The harsh rain that was falling in the Appalachian Mountains signified the start of the autumn season, yet to the little orphanage tucked away in a valley it didn’t matter. All that this meant was another season spent locked away within the mold-filled walls that made up the cage they lived in. It was probably about as average looking as any other on paper, but to the kids that resided within the stone walls, and the main building that had fallen into a state of disrepair on the inside, it was hell.
Jacob Beckett stared out the window on this particular day lost deep in thought. He subconsciously sat in the exact same position his father did. It was a position that always comforted him; even if he didn’t realize it. The sunlight trickled in through the dust covered glass, cascaded past the iron bars on the inside, and danced across Jacob as his inner emptiness became apparent on his face. The problem was that he couldn’t quite place why he felt that of all things. Sitting with his legs overlapping while tucking his arms underneath one another; that was the position he remembered his dad sitting in whenever he was troubled. Of course, if there was ever a day to be troubled it was this one.
Jacob sat for a few more moments before letting out an under-exaggerated sigh. That was one of Jacob’s most recognizable traits, or so he had been told by a few of his fellow orphans. He always seemed to make light of what was an extreme situation. In this case it was worse than usual because they had already set their plan of breaking out into motion. Jacob hopped off the window-seal he had been resting in like a cat and onto the floor causing it to shift ever-so-slightly. He walked across the century-old wooden boards that was the floor, and out into the hallway to start the grueling everyday tasks. First, was scrubbing the floors. Jacob walked down the stairs, and continued past the line of children that were silently scrubbing. It was a silence that seemed to welcome death itself, and the cold expressions on each face would only serve to support that claim. Jacob rounded the corner into the mess area, and his eyes fell upon an all-too-familiar sight. There was the owner’s assistant, Ronda, beating the life out of one of the orphans.
Almost simultaneously, Jacob’s heart was engulfed in a rage, but he lowered his fists because he knew he couldn’t afford to cause trouble and be sent to the punishment room; not today at least. He just watched Ronda as her perfectly curled red hair jumped up and down with every kick as she screamed swear words so loud they were almost unrecognizable. The thing that always got Jacob was the fact she seemed so docile and caring when she first came here; almost like a nurse. The child’s eyes lit up when she saw Jacob. She was almost waiting in anticipation for him to come save her. Jacob had made a name for himself amongst the orphans by always playing the hero and jumping into whatever was against the orphans head-first, but not today; today he had to behave. He quickly averted his eyes, and proceeded into the supply closet to meet with his sister Grace and start his floor scrubbing duties.
Jacob stepped into the room, and hastily grabbed his mop, and motioned for Grace to follow. He then felt a hand surround his and pull him into the closet. “You almost forgot this, silly!” she rattled off at the speed of light while motioning to a yellow bucket of water that looked like more work to Jacob; Jacob looked at his sister nonchalantly and replied “Yea… thanks.” Grace was a small girl who wore brown straight hair atop her head, she had sparkling blue eyes filled with the joys of youth, and usually the best dresses available to the orphans. She was the same age as Jacob though; seventeen to be exact. But, she suffered severe head trauma in the car-crash that took their parents life; which leaves her at a mental ten years old right now. Jacob stared sympathetically as usual then took the bucket of water from her. He saw the reflection of his light brown curly hair coming down to above his eyes, the dark circles surrounding the hazel interior, and his sunken frame from lack of nutrition. I look like a creature! Jacob thought to himself as he stared at his reflection.
