Let Me Out

by A H Alhaila

  “I have a plan. Since Joanna is already unconscious, I’ll leave her by the door and Mr. William and I will move away. The creatures will follow us which means they won’t be next to the door. You can then pull Elma and leave the bottles outside the door. We’ll go get them.”, said Joanna.

  “Good idea.”, said Steven.

  “I love to sleep. I’ll probably drink Elma’s bottle too!”, said Mr. William

  “Then you’ll PROBABLY go into hibernation!”, replied Joanna.

  “It’s what I envy bears about.”, said Mr. William.

  Joanna laughed and said, “Then let’s finish the plan quick so you can sleep.”.

  Joanna turned to her father and said, “We’re ready.”.

  “Okay. Let’s do it.”, said Steven.

  “Okay.”, said Joanna.

  Joanna and Mr. William left Elma lying in front of the door and went away. Steven asked Adam to help Victor put the bottles of water outside the door and to pull Elma inside. When everything was done, Steven said to Joanna, “The bottles are by the door. Drink it.”.

  Joanna and Mr. William went to drink the bottles of water that were by the door and sat next to each other. The creatures were still wrapping their hair around both their heads. The only time they were able to drink the water was when one creature left them and before the other creature could come. Joanna sarcastically asked Mr. William, “You do know when to drink the water, don’t you?”.

  “Good one! Even a mad man in this situation would know.”, he replied.

  “Good. You have to be fast though.”, said Joanna.

  “You keep underestimating me. I’ll jog it up before you do.”, he said.

  “We’ll see who will drink it all first.”, said Joanna.

  As soon as the creature removed its hair from Mr. William’s head, Mr. William raised the bottle of water to drink and empty it out before Joanna does. However, another creature got to Mr. William knocking the bottle from his hand and emptying its contents on his face and falling on the ground, “What happened? Did you drink it?”, said Joanna.

  Mr. William wiped the water from his face and said, “A creature knocked the bottle off of my hand, pouring the water on my face. I think the painting of the eye got washed away!”.

  Feeling the critical situation, they were in, Joanna screamed as she threw herself onto Mr. William covering his eyes with her hands. “Don’t let them wrap their hair around you!”, said Joanna.

  One creature tried to warp its hair around Mr. William’ head, but Joanna’s hands were covering his eyes. The creature tried its best to get rid of Joanna’s hands, but she kept resisting. Mr. William fought off the creature as Joanna turned to him and say, “Pass out!”.

  Steven and the others noticed what was happening as they saw increasing movements. He heard the screams of the creatures, Mr. William, and his daughter without knowing what was happening. Other creatures started hitting Mr. William and in the midst of the struggle, Joanna kept saying to Mr. William, “Don’t open your eyes! Try to pass out.”.

  Mr. William could not listen to what she was saying. He was busy fighting the creatures off and swearing at them. After not being able to keep her eyes around his eyes, Joanna managed to put her hands around Mr. William’s neck and started to knock him unconscious. Mr. William thought that the creature was trying to strangle him which made him start to fight off Joanna, while she was harshly being hit by the creatures without being able to defend herself. Moments later, Mr. William passed out which made the creatures turn their attention to Joanna. She quickly tried to strangle herself unconscious which she was finally able to do, ending everything suddenly. Meanwhile, Steven noticed that the fighting had stopped, but was still unaware of what had happened. He asked some people distract the creatures, drawing the creatures towards them and away from Joanna and Mr. William. Steven saw his daughter and Mr. William worryingly laying by the stairs. He quickly headed to the stairs fearing the worst. Joseph and Adam followed him. “Should I open the door?”, asked Adam.

  “Yes. I’ll kill them while both of pull Joanna and Mr. William.”, replied Steven.

  “But then the creatures will learn how to carry the weapons!”, said Joseph.

  “To hell with them!”, said Steven in an angry tone.

