A Prisoner in a Place Called Home

CP13 was walking along the corridors when she spotted one of the janitors whistling about. He was pushing the large garbage cans along, the little wheels squeaking about due the amount of hair, dust, and leftover junk left around that got caught in between. She stopped herself and stepped back, peering around the corner to see him jamming the dirty keys into the crudded lockhole. After a few tries, he got it open and continued whistling his jam as he took the garbage cans and one by one put them inside the small utility closet. When he pulled the last one in, CP13 closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could. She thought about fun things that she had always dreamed of. The fuzzy green stuff under your feet on a hot summer day they called grass, the force that blew against you and gave you chills all up and down, the magical little fairy dust that sprinkled down from the sky and left a white blanket covering up the grass for something they referred to as “winter.” Then, she opened her eyes. Immediately, the door swung shut with a loud bang. It worked. Before someone could catch her, CP13 dashed to the door and yanked the keys from its grasp. 

   “Hey!!” Called a voice from the other side. “Let me out of here!!”

   CP13 took off with the keys clutched in her small hand and ran down the corridors, looking back every few seconds to make sure that no one had seen her. She made it to one of the openings, and flung herself onto the ladder, clinging to it as she climbed up it as fast as she could. Once at the top, she leaned out to the latch and opening, and started to jam each of the little keys into the opening. She had a few more left to try in hope that one would be the magical one and would be able to release her into the world. She was so focused that she didn’t hear the footsteps running down the corridor. Suddenly something powerful hit the back of her, sending goosebumps up and down her spine. She was flung from the ladder and flipped around as she was thrown from her position down the corridor. When she hit the tile, she skidded and slammed against the titanium walls. She slowly opened up her eyes, fluttering them around for a bit until the hood of her ripped up sweatshirt was yanked upward and she was placed her on her feet. The men who had ripped her from the opening had a strong scent on them, and after being flipped around about 10 times, she started to feel a little nauseous. 

   “What were you doing back there!?” One of them ordered. 

   “What do you think, Sherlock? I’m trying to get out of this wretched place,” She fired back, crossing her arms over her chest. 

   “No one ever goes near the openings! They are there for our safety and well being! Do you want to put everyone down here in danger!?” The other man pelted CP13 with his loud, meaningless words. 

   “Wrong!” She shouted back at them. “They are there to prevent us “freaks” from being normal like the other humans. They are a barrier to trap us in this prison where we spend the rest of our lives rotting away!” 

   The men sat there clearly unaware of what she had just said and oblivious to anything at all. 

   “Identification,” said the man who first spoke. 

   CP13 sat there stone cold, not moving a muscle. 

   “Identification,” he said once again, this time with some force behind it. 

   Still she sat there, unmoved by their pushiness. 

   The other man grabbed her wrist and held it out. She tried to fight back but his grip was squeezing it too hard. He used a scanner and let it scan up and down her forearm. Finally there was a satisfied beep and info popped up on the monitor.

   “CP13,” He read aloud. “I see that you’re quite famous for the stuff that you pull all around 

the bunker. Better take you back to where you belong.”

   She knew this drill better than anyone. She pulled her hands behind her back, got them cuffed so she couldn’t use them, then looked up to the stone top of the corridor as they attached a little mechanism to her forehead. She flinched as it dug it’s pinchers into her skin. It prevented her from using her powers. They started walking down the bland, lifeless corridors, each of the men holding onto one of her shoulders to keep her from taking off. 

“Attention everyone!! Get back to your rooms for the night, curfew is at 7:00 pm. I repeat, curfew is at 7:00 pm!!”

The announcement went on loop each and every night, the same thing ringing. Finally they made it to room 476890. The men pressed the little buzzer near the door, and they waited until someone answered. 

“Ah! Honey!” CP13’s mom ran to her and gave her a hug. “What have you gotten yourself into?” She shouted.

The men started taking off all the stuff they used to keep her in check, and she walked into the room, not stopping or facing back at them. 

“Sorry to interrupt Ma’am, it’s just that we found your daughter trying to break out of one of the openings” said one of the men.

CP13’s mother made a huge sigh and put her hand on her forehead. “Thank you gentlemen, and I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“Just doing our job,” They replied as they started to walk off.

CP13 was on a chair munching on an apple in the kitchen when the men left. Before her mother could close the door, it slammed shut hard with a bang. Her mother turned to her with a furious look on her face.

   “Enough with using your powers!” She yelled. 

CP13 sat there with a sour look on her face, taking another bite out of the flavorless apple. 

Her mother walked over to her and held her hands on her hips. 

“Care to tell me what you were up to while you were supposed to be in class?!” She shouted. 

“Um, I got bored.”

“And?”

She sat the apple down and stared at her mother deeply. 

“Would you believe me if I told you?” She asked seriously.

“Tell me,” Her mother replied through clenched teeth. 

“I was breaking out,” she said as she grabbed her apple and started on it again. 

Her mother's eyes went bugeye wide and she was clearly fed up with CP13’s sarcasticness. But CP13 was smiling as she took another bite. She loved playing games with people, especially her mother. 

“You know why you can’t do that,” Her mother reasoned. “It’s for our safety, and if you go outside you know what will happen.”

“All they do is lock us down here with the hopes to never deal with us because they just find us to be freaks and a threat.”

“I know, it’s not fair. It wasn’t our choice to be like this, but you know what happened. When they first saw the powers we possessed they feared them and built this endless underground bunker where they forced us to live.”

“But I don’t want to live here anymore. I’ve been stuck down here my whole life. I want things to change.”   

“I know honey, but if you go up there they’ll just hurt you, even though you’re just a kid.”

She sat there, not knowing what to do or say next.

