "It's not impossible! Anna, everyone else and I have already made plans for all of that!" I said, to reassure him.
"…Have you really? I'll hear you out, but if it's stupid I'll reject it right away." Ray was cautious, and glanced at the boxes on the table next to him.
"First… What're those boxes, Ray?" I asked, curiously peering over at them, 'Are they the ones Norman and Anna found under his bed?' I wondered.
He patted the top of the box, then rested his arm over it, "I'll say after I've heard what you have to say. This is… my idea for getting out of this safely," he hedged.
I bit my lip, not liking that he avoided answering me; 'Should I just say it…? I wanted Ray to say it first, so I could follow up on it, but…'
"Well? We don't have a lot of time, Emma." Ray cut in, urging me to speak up.
I let out a breath, and decided to just go for it; "A fire." I said sharply.
"…A fire?" he said slowly, watching me carefully.
I nodded, "Yeah. Let's set fire to the house. If we do that, Mama will be distracted trying to put it out, and everyone will have an excuse for being outside of the house at night due to the evacuation. We'll have the perfect opportunity to run. If Mama can't get to the device that she uses to contact headquarters, she can't report it as anything else, either, so they'll think it's only a fire and not an actual escape!" I lifted my pointing finger as I finished speaking.
Ray remained silent for a little bit, before letting out a breath, "Huh… I'm impressed, Emma." He said softly, his lips curling into a smile, "Even though we've been separated these past few months, we thought of the same thing. But I was steps ahead of you. Have a look." He said, removing his arm from the box and getting up.
As I moved closer to have a look for myself, he peeled back the lid to reveal the inside.
"This is… lighter fuel. A lot of it." I commented, gazing at the contents of the box; there was also a conspicuous glass jar with a screw-on top, 'And that jar… must be the one Anna mentioned.'
Ray nodded, pulling out one of the lighter fuel containers and placing it on the table, "Yeah. I've been gathering these for a while, right under Mama's nose. With this we should be able to set a pretty big fire. I also already disabled the sprinklers in here." Ray glanced up to the ceiling, before looking down, smirking, "And I prepared something as a bonus. I stashed some molotovs in the forest to use." He told me.
I widened my eyes in shock, "Molotovs?!" I squeaked.
He hummed in confirmation, "Yeah. As we're running across the wall towards the bridge, we can throw them into the forests in the other houses. Since it's night-time, nobody will be in the forests so nobody will die." He explained, "So, what do you say? Shall we get started?" he offered.
"We're all going to… run away together, right? You, me, and everyone else, right?" I asked hesitantly, hoping for one final confirmation.
Would I need to catch that lit match tonight for Ray?
Ray glanced away, before looking back at me, "…Is Anna's leg okay now? I haven't been able to check." He once again avoided answering me…!
I pouted, before answering him; "Y-Yeah! Her leg's been all better for a week, but she's kept the cast on until tonight to hide it. We can all run."
Ray smiled again, letting out a breath, "That's great. I'm glad." He nodded to himself, then he turned to pull out the glass jar, and some packs of meat, "Then there's only one thing left to do. With this, Mama'll be even more distracted. I'll need your help with this, actually, so I'm glad you came," he said, handing me the meat and a box of matches, which relieved me even more.
I found myself smiling at Ray, clutching the matches in my hand. He gave them to me to hold. That meant he had no intention of using them to burn himself, right?
Norman and Anna were right…right?
Ray continued, "You see… even if we set the House on fire, there's no guarantee she won't just abandon the house and prioritize us livestock in the end. That's why I came up with a plan to make sure she definitely tries to put out the fire." As he spoke, he took the lighter fuel from the table and began pouring it all over the floor of the dining hall, "Since Mama prioritizes us livestock, what if one of her most prized kids was trapped in the fire…? What if the one who's due to be shipped out in a matter of hours is the one who's burning up in front of her?"
"Ray… you're not going to…" I trailed off.
Ray averted his eyes, understanding what I was trying to ask and looking guilty all of a sudden, before he answered; "Of course… not," he slowly said.
"Not…?" I prodded for the answer.
His lips pursed, and his free hand clenched, "…I'll… admit that when thinking about how to ensure Mama didn't chase you guys when you escaped… that was the first thing I thought of. It was the best possible way to make sure she wouldn't ignore the fire. It seemed logical, at the time. But then… I ended up thinking illogically," he admitted.