  When Adam opened the door, Steven quickly raised his gun and started shooting the creatures, blasting their heads one after the other. Everyone else were startled when they heard gun shots thinking it was one of the creatures. They all dropped to the ground, trying to move away from the shots. Adam and Joseph pulled Mr. William and Joanna through the door as Steven started moving backwards until he too went through the door leading Adam to close the door shut. Steven then threw the gun aside and went straight to his daughter. He started examining her. He felt that her heart was still beating and saw that her face and arms were covered in bruises. He asked Adam to get Victor and bring some water. After a few moments, Adam came back with the water. Steven poured it on Joanna’s face to wake her up. When she did, Steven asked, “Are you okay?”.

  “Is Mr. William okay?”, said Joanna, moaning in pain.

  Everyone gathered at the stairs to check on Mr. William. Steven asked them to calm down and said, “He’s fine. Give him some space.”.

  Steven tried to wake him up. He too was in pain much pain as he moaned saying, “Where’s Joanna?”.

  “You might have won in drinking the water, but I won the fight.”, said Joanna.

  “Were you the one who strangled me?”, asked Mr. William.

  “How else was I going to knock you unconscious?”, replied Joanna.

  “Well now we’re even.”, said Mr. William.

  “What are you both talking about?”, said Steven.

  Feeling the pain become stronger in his arm, Mr. William said, “I think my arm is broken.”.

  After checking his arm, Victor said, “Try not to move it. It really is broken.”.

  Victors started giving Mr. William the care he needed, bandaging his arm and tiring it around his neck. Meanwhile, Joanna asked, “Is Elma okay?”.

  “She’s fine. But, she’s upset about Sam.”, replied Steven.

  “I feel bad for her.”, said Joanna. “We have to kill the creature that took Sam as soon as possible. It’s dangerous.”, she added.

  “It was strange for it to capture Sam. Why would it do such a thing?”., asked Steven.

  “For its intelligence, I called it “Hugo”. It’s a Latin name and means intelligent It behaves just like us.”, replied Joanna.

  Steven then looked at Joanna curiously and interrupted her and said, “Wait a minute! How did you come up with the idea of drawing an eye on the eyelids?”.

  Some of the group overheard Steven’s question and asked in curiosity, “Yeah! How did you know that drawing an eye on the eyelids prevents you from transforming?”.

  Everyone looked at her in silence as they waited for her to answer. “I captured a creature”, replied Joanna.

  As soon as she finished her sentence, questions started to rain down on her. “Shut up!!”, yelled Steven.

  Everyone became quiet and Steven said, “You captured a creature? Where is it?”.

  “I caught the creature using a trap and locked it in the electricity room in the basement. I did that to study it and to know how we can deal with them. That’s how I knew painting an eye on our eyelids would work.”, said Joanna.

  “How?”, asked Steven.

  “I placed a picture from an ad I took from one of the stores in front of the creature. I noticed that it didn’t try to wrap its hair around it, even-though the picture had eyes. However, the eyes weren’t real. That’s when I came up with the idea to paint fake eyes on myself and try it out. I asked Sam to help me draw it and when he was done drawing, I entered the room armed just in case something happens. When I approached it, it wrapped its hair around my head but quickly removed it without forcefully trying to open my eyes just like it did with Max earlier. It thought that it was my rea
l eyes. When I approached it for the second time, it didn’t attack me at all. That’s how I knew that the plan worked.”, replied Joanna.

  No one noticed Elma’s presence until she said, “Did the creature capture my Sam because you did it to one of them?”.

  Everyone was shocked seeing her appear all of a sudden and Steven was amazed by her question. He felt that her question would cause trouble. Everyone was silent and were looking at Joanna. “I’m not sure if “Hugo” saw me or not.”, answered Joanna honestly.

  “Your actions are going making the creatures stronger. Our chances of surviving are getting thinner!”, someone shouted.

  Chaos broke out at the stairs dividing the group into two; those who stood with Elma, and those who stood with Joanna. “But we found a way to prevent us from transforming!”, said Steven.

  “What good is drawing eyes on our eyelids if they can capture us?”, asked Joseph.

  Things started getting out of hand as Steven said to himself, “What’s wrong with Joseph? One moment he’s with us but when arguments happen he makes them worse.”.

