#deepdolt

“Ring...ring...ring.” This was the third time the fire bell had rung in this week since the last big fire incident happened at an orphanage in India. It was 2:30 am. Everyone woke up except for the children in room 22. They had a big hidden party yesterday and were still in beds.

“I've heard something. Do you hear anything?” A voice sounded under a blonde blanket. “You guys?”

“Shut up Vance!” A blonde kid shouted without even opening his eyes.

“I hear something too,” a white kid with the snapback and half of the sun glasses on his face sat up. “It’s the footstep noise. Damn it!” He used his right hand rubbing his eyes. “Everyone gets up now. It’s the fire bell.” He went around pulling off all the blankets showing four kids sleeping under.

“Great! Another fire practice,” a brown kid in a red boxer grumbled. “Was twice enough?”

“Well obviously, not for them,” an olive kid said, quickly wore his clothes. “Hay. Did you wake up?” No responses. “Hay! Hayden Geoff Wright!” He sounded loud to a redhead kid’s ear.

“Huh?”

“Hayden wake up!”

“Huh? What are you saying?” Hayden leered his green eyes at the olive kid.

“I said...” the blonde one put his hand covered the olive one’s mouth.

“Vance! He heard you. He just pretends to be deaf because... if you continued shouting like this, the whole room would be gone deaf.” He released Vance’s mouth.”Now quick!”

“You have to excuse him. After all, he’s an Asian,” the brown one said.

“So are you Cecil. You are Indian after all,” Vance emphasized the “after all.”

“Are you guys done?” the blonde urged.

“We are but you’re not, Karl. Look at your forehead,” Hayden pointed at Karl’s forehead. There was a huge “douchebag” word on his head.

“Can I borrow it, Wen?” Karl took the snapback on Wen’s head. “Thanks, Wendell,” he put the hat on. “What are you guys waiting for? Move!”

Five boys rushed out of the room but forgot to close the door. They noticed there was no one left around. Vance looked at Hayden with a worried face. Hayden smiled back to reply. When they passed the kitchen, an explosion occurred. Four of them got blown away by it. Only Cecil was not affected. A debris crushed Karl’s left leg. He screamed but Cecil turned and ran away. With a head dripping blood, Wendell struggled to get up. The smoke started to cover the hallway and the fire bell stopped.

“Vance? Karl? Cecil? Wendell?” Hayden called. Luckily, he was not hurt; he started to walk close to the debris “Everyone?”

“Hayden! Over here!” Wendell called back and tried to remove the debris out of Karl’s leg. He could not see anything so clearly as the blood was dripping over his right eye and the smoke was getting thicker.

“Oh my god,” Hayden got a quick gasp when he saw Karl and Wendell.

“Where is Vance?” Karl asked. Hayden and Wendell looked around. The smoke was too thick, they saw nothing.

“Vance!” Wendell called and coughed at the same time.

“You guys are hurt. You should go out of here first,” Hayden moved away. “I’ll find Vance.”

“Damn Mr. Obvious. If we could go we would go before you came,” Wendell talked to Karl. His breath was heavier, so as Karl’s “Now what?”

“We wait for Cecil to come back with help,” Karl smiled as his eyes became more tired.

“He ran away like a coward because he got scared. If he had tried to find help, he should have come back by now. How can you still believe in him?” Wendell said. Even covered in blood, the anger still appeared in his eyes. “We’ll die for sure.”

“No, we won’t. I believe in my group.”

“Vance! Vance!” Hayden’s voice moved closer. Vance was sitting in the corner of the hallway shivering. He did not seem hurt but he just looked around and did not move. “Please don’t come here. Don’t come here please,” he kept repeating those words. “Mom? Dad?” he started to bite his thumb nails. “It’s so hot. Too hot. Too hot.”

“Vance! Vance! Where are you?” Hayden coughed.

“Why do you know my name? Who are you?” Vance got frightened. As the Hayden got closer, his silhouette printed on the smoke. “No! No! Please don’t go closer. Please!” Vance cried. Suddenly, there were footsteps noise approaching. “No! Move away! Away from me!” Vance yelled loudly.

“What’s wrong, Vance?” Hayden spotted Vance and quickly ran to him. “Not again!”

“Who are you?” Vance scratched Hayden.

“It’s me. Hayden Wright. You need to snap out of it now because we have to move.”

“Let me go!” Vance screamed. He pushed Hayden away and ran quickly into the kitchen.

“Idiot!” Hayden followed “Lucky for you. I also am.”

“Vance stop! You can’t outrun me.” Hayden noticed the weird black object inside the kitchen. “Why couldn't you run this fast in the competition?” Hayden was losing his breath. He was following Vance and stopped at the dead end, the storage room. “It ends here.” Vance suddenly threw a punch toward Hayden.  He missed and got a slap from Hayden. “Now you’re awake?”

“Where are we?” Vance asked.