'Illogically…?' I blinked, "What do you mean?" I asked him.
Ray crouched down, a spare dress shirt and pants at hand, and he placed them neatly in the middle of the puddle of lighter fluid with a frown, "I started thinking… about how Anna might react if I actually did it… Even if it was to save her… And I didn't like what I imagined. Eventually, I couldn't ignore it. I kept dreaming about… Anna crying. And I didn't want to ever be the reason she was crying," he answered me, smoothing out the clothes and watching them soak up the liquid and stain.
"Ray…" I breathed, as Ray got up and retrieved the jar and began dumping the hair on top of the clothes and lighter fluid.
"So," he said, pulling out another lighter fluid container and opening it, "I came up with another plan that would achieve the same goal, without making her cry. I started collecting hair, from myself, and from when everyone would get haircuts from Mama. And I stole these sausages from the pantry. The meat, and the hair, the clothes… together if I set it on fire, it should create the same smell… why are you looking at me like that?" Ray noticed me grinning at him, and started blushing.
I shook my head and answered him; "No, it's just… I'm so happy Anna was telling the truth."
His eyebrows arched in confusion, "What do you mean…?" he asked me, cheeks still pink.
And then, came the knock at the door, which we both turned to look at in response. Ray looked alarmed, but I knew exactly who it was.
Perfect timing, too!
(Ray's POV)
"Just a sec!" Emma called out and went over to the door and opened it, revealing…
"A-Anna!?" I nearly choked, shocked, "Did you…?" I began, but she just smiled sadly.
"Hear the whole thing? I heard most of it." Her voice was all choked up, and then she started crying!
She heard the whole thing?! That means she heard that I was originally going to… No, this is what I wanted to avoid, dammit!
As Emma guided her in and shut the door behind them, Anna was wiping her eyes, "I'm sorry, you didn't want to make me cry, but right now, I'm crying because I'm happy." She said and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding; "I'm happy because you want to live. The fact that it's because of me is overwhelming is all." He added, and my shoulders went slack. My face felt warm again…
Then, all of a sudden, she started running towards me, as best she could in that cast, and before I could even get a word out, she barreled right into me…!
"I'm really, really happy, Ray! Thank you for choosing life!" she said, burying her face into my shoulder. I debated whether I should hug her back, but decided it was too embarrassing and settled for putting my hand on the back of her shoulder, near to the backpack I only just spotted on her back, and looked away.
If I wasn't blushing before, I must be right now.
"Th-that… I know I don't deserve to keep going, after all the kids I sent to their deaths over the years, but… I wanted to make up for all of it, somehow." I told Anna.
At my words, she pulled back to look me in the eye; something I wasn't really ready for; "No! Ray, you deserve to live! And our siblings that died would've said the same – they'd understand and forgive us. That's something I learnt recently, too. That's why, we should both keep going and live life for the ones we watched get shipped away, right? Because I, and everyone else, want you to stay by our sides, forever!" she told me, her blue eyes shining even in the dim light from the moon outside and I found myself speechless; Anna turned to speak to Emma, her cheeks turning pink too; "R-Right, Emma?" she asked.
"Of course!" Emma agreed, moving over to continue the preparations I'd begun.
I clutched at Anna's shirt, and nodded, "I will… I'll stay for as long as you want me to." I agreed.
"Forever, then!" Anna chirped, and I nearly choked on nothing again. I turned away from her quickly, so she didn't see more than I wanted her to.
I wasn't prepared for that kind of…
Emma snapped me out of my thoughts, bringing Anna's and my attention back to the plan; "I'm really happy, too! But it's nearly midnight, now. We should start the plan before Mama notices anything. Looks like Anna brought more things to add to the fake body," she said and that's when I noticed the blond braids in Emma's hands.
I immediately whirled round to look at Anna gain, and it's only then that I finally realised that Anna's hair is shorter than the last time I saw it! It's not all gone, thankfully, but still! What used to go to her elbows, now only goes a few inches past her shoulders.
Anna smiled at me apologetically, grabbing something from her backpack.
"Sorry, Ray… I actually saw your stash of hair clippings a while ago. And I wanted to contribute, too." She explained, bringing out a first aid kit and a plastic zip-lock, "While Emma's setting up the fake body for us, I'll surgically remove your tracker. I already did Emma's, so it's safe…!" she told me.