  “I helped Joanna capture the creature. She didn’t do it alone.”, interfered Mr. William.

  Mr. William’s interference made everyone calm down. They liked him. Everyone became silent as he added, “None of us are blind now! No one can go out there and bring back things that you need like medicine or paint or even food if it runs out. Death is surrounding us, and I might die soon, but I’ll make sure I die saving someone just like Sam did.”. Mr. William’s speech touched some of their hearts, especially after he had regained his vision after suffering for a long time. This tipped the side in favor of Joanna who started to gain more supporters. Things were calm, but it did not last for long. After Steven had asked everyone to head upstairs, Elma pointed a gun she had found towards Joanna and said, “My boyfriend will not die in vain.”.

  Everyone panicked and moved away as Steven said “Calm down Elma. We’ll get Sam back. There’s no point of killing Joanna!”.

  “What makes you so sure he’ll come back?”, said Elma angrily.

  “He drew eyes on his eyelids before the creature got him.”, said Steven. “It didn’t know what was going on. It might let Sam go. Or, we’ll all look for him while we search for food and other things that we need. We’ll need your help. There’s still a chance to rescue Sam. What’s it going to be?”, he added.

  People started talking to her, promising her that they would rescue Sam and that they understand how she feels. Elma put the gun down and started crying her eyes out. Steven went towards her and took the gun away and said, “We’ll do what we can.”.

  Joanna walked up to her and said, “We’ll bring Sam back soon.”.

  “Yes, we will. I’m sorry Joanna.”, said Elma.

  “Don’t be. I understand.”, replied Joanna.

  Chapter Nineteen

  That Was Unexpected!

  After they went to the first floor, Elma sat alone to rest while Joanna went and sat next to her father. They were both silent for a few moments then Steven said, “My question stirred the argument. From now on, we don’t tell them anything unless we decide how to tell them.”.

  “I agree.”, said Joanna. “I don’t blame you. What I did was strange. That’s why you asked me in front of them.”, she added.

  “That’s not the only thing that was weird.”, said Steven. “Joseph always acts strange during arguments. He adds fuel to fire against us even though he had helped us many times before.”, he added.

  “I noticed the same during the first argument.”, replied Joanna. “I hope he doesn’t do it again for his sake!”, she added.

  “Not only that, how did Elma get a weapon? Joseph was the one in charge of keeping an eye on the weapons!”, added Steven.

  “You mean …”, said Joanna.

  “Yes. That’s what I think.”, said Steven. “I don’t have any evidence to prove it though. From now on I’ll be in charge of the weapons.”, he added.

  “That’s a good idea.”, said Joanna.

  “Now, about the creature you captured. I want to see it.”, said Steven.

  “Sure.”, replied Joanna.

  They both went to the basement and headed to the electricity room. The door was looked with a cable expending from underneath it and tied to an iron bar next to the door. “We tied him up well. He won’t be able to move. I’ll open the door.”, said Joanna.

  “Is that cable from Alexander’s car?”, said Steven.

  “Yes, it is dad. Sorry.”, said Joanna.

  “A lot of things happened behind my back.”, said Steven in an angry tone. “Just open the door, will you?”, he added.

  When Joanna had opened the door and Steven looked at the creature, he was overwhelmed with astonishment. “That’s impossible!”, said Steven.

  “What’s wrong?”, said Joanna.

  “That’s Oliver’s mother.”, said Steven.

  “Really!?”, said Joanna.

  “Yes. The poor child.”, said Steven.

  “That’s so sad.”, said Joanna.

  “Why are the black veins in her body few in number?”, asked Steven.

  “She was like the others, but the veins decreased with time.”, replied Joanna.

  “Why do you think this is?”, asked Steven.

  “I don’t know yet. You know, I tried to talk to her when she finally said the word ‘door’.”, said Joanna. “Listen!”, she added.

  Joanna grabbed the door handle and started moving it as she uttered the word ‘door’ slowly to the creature.

  They waited a few moments, but the creature did not say a word. “I don’t think they can speak. Do you think something will happen if we bring Oliver here?”, asked Steven.