“You should know I just followed.”

“It does look like a storage room,” Vance eyed back and forth “Let’s see. Pots, saucepans, pans, tongs. It is a storage room.”

“You noticed that but not the fire? Genius!” Hayden said sarcastically “we don’t have much time” Hayden pulled Vance back to the entry. The ceiling collapsed blocking the door. “Damn.”

 “Careful,” Vance pulled Hayden back “I think we’re stuck.”

“Yes, genius!”

Vance and Hayden coughed more and more. They were checking around for another escaping path. They could not find one. Vance tapped on Hayden’s shoulder and moved his mount as saying “thank you” without a sound. Hayden slightly knocked on his friend’s head.

“Move!” Vance saw a small switch on the wall with its breaking cover. He climbed over Hayden and winded the switch. A small entry opened on the floor under Hayden. “You were right. I am a genius.”

“Lucky bastard!” Hayden went down quickly. “Come.”

Vance struggled a bit then successfully climbed down. “Where are we goin’?”

“Just follow my butt.” Hayden’s butt was shaking as he was crawling.

“I don’t think I can trust it. We did eat a lot yesterday.”

No responses from Hayden. They kept moving until Hayden suddenly stopped. He noticed something on the way, a mouse.

 “Why’d you stop?”

“A damn mouse is blocking the way.”

“Shoo him away.”

“Shoo. Shoo.” Hayden tried. “It didn't budge.”

“Wow Hay! If I was him, I would be so scared.” Vance shook his head.

“My butt can’t endure it. Stop shaking your head!”

“Let me try.” Vance roared loudly and the mouse got scared away.

“Be careful. My ears are always in the way.” Hayden continued to move. Suddenly, he heard a lot of noise. He saw lots of red eyes coming to him.

“What’s that?”

“Get back! Get back! Now! Quick!” Hayden was frozen when the mice appeared clearly in front of him. Fortunately, the path broke down; the mice also fell down to the fire.

“What’s happening?” Vance asked.

“I have good news and bad news.”

“What is the bad one besides your butt is on my face?” Vance tried to move back a bit.

“The cafeteria will have special meals tomorrow.”

“What? How come? What is the good one?” Vance was confused.

“I saw another path” Hayden said but his voice was unsure. There was a water saving pool under but it was covered in half. “You know how to swim right?” he gulped nervously. As he moved one-three of his body out, he used his hand pushed hard to launch his body to the pool. Slightly out, he broke his right hand when it collided with one of the pool walls. However, he was inside the pool “Your turn, Vance!”

“I don’t like this solution any bit.” Vance closed his eyes. The fire was coming behind him. Closing his eyes, Vance launched himself to the pool perfectly. He pushed himself up to the surface then grab the pool wall.

“You’re an idiot. You needed your eyes to do it.” Hayden knocked hard on Vance’s head.

“Your right hand...”

“I know.” Hayden saw a shadow running away. “Hey! Did you see that?”

“No but what?” Vance turned his head to the direction of Hayden’s eyes.

“There was someone running to that way” Hayden raised his head. “It should be an exit over there.”

“Are you sure?” Vance asked. “I think maybe we should go this way” he pointed at the opposite direction. “Come on! I heard the cracking sound from the ceiling already.” Vance climbed on the cover of the pool “Now.”

“I think we should follow the shadow,” Hayden looked back to Vance.

“I didn’t even hear the footstep. No one was here except us. Now come!” Vance tried to pull Hayden up. Hayden still looked at that way. “A little help here please.”

“Oh sorry,” Hayden went up with a wrinkled face. “My hand hurt so badly.”

Following the ladder vertically attached to the pool wall, they got down and ran toward the entry of the cafeteria. It was engulfed in flames.

“Good things that we’re drenched” they both said it and jumped into the fire wall. Vance landed on his feet, but Hayden slipped and lied on the floor.

“Aaaagr” Hayden screamed. Then he pulled himself together and got up.

Vance walked with Hayden to the close-by exit. The door was locked. Vance looked back to see how close the fire. He signaled Hayden to be ready to kick the door open. Counting down from three by Hayden’s hand, they both kicked the door. It did not budge. They kicked again. The fire got closer. They kicked again. Their legs started to hurt. They kicked again. Hayden saw the shadow again.

“Quick Vance!” Hayden moved his finger to the shadow direction. When Vance switched his head, it was not there anymore.

“Focus Hayden!” Vance kicked the door again.

“Move this way,” Hayden moved to the shadow direction.

“Are you insane? The fire is over there.”

“Believe me and we have no choice now.”

They moved quickly to that direction. Another explosion happened from the direction of the cafeteria and there was another in front but far from them opening the escape to the outside.

“Don’t need to add the ‘I told you so’,” Vance told Hayden.

Although their legs hurt, their bodies ached, and Hayden could not feel his right hand, they ran and jumped over any obstacles on the way. Finally they got out. They moved to a safer area.