“Now get to bed, the people from above are coming down the openings tonight and scanning the bunker.”

“Again??” CP13 complained. 

“Well with you trying to break out, they need to make sure that no one else is trying to do the same thing.”

CP13 got up and walked across the little living room to her bland sleeping quarters. 

“Goodnight,” She said as she punched in the code and the metal door clicked shut with a thud. 

That night thoughts raced through CP13’s head. She couldn’t stop thinking about being free and breaking out of this prison she was forced to call home. Suddenly her eyes burst open, and she made the decision that would change her life forever. She crawled out of bed, and punched in the code to open up her door. When it opened she looked left and right, hoping her mother wasn’t awake. Her father had been in bed since before she got home, so she wasn’t worried about him. She creaked her way through the living room in the dark until she reached the front door. After 7:00 pm, the system locked all the main doors down, and nothing could open them back up. They even programmed them to cancel out all powers used against them. So, she thought of a way around. Luckily there was a small window in the living room. It had a holographic image of things called mountains that towered thousands of feet over lands. CP13 tiptoed over to there, and set her palms down flat on the small coffee table. She stared deeply at the photo of the mountains and felt as if they were taunting her. They were free and beautiful and she was just a scrappy prisoner in a place that acted as a cage. She started to feel the pressure and heat of her anger, and she stared deeply into the holographic photo. Suddenly, it started to glitch, and then an explosion rang out, flying pieces of debris and rubble everywhere. CP13 covered her eyes and ducked down. When she looked up, she found a large hole where the window had once been, and she could see the hallways of corridors outside of it. She heard bumping from her mother and father’s rooms, so she took off and leapt through the hole and landed on the hard floor. She forgot about her shoes but there was no time to go back. She picked herself up and started running around the corridors, trying to find a utility closet where she originally got the keys from. When she was about to turn a corner, she heard loud talking unfamiliar to her ears and loud footsteps coming her way. Another thing she forgot about was that the people from above were here for the check. She started to panic, not knowing what to do, so she ran back the other way and entered a door on her left not looking back. She sat there, not daring to breathe. The shadows of the boots of the men walked past the door, and she went unnoticed. She turned around and found 3 men sitting down at chairs and tables. They seemed to be people from above, as they were looking through papers until she entered. They all had these weapons that were large and black. CP13 looked around desperately, wondering what they would do. They did not seem friendly because she heard a strange cocking noise and they started to approach her. Without thinking, she pointed her hands out to the nearest man and he flew straight back and slammed against the wall, crumpling to the floor. The other two were shouting in a language unknown to her at one another, and then they lifted up their weapons. She started to breathe heavily and her mind swam with thoughts. Then the man on the left got swung down onto the floor by one of the chairs that few at him and the other man got knocked on the head with some of the supplies scattered around the room. They both fell on a heap to the ground. CP13 didn’t want to hurt them, so instead she made sure they stayed on the ground and took their weapons away from them along with the things they spoke into, sure it was a communication device. She used her powers and blew them to pieces. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a little glint. She took a closer look and saw that they were the keys used to get in and out of the openings. She ran and took them, then ran back out the door and started to take off to one of the openings. She knew one was around the area, and eventually she found it. She heard the stomping of feet from around the corner and loud shouting. They found the men and were coming after her. She used her powers and she flung herself halfway up the ladder and climbed the rest. Then, she started jamming in the keys and started to shake vigorously as the shouting and footsteps increased. Finally there was a click and she yanked the latch open. The opening lifted up just as the men came around the corner. She hurried along and pulled herself up the rest of the way. Her bare feet then came in contact with grass. Grass. The thing she longed for most. It was so soft and fuzzy on her feet. But the moment was quickly interrupted when large spotlights shone down on her, causing her to cover her eyes. Suddenly large alarms sounded and there was shouting from all around her. She peered up cautiously, and found a terrifying sight. Huge walls with people carrying weapons surrounded the area. Shouting rang out and the alarm cried, piercing the air. CP13 looked around for a possible exit and found a small area that had no wall and was surrounded by large trees. Something that she thought was called a “forest.” She started to run in that direction, hoping to make it there and into the safety of the night. But right before she could hit ground, something pierced the back of her neck. She cried out and dropped to the ground, but tried to continuously claw her way to safety. Behind her she saw the men with the weapons coming near her. One of the men in front held a small device. He pushed it, and a huge electricity pulse ripped through CP13. It burned hard, but what burned harder was her anger. She didn’t want to be trapped someplace far from society, she wanted to be normal, she wanted to be free. She fought back the energy bursts and cried as she rose from the ground. The men looked at her astonished as they kept trying to hit the button. Nothing was working. CP13 took in her surroundings and suddenly flew up in the air and everything around her froze. Frost covered the ground, and little sparkly things littered the sky. Nothing moved a muscle except for her. She dropped back down to the ground and sprinted as fast as she could to the forest. She dodged around rocks and tree roots until she found a little bush. She dropped behind it, and peered out from the side of it. The once frozen scene came to life again. Everyone was wandering around wondering where CP13 had gone, and shouting at one another in confusion. She got up off the ground and started running deeper into the forest. The grass beneath her feet and the wind flying through her hair only boosted her as she dashed along, dodging around the rocks and jumping across the little streams. She didn’t care where this path took her or what happened next. She thought of her family that she had left behind and what might happen to them, but she didn't stop running. She didn't want to go back, no matter what. Suddenly she came to an opening from the forest. She froze, staring at a beautiful field filled with red, blue, and violet flowers covering the ground in front of her. She looked up and in the far back along the horizon, she saw tall, beautiful mountains decorated with thousands of trees surrounding the landscape. She knew from that moment on that this would be where her new life started.