He carried the supplies out of the dusty closet as Grace clung to his other arm like a leech. “So we can play today, right?” She spouted off unaware of the discomfort that it put Jacob in “Sure, maybe after lunch?” Jacob fired back unable to make eye-contact. He was then ushered by Ronda over to clean up her mess. The next couple hours were just an amalgamation of events followed by disappointments, and setbacks. Laura got caught stealing the key to the bedrooms, Michael with the file for a window bar, Tammy for a box cutter (just in case), and Lucille for the key to the main entrance. All their plans had fallen apart, and now Meghan and Jacob sat in the mess-hall talking about what options they had left. First came the topic of their friends. Should they save them, or should they not? Eventually, the conclusion was reached they could try again some other time, and that they should attempt to save their friends this time. Meghan caressed her twin-tails for a moment before standing to leave, and said one last thing “Can’t wait for tonight!” then left without looking back. Meghan Chopra, she was a high-bred British girl who somehow lost her parents in an unfortunate accident, aside from her only one person had any kind of items that were of any value or worth, and that was Grace.
Afterwards came “lunch”, but it was more like breakfast in the sense it was their first and only meal of the day. Second, it was like dinner in the sense it was 8 P.M. already. Meghan sat talking to Jacob about all the family trips to the beach she used to have, and how she would sip from coconuts on the beach with her parents. Then, late at night she would snuggle up between the two, and they would sleep like that, and how sometimes she’d wake up alone some nights and how it was the greatest feeling of loneliness someone can feel. But, Jacob was certain that when he compared his family’s life to hers, her life took the cake for best-up-till-now. In fact her life seemed like a dream compared to his.
Grace raced up behind Jacob as soon as he finished eating. She hugged him tight from behind, and started laughing; unaware she had almost knocked him to the ground. “I’ll be right there Grace. Just give me a second, please.” Jacob managed to spill out amongst his displeasure of almost cracking his skull on a table. Jacob looked over to Meghan for a second to say goodbye, but remained silent as she seemed annoyed. Grace quickly detached from Jacob, and ran off in a bout of giggly happiness. Jacob got up to go to Grace, but was taken to the kitchen to clean dishes by Ronda.
Jacob opened the door into his room, and found Grace quietly sitting on his window-seal. He just stood at the door for a moment as she gazed out the window the moonlight emphasizing the expression on her face; for once it was thoughtful. “Everything okay Grace?” Jacob said with obvious worry in his voice. Grace just looked over at him as tears filled her eyes for some reason. “Grace?” He uttered quietly so only she could hear. She ran over and hugged him as she cried her eyes out.
After a half hour or so she fell asleep in his lap as they were sitting together on the window-seal. But, Jacob couldn’t sleep; not tonight anyways. He had too much on his mind. Why was Grace crying like that? Were they going to be able to save their friends? The thoughts coursed their way through Jacob head fatiguing him mentally when he needed to be saving energy. The next hour was a mash-up of those thoughts playing in repetition while he tried to scour for the answer to them. His concentration was dispersed by a knock at the door and Meghan’s head poking through. “It’s time,” Meghan whispered as quietly as a mouse across the room to Jacob “Are you going to just sit there?” “No. Help me get her into my bed.” Meghan inched over and lifted Grace’s body off of Jacob allowing him to slide out from underneath it. Jacob took over from there and picked Grace up; he then walked to his bed and laid her on it. She sat there sleeping as carelessly as a bat. Jacob smiled a bit before he was ushered out of the room and off towards the office by Meghan. “What’s the plan?” Jacob whispered out of curiosity just to be answered by a scream, and a blunt object to the back of the head.
Jacob’s eyes inched open to the sight of a bookcase and a desk. There were orphans lined up on the other side of the room as well as surrounding him. Jacob turned and looked unable to comprehend most of the situation as of now. A couple people were looking at him and Ronda was yelling at the kids opposite from them while a figure watched from the office chair behind the desk. Jacob eyes widened as he realized it was the orphanage owner, and that most of the kids in the room were part of the failed breakout attempt. Jacob’s awareness snapped back to him in a rush of adrenaline. But, as he sat up off of the bookcase he was leaned on Ronda strutted over and grabbed him by the hair. She then began screaming at Jacob for various reasons. It was so loud Jacob could barely make it out; so loud it left ringing in his ears after she was finished. Jacob looked over once again, after he was slammed back into the bookcase, at the owner who sat there observing the situation and sucking in the grief like a sponge. The owner was a chubby old man with a worn tuxedo and a wood pipe he would smoke on occasion even though it was prohibited. Not that the owner minded breaking the rules; Jacob knew that all-too-well. Nothing was going to bring back the seven children he killed, and nothing about it seemed to bother the owner either.