I widened my eyes at the scalpel I spotted in that zip lock, "Huh?"
I glanced to Emma to see, and in response she flashed her neatly bandaged ear. Anna had only cut out part of her ear which contained the tracker, and it had already been cleaned and wrapped properly.
"I've got the part of my ear to plant and distract Mama even more while you guys are running ahead," Emma told me as she poured another lighter fuel container over some of the tables and chairs.
Anna cleared her throat, making me turn back to face her. She looked a little nervous, "Y-You're only the second person I've done this on. Everyone else is going to use the device that you made. I'm not very experienced but I swear I've studied and planned how I'm going to do it properly. I'll be careful. A-And I need to do it quickly, so..." I watched as she nervously fumbled over her words.
Emma spoke up, "It'll be fine! Even though I was her guinea pig, my ear barely hurts at all!" she said cheerily.
Anna glanced from Emma to me anxiously, back and forth for a moment. Then, I sighed, and sat down in a nearby chair, and lifted my fringe out of the way for her,
"…Alright. Do it." I told her and she widened her eyes, before nodding and hurriedly getting out the things she needed and placing it at her side, sitting down next to me.
"Okay...! It'll hurt a bit, so prepare for that," she said, reaching out and grabbing my ear, feeling around for the spot, "Found it…" I heard her mutter, as she reached for the scalpel; "I sterilized it ahead of time," she added.
"Mhm…" I nodded my assent, "Anna… when Emma said she was glad you were telling the truth… What did she mean by tha—ouch!" I flinched when she started cutting into my ear. It only cut slightly, but it still surprised me.
"Sorry…!" she apologised, "Please hold still…! It'll only be a little bit longer. I just need to clean it and wrap it after this." She hurried to say, before counting down to her second incision, and cutting; I tried to hold back any reactions, pursing my lips, "A-As for what Emma meant… Don't worry. Once we've escaped, I'm going to tell everyone, not just you," she told me.
"…Okay."
I don't know why, but hearing her say that just made me feel more confused. And a bit nervous to hear it.
But I want to hear it all the same. If there's something I still don't know about Anna yet, then I want to know it.
Anna finished removing the tracker quicker than I thought she would, and was quick about cleaning covering the wound. There was a dull sting from the antiseptic solution she'd applied, but apart from that, it was fine, just as Emma described.
It was then, that the clock strook midnight.
Emma had already taken my tracker and placed it in the middle of the fake body while I was getting cleaned up, and everything was ready to go.
Following the plan, Anna and I had to leave ahead of Emma and make sure we weren't seen leaving the house first.
"Emma, we're going ahead now," Anna told Emma, clutching the cuff of my sleeve to pull me along.
Emma nodded her head, "Right! I'll catch up soon."
Anna nervously added; "Remember, you need to hide that ear from Mama's view. Don't turn fully towards her when she comes in."
Emma laughed lightly at Anna's fretting, "I've got it already, worrywart! I'll do everything properly, so you and Ray need to get going now. I'll light the fire once you're gone." She said to us.
I nodded, "Okay… See you soon," I said softly, grabbing Anna's hand and pulling her along myself, walking ahead.
Minutes later, as we slipped out of the house and moved to the allotted meeting point for the others, we saw a warm light appear in the windows to the dining hall. Moments later, we heard Emma screaming my name again and again.
It was a gut-wrenching scream, and it made my insides squirm a little. It was convincing, so Mama will probably come running immediately.
"Are you alright, Ray?" Anna asked and I looked over to her beside me. We remained low to the ground so there was no chance of spotting us through the windows, just in case. Anna was eyeing my ear especially, while looking me up and down.
I patted my hand against my ear, and nodded, "It doesn't hurt too much. I'm… okay," I tried to reassure her.
"We're all going to escape today. I'll make sure of it," she looked pretty determined when she said that.
"No… we'll all make sure of it." I corrected her, squeezing the hand I still held in mine.
"…!" Anna's mouth popped open, before a wobbly smile came out, "You're right!" she said, sounding pleased.
Good.
I glanced down at her shorter braids, "Are you okay? Your hair…" I trailed off.
It was upsetting me more than I thought, the more times I saw it. I'd liked it, when it was longer.
Anna smiled, grabbing her braid and twisting it absently, "It'll grow back. A little sacrifice like this is nothing. I'm just so glad you changed your mind." She told me, and then we heard a bunch of the kids' voices from inside the house, "Sounds like the kids are all starting to move. We should meet up with Don and Gilda.," Anna said and I nodded my head, getting ready to move.
