So having made a decision he turned around and made his way back to the window he came in, trying to keep his ears open for Smiling Jack should he come back for more supplies. He found the window and jumped for it, trying to land softly when he didn’t reach the ledge with his outstretched fingers. He wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t reach it after the drop he had had on the way in. He looked for an alternative, a box he could stand on.
In only a few moments he found one, off in the corner. An old crate filled almost entirely with different kinds of scissors. He tried to lift it but found it was too heavy to budge more than an inch. He felt like he could drag it, but not quietly. Looking around he didn’t see a viable alternative, so started as gently as he could to lift out handfuls of scissors and put them on the ground next to the crate. After only a few handfuls he heard a sound from down the hall. He moved quickly, finding a place to hide. He waited a few moments, then a few moments more, but didn’t see any shadowy movement from the hallway. And yet he could tell by the increase in light that the door to the hallway was now open.
Is he coming? he thought. Did he go into one of the other halls?
Spencer waited until his legs were cramped from crouching, and then a while after that. If he just went for it he might get caught while his back was turned for the scissors. If he waited Jack might finish what he was doing and go to work in this room. He was getting sick to his stomach and his hands were shaking. The initial rush of fear was turning inward and he was having a harder and harder time not thinking about what was going on in the other room. Finally he decided he didn’t have a choice and went back to work on the pile of scissors, working as quickly as he reasonably could.
As he worked he could almost feel long fingers hovering over his neck. It even itched with the imagined sensation and he kept turning around expecting to see Smiling Jack (though by then it would be way to late). Finally, after an eternity, the box was half empty and he judged it light enough to move with a burst of all his strength. He hauled it over to the window, his fingers and arms straining not to drop it. Flipping it over would have provided better footing, but he was able to get his feet on the edges of it well enough.
He still couldn’t reach, so balancing carefully on the edges of the crate he jumped and gripped the edge of the window sill. Not much different than hopping the fence at school, he used his feet to scramble up the rest of the way. Even as he squirmed out the window he felt sure he could feel a hand about to grab his ankles and pull him back in. He panicked at the last moment and in his hurry let the window close too harshly. It only made a minor tap, but it sounded like a shotgun blast. Rather than wait to see if the noise was heard, he ran for it.
He sprinted down the hill, moving south as best he could back towards the cabin. He ran until he was utterly exhausted, and even then only ran slower rather than stopping. When he reached the cabin he charged right in, going to the bed of Marcus, the oldest boy and about two years Spencer’s senior. Marcus wasn’t much of an authority figure, preferring to be babied with the other kids, but he was the closet Spencer could get amongst the kids that were left.
He shook Marcus awake roughly, trying to whisper and catch his breath at the same time.
“Marcus…Marcus! Wake up, we’re in trouble!”
“What is it,” Marcus mumbled sleepily. “Is that you Spence? What did you do?”
Spencer didn’t reply at first, he was moving from bed to bed shaking all of them awake.
“Get ready everyone,” Spencer said as he went. “We’ve got to go, we’re in trouble. Jack is a monster.”
“You just had a bad dream Spencer,” said Marcus. “Go back to sleep!”
“No Marcus,” Spencer said angrily. “It wasn’t a dream. I snuck out to follow Smiling Jack. I snuck into his house, I saw his experiments. He was trying to put the twins together.”
“The twins went home Spence,” said Marcus with an expression he couldn’t quite place. It was like Marcus was mad at him, but why?
“Smiling Jack wouldn’t hurt us,” Marcus continued. “Nanny would never let something bad happen to us.”
At this point Spencer was willing enough to leave Marcus, content to just go off with the others. “We have to hurry,” he said to them, ignoring Marcus. “If Jack realizes I was there he’ll come for me. We have to hide, to find our way back to the closet we came in on.”
“You’re lying Spence,” said Marcus, no longer sleepy. He was talking way too loud for Spencer’s taste. “You did something bad and now you’re trying to get us in trouble too. But we don’t believe you.”
“Why…” Spencer started. He was going to say why would I lie. But something in the faces of the kids around him stopped him. They believed Marcus. He’d never lied to them before but for some reason they were believing Marcus.
“I’m not lying,” said Spencer. It sounded weak even to himself. “Ok then. I’m leaving, anyone who wants to live come with me right now. Come on…”
But no one moved, they were all looking towards Marcus and back again. They seemed unsure, that they would rather stay in bed right where they were. Spencer couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t believe it when they were warned of something horrible about to happen. He decided that if he walked out strongly, they would be sure to follow him. At least some would.
So he walked away, not looking back. Outside he walked a few paces and waited, looking back. Not wanting to be too far away when the rest came out. He waited as long as he thought was safe, keeping an eye on the path towards the mansion.
But no one followed. No one.
So Spencer left, feeling betrayed and scared and alone. He didn’t go towards the mansion, even a split seconds thought of it was too much to bear. He went the opposite way, deciding the amusement park would be best for what he had in mind.
By dawn he had found several hiding spots amongst the rides he knew would be perfect.
The second day back at home with his parents he woke with the sun, moving his bed back into place quietly so no one would question where it had been. He got dressed in some new clothes, all a bit too small, and stared out the window at the street. He listened to the birds and watched cars go by, both strange and hard to get used to. After a while he heard a furtive sound behind him and turned to find Baby Suzie opening his door to peek in on him. He wanted to tell her to go away but wouldn’t say the words. At this point he wasn’t sure why he wasn’t talking. He couldn’t think of any good reason to stay silent now that he was back. It just seemed somehow like the thing to do.
Staring at Baby Suzie, Spencer decided he couldn’t hide in his room all day and so edged past her into the hall. He heard the sound of someone in the shower and wondered briefly if he should take one. His first shower in years had only been a couple days ago, attended by two strong orderlies and a power hose at the hospital. He decided to skip it and went downstairs.
In short order he decided there were at least two things about the real world that weren’t a disappointment. The first was water. Of course he’d had water in Nowhere Blvd, of a sort. But clean water on tap was a God damn miracle.
The second was TV. It took him a while to figure out the remote. When trying buttons like power and play didn’t do what he wanted them to, he began to doubt his ability to still read. The puzzle only made him want to figure it out more though, and eventually he found the right combo to turn on the right devices to actually get a picture.