Spiderweb - 150 Bird

It was when they were teenagers. When they had learned of their presence to each other, when they had noticed the other person and began to draw towards each other. Before this, they had known about each other for a while but never really tried to understand each other or cross the boundaries they were starting to cross.

He had asked her to come with him somewhere. Somewhere passed a gate, a gate that was not hers or his. It was trespassing. He held out his hand to her and had grinned, promising her safety in his arms after they were done with the crazy act they were about to commit.

She, reluctantly, had taken it, letting him whisk her away to wherever his legs wanted to wander to, wherever he wanted to see with her. It was there, gazing at the setting sun from a hill that was behind the gate that they had had their first kiss. It was one of the most reckless moments she didn’t regret taking.

Was this moment going to be one of those moments? Or was it going to be one that she’d deeply regret, that she’d hate herself for not taking and would cry over it days after the deal was done, wondering why she hadn’t gone with Mrs. Cloud.

She looked back at the place behind her. She had no specific attachment to it. There were people in it, people she had grown to like, but not people that she would leave her future behind for. There was no one that she would leave her future behind for, is she was, to be honest. With that in mind, it only made her more inclined to go with Mrs. Cloud.

She shoved the idea aside. She didn’t want any more reasons as to why she should follow but reasons why she should run away, reasons why she wouldn’t dare to come close to what was going on with them, and why she would stay in the walls.

Reason number one, she didn’t trust Mrs. Cloud, but then again she hadn’t trusted her husband but still went along with it and didn’t regret it so that reason was crossed out as soon as it came to mind. Reason number two, the things mentioned by Mrs. Cloud. There was no real assurance that she was going to get help from the outside world, no real assurance that she’d be able to get a new life, a new job, a new everything.

It was a very risky leap in faith.

But that was crossed out by a reason she came up with a while ago. There was no real assurance that she was going to get help but, there was a real assurance that she would be able to live on. And it was a 50/50 percent chance that she would get help, not a complete no. That was enough for her to feel motivated enough to want to go with Mrs. Cloud.

Everything was saying yes, everything was saying go for it, everything was saying run away. Juan wanted to join in with them.

She looked up at Mrs. Cloud who had now entered the car that was parked in the parking lot along with an ambulance and a few other cars and a van that she didn’t know who they belonged to.

She stood up from her position on the ground and began to run, to run towards the car Mrs. Cloud was in. She wanted to be free, she wanted to leave and see the world. To start all over again and be able to smile once again.

This was her chance, she was not going to let it pass by.

Quickly, her legs reach the wire gate, they ran past them and a wave washed over her. ‘Yes…’ she thought to herself, ‘this was the right decision.’ She ran to the car that Mrs. Cloud had entered and stooped when she reached it, her hand rapping against the window. It rolled down.

“Will you be coming wit-” Mrs. Cloud began before Juan interrupted. “LET ME IN!” she screamed, her voice beaming with excitement.

Mrs. Cloud nodded and turned to her secretary who turned to the driver. “Let her in,” the secretary directed. The driver nodded and unlocked the door which Juan pulled open immediately and jumped inside without a second thought.

Juan let out a deep breath and closed her eyes, leaning into the soft seats of the car. She wasn’t even free yet but she felt relieved. Like this was where she was meant to be, like this was the right path that she had chosen. She felt like she wouldn’t be regretting it.

She felt wrong.

Mrs. Cloud turned to Juan, curiosity pushing at her. “What made you come to me?” she asked. “I thought you were going to stay behind, confined in that cell of yours due to you being afraid to trust and come outside to see if you would live or not.”

Juan rolled her eyes. There was this air of confidence in her, one that made her feel like she was above it all and even above Mrs. Cloud. She felt like she had seen through everything, that she had grown from her choices and learned to pick the right paths that would lead her to victory. She felt smart, she felt accomplished, she felt free.

“I want to live,” Juan muttered, a smile coming to her face as she laid still, her eyes remaining closed, preparing herself to welcome the world again. “I want to be able to just walk on the streets again. Whether or not I get revenge doesn’t really matter in comparison to me actually getting to live the life I wanted outside of these walls.”

“Ah…” Mrs. Cloud thought to herself. “I like that. Just know that I will never let you get revenge on me. I was hoping you’d stay behind and rot in that cell but seeing as you chose to come out here, it seems like you are coming for my head, so I am warning you right now. Do not come close to my company.”

Juan smirked. “Of course Mrs. Cloud. Not a step.”

“Good,” Mrs. Cloud chuckled. Her eyes looking forward. ‘Because I will not be letting you back into these gates. It would ruin my eye and appetite if I come back to your body laying on the ground in front of me, dead.’

A slight hum of an engine could be heard and Juan smiled. It was right. It had never felt so right to her before. She was ready to be free, she was ready to see the world that she had been deprived of for years now.

The car began to move and the creaks of a gate could be heard in her surrounding area. Her eyes remained closed. She wanted to see the world from anew after she stepped onto its free lands. Her hands twitched in excitement.

The car began to turn and then move forward, past the tall iron gates that were the cages that held Juan away from the world. It drove a few feet out of the asylum and stopped when the gates began to close. Unlike the wire gates inside the asylum, the iron gates were quick to close. Quick to lock in whoever was inside and to lock out those that left.

Mrs. Cloud watched as the gate closed and let the car drive a few feet forward before hand signaling the car to stop. She turned to Juan and tapped her shoulders. “I don’t want to drive you in this car as I am already disgusted as is. You will walk the rest of the way. Take it as my punishment to you.”

Juan smirked. “Petty as always.”

“Thank you, I try,” Mrs. Cloud smiled. “Now get out.”

Juan shrugged. It didn’t matter anyway as from now on, she was going to be free of everything that kept her within the walls. This was her moment to shine, her moment to run again in the sun without having a prison guard following close behind her and not being led back to a building with hand-cuffs on her hand.

She was excited about her new future. ‘Free… free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free,’ those were the words that revolved around her mind as she opened the doors of the car and stepped outside, feeling the grass and gravel beneath her feet.

She closed the door behind her and clenched her fist, her eyes still closed. Mrs. Cloud looked at her, a small sigh escaping her lips as she rolled down the window. “Make sure to get that wound cleaned first,” Mrs. Cloud called out before she began to roll up the window. “It’s a shame you won’t make it there.”

Juan, stood silently for a moment as she heard the rumble of a car passing by her. And once it was a sizable distance away from her, she opened her eyes. She closed her eyes. She opened them and closed them again, repeating the action a few times before falling to her knees. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she fell over, her fist banging into the rough ground again and again.

There was nothing around her, except for short grass and an expanse of gravel. A smile formed on her face. ‘Just a few more minutes of walking and I would be out of this hell. I’ll finally get to see the world again,” She grinned, standing up from her kneeling position and began to run. Her destination would never be reached.

Mrs. Cloud turned back and looked at Juan who was running after the car, desperate to reach her freedom. She closed her eyes and looked away. ‘All trapped birds always want to fly.’