"Right."
Anna and I were quickly able to meet up with Don and Gilda, and Conny in the forest. What I hadn't been expecting was all the extra faces already waiting there as well. Nat, Thoma, Lannion… Chris, Mark, Rossi… and Alicia, Yvette and Jemima, too. That made our escape group 15 people…
"Anna! Ray! You guys made it okay!" Don beamed, calling out to us as we approached them through the brush.
"Thank goodness!" Gilda added, smiling gently at the two of us. The other kids all looked happy to see us as well. Conny ran up to Anna and hugged her legs, causing her to laugh.
I peered over the additional, unexpected faces; "What're all these… guys doing here? Do they all know…?" I turned to Don and asked.
Don had a cheeky grin on his face, "About the house and the escape plan? They sure do," he confirmed.
Gilda continued where Don left off, "Emma and Anna told them, and we helped. We spent two months preparing everyone, too, so they're ready!" she explained.
I moved my eyes over towards her as Gilda mentioned her, "Anna…" I murmured, apprehensive.
To be honest, I had my doubts about bringing so many kids along, even now. There's no guarantee we'll be able to keep all these kids safe out there. By the look in Anna's eyes, it seemed she understood what I was feeling.
She smiled softly, "We've explained all the dangers, and made sure they understand. But they still chose to follow us. So, now it's up to us older kids to guide them properly, right?" she told me softly.
Well… it's good that they understand the danger they'll be in, but… I'm still worried.
Don jumped in, "It won't be easy! But it's better than leaving them behind. It'll all work out, I'm sure!" he added, and that's when Chris spoke up, but he wasn't talking to us.
"Oh! Emma's here!" he excitedly blurted out, pointing back the way Anna and I came.
We all turned around to see, and sure enough, Emma stepped through the bushes with a bright smile on her face.
"Thanks for waiting, everyone…! Let's hurry and carry out the next phase of the escape," she announced.
Anna nodded, "We should hurry. Even though we made the effort to block off Mama's way to contact headquarters, she'll probably still find a way to sound the alarm," she added, pulling away from Conny's hug, and taking her hand instead as she addressed everyone as well.
"YEAH!" Everyone yelled out, causing me to flinch. Stupid…! What if Mama hears us!?
"Shh, we can't bring attention to our location…!" Anna had the same idea, looking freaked out as she hushed everyone, finger in front of her lips.
"Yeah…!" The kids whisper-cheered this time, and Anna chuckled weakly.
I could only sigh out exasperatedly. Will we really be okay?
Regardless, we all quickly continued to the next 'phase' of the plan, rushing towards the wall.
We arrived at the wall soon enough, and Emma stepped forward first, before turning back and facing us. She'd pulled out of her backpack a makeshift rope, made from spare bedsheets from the house.
"Don and I will go up first. Then we'll pull everyone up." Emma told us, and Don nodded, stepping forward too.
"Got it!" he said, getting out another identical rope. I watched as the two of them went to climb the two closest trees, to secure the first ends of the rope. It only took them a minute or two, before they were down on the ground again
"Just do everything as planned, and we'll be fine." Emma "Everyone's going to escape safely." Emma said, and the kids called a 'Yeah' for affirmative. Then she and Don started doing their running starts to scale the wall, much like Norman had when he was supposed to escape months ago.
My heart twisted as the memory of Norman came up out of nowhere, and I clenched my fists in frustration.
I couldn't save him… but I'm not letting anyone else die on my watch. I'll do anything to make sure it doesn't happen again…!
"Anna…" I turned to look at Anna who stood at my side, in between Conny and I.
"Yeah?" she asked, turning her head to look at me.
"Everyone seems confident… even though there's still a chance it'll all fail," I commented to her.
"It won't fail. I'm sure of it," Was all she said in response, but her eyes were shining. She truly believed that, with all her heart. Like it was a forgone conclusion.
I sighed out, a little frustrated that she had so much faith, but I was struggling to feel confident; "You're not even thinking of what'll happen if this fails…are you?" I asked, feeling a little bitter.
Anna shrugged her shoulders slightly, looking nervous all of a sudden, "I have faith in all of us. After we all get out of here, I'll explain why. I promise. For now, we need to work hard, and quickly. Mama or the demons can't catch up with us," she answered.