“Good morning world!” Hayden suddenly shouted and threw his hands to the air.

“Yeah,” Vance smiled back. “And I thought you broke your right hand, didn’t you?” Vance ground his teeth. “Ouch!”

 They both looked at the sky and laughed.

The next morning, Vance woke up in the hospital. Next to him, there were three others.

“Sleepy head!” Hayden started. He sat beside Vance’s head with a cast coating his right arm.

“Where is  Wen? Is he okay?” Vance noticed Wendell was not here. “And will we get punished for waking up late?”

“You’re still annoying,” Cecil sighed.

“Yes, we will. However, it’s not for that but for having the late party,” Karl slightly laughed. “And shut up Cecil.”

“And about Wen questions?” Vance asked.

“Oh Wen got pissed after he lost a bet with Karl,” Hayden replied. “That’s what he told me.”

“What was the bet?” Vance looked at Karl.

“You don’t have any injuries so get up.” Karl stood up. Vance noticed a huge cast on his left leg. “Let’s go home.” He picked up a wooden crutch under the bed and walked to the door.

“Home? I thought we lived under the Marry Orphan roof temporarily?” Cecil asked

“Yup,” Hayden nodded.

Although, Vance still felt a bit tired, he jumped out of the bed and went with the group. Wendell stood in front of the room with a snapback covering half of his face. He turned, put his blue shirt hoodie up and walked after seeing Vance.

“Are you excited?” Vance asked Hayden. “Your sister lives in Marry Orphan right?”

“Yes, I am,” Hayden sighed. “Before coming to Marry, I want to go back to our orphanage to check something first.”

“Sure. I’ll go with you,” Vance put his right arm over Hayden’s shoulders. He accidentally touched the cast causing a slightly hurting feeling to Hayden. Hayden leered at Vance.

The orphanage was restricted with the police yellow tape. With two police officers in front of the entry, they could not enter. Hayden signaled Vance to distract them. Vance ran in front of the officers and pretended to fall down. They did not pay much attention.  

“Aaaaaa. It hurts so much,” Vance shouted and rolled on the ground. Surprisingly, the officers only looked at him for a min and then got back to their duties. Vance’s jaw dropped. He came up to them. “I’m doing a show for CNN called What Will the Police Do? And you guys are really disappointments.”

“Kid, we don’t have time for your silly game alright?” an officer said.

“It’s not a game. It’s a show. My camera is on the tree over there,” Vance pointed at an evergreen tree. An officer tried to look for the camera but the other still marched around.

“I don’t even know CNN has a show like this, and are you a little too young to work” the officer was still looking. However, he did not see anything so he decided to come closer to the tree.

“It’s a new show,” Vance answered loudly. “Your partner is closer to the tree. Why don’t you ask him to check for the camera?”

“Hey Al, go check for the camera on the tree over there!” the officer shouted. The other officer did not hear him well so he ran toward to ask.

“What do you want?”

“Hi! I’m from CNN,” Vance shook the other officer's hand and signaled for Hayden to enter the orphanage.

Hayden carefully ran into the building. He headed toward the kitchen and stopped when he saw some men in the blue uniforms. They tried to move the strange black object. To move it, they put it on the truck and drove it away through the hole made by the explosions. They divided into two groups. One of those went to Hayden. He could not move without causing a noise because the debris on the floor..

“You guys are stupid,” Vance screamed loudly. “I don’t know how to get the intelligence out of your heads,” he emphasized the word “out” as he saw more police officers came.

The blue men also ran away when they heard the signal. So did Hayden. When Hayden ran, one of the blue men saw him and tried to shoot him down. He got shot in his leg but still managed to run away.

Vance saw Hayden got out. “Hey! I just got a phone call... wrong show...sorry,” Vance ran away left the officers in confusion.

“Hay, are you ok? You look hurt,” Vance asked immediately after catching up with Hayden.

“I just got shot,” Hayden used his left hand covering the injury.

“Dude, are you ok? What are you trying to pull here?”

“Don’t you see it? It’s the...” Hayden was in shock. The wound was not there and his leg felt normal again.

“Hay?”

“Oh you are good. I couldn't even pull a prank on you,” Hayden laughed.

“Wow with all that acting. You almost got me though. Have you ever considered to be an actor?” Vance clapped his hands. “I can be your agent with the ratio of 8:2.”

“So basically, you offer me a slave job?”

“Not at all. Think about it! You will work with your best friend and then help your best friend by sharing your salary,” Vance smiled.

“Best friends?” Hayden raised his voice. “With the ratio of 2:8 for me?” Hayden shook his head. “Ok in a totally unrelated topic, Did you see any truck came out of the orphanage?”

“What are you talking about? Another prank?” Vance asked.

“No, nothing. We’re gone for a long time. We need to come back,” Hayden walked back to the hospital direction.