A/N: I'm sorry that its been such a long wait, my lovies. I hope this chapter is worth the anticipation.
Me no own, you no sue.
Ravings of a Fevered Mind
Chapter 4: The Key
I slip into my cell just as I hear Mr. Watson's heavy boots clanging against the stone floor down the hall. I close the door as quietly as I possibly can behind me and crawl over to my preferred corner of my cell. I lay down on the bit of damp straw laid there and pretend to be asleep. I hear the sound of Watson's boots becoming louder and I hold my breath. If he finds out what I've done; I'm dead. I wonder, if he finds that the door is unlocked, will he suspect that I'm the cause of it? Most likely. Even though it's physically impossible for me to unlock the door from the inside of my cell, he's not bright enough to figure that one out. I've never been the most intelligent, but he has the mental capacity of a sack of rocks.
The sound of his foot steps becomes increasingly louder and louder accompanied by the jingling sound of the large ring of keys he carries with him. Just as he come right in front of my cell door, he stops for a second, then moves on. He doesn't even attempt to check the door or peer through the barred opening in the top. I bet he didn't even give me a second thought. I breath a sigh of relief. I listen as his foot steps begin to fade away.
I lay at full length on the cool floor and put my hands behind my head; listening to the sounds of the asylum waking up. I hear the shouting of the other inmates accompanied by screaming, the crack of the carriage whip, a few painful moans, then followed by more shouting. The latter coming from Watson. I'm just thankful that its not me. This lasts for about an hour then things start to settle down again.
The rest of the day is spent laying on the floor; staring up at the leaky ceiling, listening the faint sounds of the asylum, and thinking. My thoughts drift off to the previous night. It's rather haunting how much I can relate to those two girls. The amount of pain one person can inflict on another sickens me. But, perhaps I have no room to talk. I after all have been labeled a murderer.
My thoughts always seem to eventually turn to that night. I'll never get those images out of my head. Nightmarish memories of death, decay and pain. I try as hard as I can to get it out of my head, but it keeps coming back. I turn over on my side and close my eyes tight.
The lack of sleep from last night is starting to catch up to me and I feel myself slipping into the dark solace of sleep.
I feel something hairy scurry across my face. I merely brush it off. I must still be dreaming. Again, I feel the same sensation crawling up my arm. I open my eyes and look into the beady black ones of a big, fat rat. I jump up and fling the creature across the cell. The rat hits the wall with a dull thud. It sits back up and brushes its face with its paw.
I stare at the rat in awe and terror in the feeble light that is coming from the torches that light the hall outside of my cell. As I look closer at the animal, I realize that there is a black ribbon tied around its neck and what looks like a tag attached to that. I know I've seen that ribbon before, but where?
I slowly approach the rat to see what is on the tag around its neck. I get close enough to see that the words "Follow Me." are written on it. The rat sits up on its hind legs an eyes me intently. It then scurries off, crawling through a small hole in the wall.
"How am I supposed to get through that?" I think to myself. I then remember that the door to my cell is still probably open. I carefully push the door, and it opens. I open the door the whole way and see Miss Mary standing before me.
"Good evening, Tobias. I see you 'ave met Master Edmund." she says, picking up the rat I had seen earlier, which was waiting patiently at her feet. She unites the ribbon around the rat's neck and puts the tag attached to it in the pocket of her dress. She then sets the rat on her shoulder and ties the ribbon up in her hair.
Before I have time to react, she takes me by the hand. "Come along now, Lucy is waiting for us." she says, leading me through the hallway to her own cell.
She opens up door to the cell, I cautiously follow her in and then she closes the door behind her. As soon as I get in, Lucy comes up and quite literally tackles me.
"So glad to see you again!" she says, hugging me.
"Lucy!" Mary says sharply. Lucy lets go of me, blushing.
"I'm sorry, just a bit overly excited, I suppose." she says, then goes over and stands next to her sister.
"We have something to show you." Mary says with a smile on her face. She nods to Lucy, who then walks over to the far wall of the cell. She removes a brick from the wall and pulls out a large piece of parchment and an iron key. She then hands the items to her sister.
"Sit down." Mary says to me, and I obediently take a seat on the floor.
They sit down next to me and Mary unrolls the parchment.
"Now," Mary begins, talking 'Master Edmund' off of her shoulder and putting him on the floor, "this is a copy of the exact floor plans of the asylum; and this is the key that opens the three main gates that guard the asylum. 'ow we got in possession of these items is a rather long story which you needn't worry your pretty little head over. Now, we are situated in the west wing…"
"Wait, wait, hold on a second. 'Wot are you talking about? 'Wot does this all mean?" I ask, interrupting. I'm very puzzled by this whole situation.
"My dear Tobias, we are going to make our escape from this dreaded hell hole." Mary replies with a sly smile on her face.
A smile lights up my face. I don't think I've ever been quite so happy in my life. "Are, are you serious?" I blurt out.
Mary takes my hand in hers and pats it gently. "Of course, silly boy. Do you think I would lie about something as grand as this?" She replies, "Now, back to business. As I said before you interrupted me, we are situated in the west wing of the asylum. There, of course, if also the east, north, and south wings. Our plan is to make our escape four days from today, which is when the annual inspection takes place. This is merely a bunch of bloody rigged bull shit so Dr. Fogg can keep this wretched establishment open for another year. The inspection is done by a Dr. Popplejoy who is about as blind as a bat, older than dirt and as daft as a pile of sand.
"Our wing is always the last to be inspected, which gives us plenty of time to make our escape. Fogg and Watson will be busy with the other inmates so well won't 'ave to worry about them. We will make our way through this wing and into the main lobby at the front of the asylum. From there we go outside which opens up to a large court yard. Then, we go through each of the gates and onto freedom."
Mary sits back and sighs contently. I'm much too over come with joy to say anything.
"Isn't this so exciting!" Lucy says smiling. I nod mutely.
"Yes, it is." her sister replies. Mary then wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.
"We'll finally be free." she whispers. She then kisses me shyly on the cheek. She removes her arms from around my neck and places her hands on my shoulders. She hugs me again and giggles, very much over come by joy. Lucy come up to her sister from behind and flings her arms around her neck, giggling as well. We sit staring happily at each other. I'm feeling rather euphoric.
"Now, you best be getting back to your cell." Mary says finally.
I nod dumbly as she helps me on my feet again. Lucy waves goodbye to me shyly and I return the gesture.
"I'll follow you to your cell." Mary says as I begin to open the door. "I'll make sure your door is locked this time." she says with a sly smile.