"Right…" I hummed, looking away, 'She's changed… It's as if our roles have been switched and it's her comforting me, now.' I thought, furrowing my brows. I couldn't wait to find out why she'd changed so much.
While we'd been speaking, the third and fourth kid had already made it up the wall. After all the other younger ones had scaled the wall, Anna and I were the last ones to arrive at the top of the wall. Immediately after, we began to run along it until we suddenly stopped at a seemingly random point, and that was when Emma began to explain the 'real' escape plan.
According to her, they weren't even considering the bridge as an escape route, even though I mentioned it earlier. It had already been decided by everyone else, before Emma and Anna came to get me. Instead, we'd be using more ropes, with stones tied to them, and throwing them across this part of the wall to the trees on the other side, securing them around their branches. Apparently, Don had been practicing religiously for the past month and a half and had it down to an art.
Well, this part of the wall did have the least amount of distance in between, so I could see the logic in this plan.
So, I accepted the plan, watching as Don began winding up for his throw. Emma was standing close by, so I spoke to her.
"The four-year-olds and under aren't here? I thought…" I questioned, keeping my voice low.
Emma followed suite, speaking softly, "I thought about what you said to me before. I'm not taking them," she said, which was surprising.
And she'd been so adamant about saving everybody. How had I managed to change stubborn Emma's mind?
Emma continued, sensing my question, "It's not like I'm abandoning them. It's only for a little while. I fully intend to come back for them. I'll never give up." She said confidently.
Anna nodded, stepping closer to us, "For now, only Phil knows the truth. The others that we left behind for now, don't know about the secret of the house or the fire," she added.
Emma made a sound of agreement, her brows furrowing, "We're leaving that situation to him. And in two years' time, we'll come back to rescue Phil and the others, as well as all of the kids in the other four plants!" she declared.
I widened my eyes, 'Coming back…!?' I spoke up, "That's-!" I began, and Anna cut my off.
"Totally reckless? But I agree with her Ray. You won't let us do it all alone, right?" she smiled up at me, nudging me slightly with her shoulder.
'Cu-!' I flinched, feeling my cheeks heating up; I shook it off and huffed out a laugh, looking away.
"Of course, I can't. What kind of friend would I be?" I said softly.
Then, suddenly, the alarm blares, shocking everyone. It really pulled us back into the moment, where we'd gotten lost in conversation.
"So soon…!" Don yelped, readying the coat hanger on the zipline he'd created with the rope and rocks, "I'll go over first! Thoma, Lannion! Get your bottle rockets, ready!" he said quickly, and made the jump, sliding down across the rope to the other side.
As Don crash-landed through the bushes at the other side, Anna sighed out anxiously.
"That's Isabella for you…!" she said, fiddling with her braids. Who…?
"Isa…?" I gave her an odd look, and she blushed.
"Oh, er… I-I mean Mama…! Um, that's part of the things I'll explain later, okay…?" she stuttered, looking like she wanted me to drop it.
Now I had even more questions. But now wasn't the time for them.
Thoma and Lannion had made quick work of those 'bottle rockets' they brought along, and they'd sent across another two ropes, which Don had quickly secured on his end.
Emma clapped her hands, hurrying everyone along, "Okay. Everyone, get ready for your turn," she told the smaller kids.
"See you later, Ray." Nat said to me, and then he and Gilda slid down across the ropes, being caught by Don at the other end.
…This is… scary.
Normally you wouldn't be able to do this. Yet, they're so efficient. And calm. All that preparation and training Anna and Don mentioned… These guys seriously worked hard for the past two months, and I never even noticed.
'What do you think?' I suddenly heard what I thought was his voice. When I turned to the noise, I saw him, as well. Even though he wasn't there… I played along with this hallucination.
"…What a smug face. How annoying." I mumbled.
'Norman' smiled, 'Did we surprise you? You never thought something like this would be possible, right? But because it's Emma and Anna working in tandem… everyone joined with full faith in them,' he began, 'Emma is reckless and unreasonable, but she's straight-forward and can say 'with everyone' without wavering. And Anna's special. There's something special about her that even you noticed, right? Something that causes everyone to believe her when she says it'll be alright.' His voice continued to echo in my head, resounding.
"You're not wrong. About either of them…" I nodded, smiling as Norman disappeared from my sight once again. It was nice to see him again… while it lasted.