“Bring that one over here!” The owner yelled at Ronda while pointing at Grace. What’s Grace doing here? She had nothing to do with this! Jacob thought as he stood up and took off running to intercept Ronda and Grace before they reached the owner; whom had taken an axe from the family crest hanging above the window that was behind the desk. Jacob ran up and right-hooked Ronda sending her across the room into the bookcase knocking a couple from their perch and into the floor. The owner with an obvious look of surprise quickly took the axe and began waving it around while screaming at Jacob to hand Grace over. Jacob pulled Grace into his embrace as his heart sped up and he waved his head around looking for an escape route. People began screaming for him to go this way or out the door as the staff began running in like hunters to prey. Chaos ensued as the orphans began fighting the staff trying to make a way for Jacob to escape, but it was all too late for him. Jacob locked eyes with the owner as he raised the axe high into the air. Signals flew from his brain and coursed through his body at the speed of light and the only decision he could come up with was to save Grace from what was about to happen. Jacob shoved Grace with as much strength as he could muster causing her to knock a couple people over.
The axe came down with masterful precision on Jacob’s arm severing it. For Jacob though-- it was a lot slower. Every centimeter of flesh and bone that was cut brought a new sensation of pain as Jacob let out a scream of agony that wandered its way throughout the hallways until finally his left arm fell to the ground. Blood soaked into Jacob’s shirt causing him to feel a warm stickiness followed by cold, and also began gushing out in immense quantities onto the floor. Jacob stared at the nub that was his arm in pure disbelief and shock. He quickly took his quivering hand and attempted to apply pressure to stop the bleeding all the while screaming in intense agony as tears began running down his face from the pain. Pain began to flood into every single one of Jacob’s senses drowning out his thoughts in a metaphorical sea of it. But, he was snapped out of it by the sound of sinister laughter.
The room went silent as all eyes were on Jacob who had c***ed back and began laughing hysterically. His head fell and his eyes were level with the owner’s eyes. “Mr. Chopra wasn’t it?” Jacob questioned with a sinister yet sincere tone. Mr. Chopra’s face was covered in fear at this statement “How do you know my name?!” he screamed in retaliation “Its right there on that family crest!” Jacob riposted as his one good hand reached for the scissors on Mr. Chopra’s desk. He began inching towards Mr. Chopra scissors in hand as Mr. Chopra fell on his back and began crawling away in fear. Almost as soon as his back touched the ground Jacob was standing above him. “Why don’t you kill me like you did the others?” Jacob inquired of Mr. Chopra as he raised his arm that held the scissors. He was met with a soft mumble and a cry as Jacob sunk the scissors into Mr. Chopra’s eye. After all that, Jacob began to feel weak and collapsed backwards only to be caught by Grace. As he sat there staring her in the eyes he realized he couldn’t hear anything anymore. He just laid there like he was already a corpse just staring Grace in her eyes as tears fell onto his face. As his eyes became duller the more outwardly panicked Grace became before darkness finally engulfed his vision.
    ONE YEAR LATER…
Grace’s eyes opened to an unfamiliar room. They darted back and forth across the hospital room as she sat in bed unable to move. All the orphans gathered around her jumped for joy as she woke up. “She’s finally awake!” One yelled as almost all of them rushed to get the doctors. One stayed though; it was Meghan. She walked up to Grace and without warning leaned down and whispered into her ear “That was my dad, and I’m going to make you pay dearly for your brother’s mistake.” Meghan then sat up and walked out the door without a word. Grace’s face grimaced in shock as she remembered seeing Grace talking to Mr. Chopra in the hall that day saying something about an escape plan.