Chapter 4 of the Joshua/Stewart tale from 11-24-09

Chapter 4 - Escape Inside



The skinny woman who had grabbed him first held her right hand in her left while she ran behind the man who carried him now. Joshua had tried to bite the man, too, but the man’s coat was too thick. He knew it pinched, though, because the man had growled at him to knock it off or he would throw him in the pond. And even though the woman glared at Joshua as she pulled the door shut behind them, she had snapped at the man and told him to watch his mouth.

Since biting and kicking and screaming hadn’t worked, Joshua tried a new plan. He hung as limply as he could in the man’s grasp. His older sister had told him about a game she had played at a sleepover called “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board”. She said the stiffer a person was the easier it was to lift them off the ground, even using only fingertips. She said it had worked the opposite way when they tried “Heavy as an Elephant, Limp as a Noodle”. Joshua imagined himself heavy like an elephant and made himself loose like a piece of cooked spaghetti. It seemed to be working because now the man was growling about how hard he was to carry. Suddenly he was dropped on the cold floor of the narrow hallway.

“What are you doing?” the woman snapped at the man.

“He’s too hard to carry this way,” the man snarled back. “I need to get a better grip.”

That was all Joshua needed. He got to his feet and ran down the hall.

“Hey!”

“You idiot! You couldn’t have made it another twenty yards? He’s what? Four? Five? You’re an adult! How can you not hold on to him that much longer?”

“Shut up, Natalie! You should talk! You had him first! I shouldn’t have had to come out there!”

“HE BIT ME!”

Joshua could hear the smack of the man’s shoes against the floor and the high click of the woman’s in between their shouting as they ran after him. He passed two doors that were closed and then a third. The hall seemed to end in another hall, but it was dark and he wasn’t sure he could get there before they caught up to him.

“Mason! Open the door! The kid’s loose!” the man yelled.

Joshua swallowed and then sprinted for the end of the hallway. A door on his left began to open and he tried to dodge it. A second man appeared in his peripheral vision.

“Come here, you,” the second man snarled, his hand brushing Joshua’s skin, his fingers just missing catching Joshua by the arm.

Joshua jerked his arm in to his chest, lost his balance for just a moment, nearly fell and then righted himself and scurried around the corner. The new hallway lit up as the lights were triggered by his movement. There were more doors in this hall. This time most of them were open. He darted through the second doorway, triggered another set of lights, and found himself in a room filled with counters and high stools. He could hear the first man screaming in the other hall.

“Close the door! He’s getting away! I can’t get through unless you close the damn door!”

Joshua looked around the room and saw a tight, shadowy place in the far corner and scrambled on all fours toward it. He heard the door in the hall slam and running feet. Just as the man reached the room, Joshua pulled his legs in against his body and held his breath.

The man stopped in front of the doorway. Joshua could just see the tips of the man’s shoes from where he was hiding. The man was breathing hard. He coughed twice like he needed a drink. There was a quick click, click, click outside in the hall and Joshua saw the woman’s shoes join the man’s.

“Mason said to leave him alone,” the woman said quietly. “He said the sensors will keep track of him. And he can’t get out. He doesn’t have a pass card.”

“You know, this is Mason’s fault. If he would have walked the fence line like he was supposed to this wouldn’t have happened…”

“Rob,” the woman had dropped her voice so low that Joshua could barely hear her. “Sensors, remember? This isn’t private.”

“Yeah, alright. Let’s go.”

The shoes turned and went back the way they had come. A few moments later the room light went out, another minute passed and the hall light went out, and the room Joshua was hiding in became pitch black.



~ Peace and sanctuary