I turned to check the progress everyone else had made in getting across, and it turns out there was only Emma, Anna, Conny, Thoma, Lannion, Jemima and I left, now.
"Next. Come on Jemima," Emma called out for Jemima, turning to her.
Jemima's eyes were filled with tears, and at this point she was trembling. Ah… her courage was running out.
"Emma, what should I do? My hands…" she shakily said, before she started wailing, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! When I think that there's a cliff below… What if I fall?" she cried.
Jemima voicing her tears, unfortunately, caused a domino effect, and Thoma and Lannion immediately lost their gusto.
Typical.
"F-F-Fall..?" Thoma and Lannion stuttered, looking wide-eyed at the sheer drop standing between us and everyone else on the other side.
Now what?
Surprisingly enough, it was Conny who walked over to Jemima and Emma, and even though she looked afraid as well, she grabbed Jemima's hands in hers and looked her in the eye.
"Jemima, don't cry!" she said to Jemima.
"Conny…" Jemima sniffled.
Conny gave her friend a wobbly smile, "I-I'm scared too, you know? But we've been practicing for two whole months and the ropes and the hangers have never snapped or anything, right? As long as we hold on tight, we won't fall… I-I'll go over at the same time as you, if that helps. We've gotta be strong for everyone…!" she offered, trying to comfort Jemima.
At her words, Jemima teared up even more, "Conny… you're right, but I'm still scared…!" she cried.
I sighed out exasperatedly, and walked over to the two, and picked Jemima up, surprising her, "Don't worry. We'll cross together, okay?" I told her gently.
Anna, following my lead, went over to Conny, "Conny, good job being brave and comforting Jemima like that. It's alright if you're scared. Do you wanna go over with me, like Ray and Jemima?" she asked the blonde.
"Can I…? I-I'm actually really scared, but I tried really hard…!" Conny asked, her eyes widening and tears slipping past her eyes.
Anna smiled warmly and nodded, patting Conny's head, "Of course. We have spare rope made from bedsheets, right Emma? We can tie Conny and Jemima to us using that," she asked Emma, who nodded.
"Sounds good!" she said, fishing out a convenient two extra sets of rope.
"As for you two," I turned to Thoma and Lannion, "You're not chickening out now, are you?" I asked, raising a brow at them.
"W-W-Who's chickening out?! Not us!" Lannion quickly denied it, taking out his coat-hanger and waving it around.
"Yeah, this is easy peasy!" Thoma agreed immediately after, not wanting to be seen as chickening out.
The two quickly got in place, and found their selves barrelling down the ropes, screaming obnoxiously all the way. While they did that, Emma made quick work of tying Jemima to me, and Conny to Anna.
"Okay," I said, looking from Jemima to Anna and Conny, "Ready?" I asked the three of them.
"We're ready," Anna replied, and the two younger girls tied to us nodded, burying their faces into our chests.
With that out of the way, Anna, Jemima, Conny and I quickly joined the others on the other side of the rope. The others commended Jemima and Conny on their bravery as they were untied from us.
I glanced back up to where Emma was, the last one to cross, and I widened my eyes in shock when I noticed that Mama was already there, only a few feet away from Emma.
"Crap…!" I cursed, bringing the others' attention to the issue as well. We all anxiously watched Mama and Emma's confrontation. We couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but from what I could catch, Mama was begging Emma to not go. But Emma refused her, and quickly ziplined over, finally joining us after a tense few minutes.
"Let's go, Emma." Anna said, looking relieved to have Emma over hear with us.
"Right." Emma nodded with a determined smile, and with that, we all ran away together into the forest. Away from the House. Away from everything we'd known so far, and into the unknown.
I glanced over my shoulder as I left, giving her one last glance.
'Goodbye… Mother.'
onigiriri: First of all, I'm so, SO sorry that it took so long for me to update. My mental health, and other things have been really getting to me. It seems as though March through June are difficult for me in general. :'( I hope you guys haven't given up on me, and this extra long chapter will make up for Samsara's absense over the past few months. With this act, we've finally finished season 1's events. From now on, it's going to be strictly the manga's timeline. I won't be using season 2 of the anime for reference, since I really hated it. Hope you're looking forward to it!
Please drop me a review, to let me know you guys are still here and interested in Samsara! Thanks, so much! xxxxx
(Posted: 15/06/2021.)