The Flame Keeper

Chapter 13

Knock. Knock! KNOCK! My eyelids sprang open and I rubbed my eyes groggily before trying to untangle myself out of the twisted blankets that bound me to the surprisingly comfortable bed. I scrambled to put on the cape, for Ken would certainly be angry if I had left it.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shouted after the knocks grew sharper, my voice cracking after having not spoken for a while.

Hastily folding my sheets—though it was more of just shoving them into the corner of the bed—, I swung open the door and was greeted with Matilda's playful shove, nearly knocking me off balance. "C'mon, sleepyhead, we have a prison to bust."

Before I could even reply, she had vanished, the only sign of her being the gentle footsteps and a prolonged creak that made me cringe. I took a step into the hallway, the single window near the stairwell provided barely any moonlight and the small lightbulb in the center of the hallway cast eerie shadows along the walls as I slunk towards the stairwell.

The floorboards were merciful to my feet, not immediately freezing them but I hurried on, partly because I didn't want to stick around long enough to find my feet frosted, but mostly because time was of the essence and I could already see Matilda rolling her eyes at the sight of me.

Gingerly tip-toeing down the stairs, a pungent, yeasty smell drifted into my nose and I recoiled, pinching my nose as I continued downstairs.

"What is that smell?" I whispered.

Matilda let out a long sigh, rolling her eyes, but not directed at me. "My father's bottles upon bottles of beer. I've written a note telling him I'll be away, but I doubt he'll even notice it."

There was a trickle of sadness lurking in her eyes and her lip quivered ever so slightly, but she had turned away before I could get a better look.

"Let's go," she said, draping a woolen jacket over her shoulders. "It's going to be a long night."

The frosty night air nibbled at my cheeks as she swung the door open slowly, the hinges groaning as the metal ground against the wood, and I ducked under my hood. Matilda appeared unfazed by the cold and even loosened her jacket slightly as she strolled across the street, her footsteps resonating through the barren city.

Streetlights occupied each end of a block, illuminating a small radius, but otherwise, we were concealed in a blanket of darkness as we headed toward the prison. My feet padded against the pavement gently and sank into something sticky that grabbed onto my shoes like a boa wrapping itself around its prey. The moonlight provided my answer as I wrestled with the blood that clung to my shoes, reminding me of the horrible incident earlier.

A few bodies still lay unattended, and one head had lolled to the side and gave me a long, empty stare, its eyes devoid of any emotion. A crunch jolted me, and I scrambled back like a madman when the head slipped off the curb and hit the ground with a terrible crack, dislodging it from its neck. Blood seeped from the neck—darkness thankfully concealing its source—and formed an eerie pool that trickled down the street and into the drain. Pit pat. Pit pat. It dripped almost rhythmically and I squinted, making out what seemed to be a scampering rat, slurping up what remained of the pool.

Needless to say, I stayed no longer, hastily grabbing my legs and hurried off to find Matilda, who had been taking a leisurely stroll and appeared to be... counting the stars.

"Thirteen. Fourteen—" She stopped, her nose wrinkling at the sight of my disheveled manner. Sarcasm dripped from her mouth as she smirked at my appearance. "Glad for you to finally join me. C'mon now, the prison isn't going to break itself."

She turned, picking up her pace, and my feet nearly tangled themselves as I scrambled to catch up. After finally keeping up with her slight jog, I took a good look at the city, which I had only read of. Tall buildings loomed over us and cast long shadows, thickening the blanket of darkness that covered us, but what the city lacked on the outside was certainly made up on the inside.