  “I thought about the same thing.”, said Joanna.

  “you think she’ll remember him?”, asked Steven.

  “We should find out.”, replied Joanna.

  “I’ll go get Oliver.”, said Steven.

  “Let’s cover his eyes and say we have a present for him. We’ll give him a toy after his mother sees him.”, said Joanna.

  “Good idea. I’ll get Oliver and you get the toy.”, said Steven.

  Steven went to get Oliver, but he found him asleep. He remembered that Oliver was ill and was tired. He went back and found Joanna had brought the toy. “He’s still asleep.”, said Steven.

  “Okay. Then we’ll do it if he wakes up at night.”, replied Joanna.

  They walked upstairs with and found Joseph standing in front of them. “Do you need help?”, he said.

  “No thanks.”, said Steven.

  “Did you check on the creature?”, asked Joseph.

  “Yes, we did.”, said Steven. “We might have found something that we can use to our advantage.”, he added.

  “That’s good news.”, said Joseph.

  “I have a question for you.”, said Steven. “How did Elma get a weapon?”, he asked.

  “I don’t know.”, answered Joseph.

  “I think you weren’t paying attention like you were supposed to. Give me the keys to the weapons box.”, said Steven.

  Joseph took the key out and said, “Here you go. I’m sorry I didn’t pay more attention and I hope I can help out in other things.”.

  “Thanks.”, said Steven.

  Steven continued to walk until he found Joanna with Mr. William, talking about what they had been through in the pharmacy. Steven joined some of the group who were sitting around them listening to them talk. Everyone one silent when they got to the part of Sam’s capture. Elma was able to hear Mr. William talk about Sam’s heroism and courage. Steven saw Elma listening carefully to Mr. William. He went up to her and said, “We’ll discuss Sam’s rescue after they are done talking.”.

  “I appreciate you trying to help us.”, said Elma.

  “I have something to say.”, said Steven as stood up after Mr. William was done talking.

  Everyone turned towards him. “I’ve checked the amount of food we have lef
t and it’s dangerously low! We thought that it could last us a month or even more, but unfortunately that’s not the case.”, said Steven. “Even if we decrease our daily rations, it still won’t be enough. There’s only one solution.”, he added.

  “What is it?”, someone said.

  “We’ll draw fake eyes on our eyelids and go outside to bring back food from nearby places.”, said Steven.

  Everyone had mixed opinions to this solution. “You mean all of us?”, said Adam.

  “Only the men.”, said Steven.

  “So, we risk our lives while the women get food easily!?” said someone. “The women have now become a burden on us.”, he added.

  “You’re men. Your bodies are stronger than women’s. You can avoid the creatures faster and carry more food. How can you even compare yourself to them?”, argued Steven.

  Steven’s word made the man feel ashamed. Steven then added, “All the men have to do it. What’s wrong with you people? Don’t you realize that death is surrounding us? Why do we keep having these time-wasting arguments? If we don’t cooperate, we die! That simple.”. Steven went one saying, “Didn’t you see how Joanna and Elma courageously walked through the creatures? If women want to volunteer to join us, then I won’t mind,”.

  Everyone became convinced, but they were still a little worried. Someone commented and said, “I think we have to do it, but I’m really scared.”.

  “If you’re still afraid, draw the fake eyes on your eyelids and face the captured creature in the electricity room.”, said Steven.

  Most of them, except for those who were scared, got excited and agreed to Steven’s suggestion. Even though they were scared, the others knew that it was necessary. “What will we do if Hugo comes back to capture another one of us.”, said Joseph.

  Joseph’s question made everyone worried. Joanna became angry and lashed out at Joseph and said, “What do you want exactly?”.

  In a calm voice, Steven said, “Everyone will have a gun. If anyone gets caught by Hugo can shoot him on the head and get it over with.”.

  “Not only that.”, said Joanna. “The creature that took Sam won’t be around. It’s with Sam trying to find out why nothing happens when it wraps its hair around him. Unless Sam opens his eyes or the drawing fades away, I don’t think Hugo will be an issue. Plus, Sam is not a quitter.”, added Joanna.