The Home, Part 4: Flash Fiction Friday Post

See Part 3 here.

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The Home, Part 4

The next morning, over the
watered-down oatmeal, we put our heads together. “I’ve been awake most of the
night, thinking about what we can do to get out of here. We should become
trusty’s.”

“What’s that,” Edna asked.

“Trusted inmates,” Ralph said.

Mike nodded. “We become the best
inmates ever. No complaining, no causing trouble.”

“Tattling on the others.” Ralph
sighed. “I don’t like that part.”

“If we don’t, they aren’t going to
trust us.”

“Maybe we can just report minor
stuff, that wouldn’t get people in trouble.”

Edna was soft-hearted. I had to
sigh. “Sure. Just as long as they buy that we’re now docile as sheep.”

It took us months. Winter came and
went. Spring was in full swing. “Time to put this into play.”

“Good,” Mike said. He was much
sharper than he had been last summer. He was off of all of the meds they’d been
giving him. “What’s the plan?”

I looked around the room. We’d
ticked off all of the other inmates. None of them would even look at us
anymore. We were safe to talk. “We get outside of the security door. Ralph, you
offer to mop the floor out there. We’ll all do something that takes us out
there or that puts us near the door. Once we’re there, open the door and we’ll
get out.”

“What about the guard?” Edna looked
scared.

“We’ll take care of the alien.” I
had just about all of the kowtowing I could stand. If I had to run the
gray-green skinned monster through with the mop handle, I was going to do it.”

“Does anyone know where we are? How
do we get to a town?”

I shrugged. “There has to be a
parking lot and cars. We’ll figure something out.”

All three of them nodded. They were
as sick of being meek as I was.

After breakfast I went to Dr.
Jenkin’s office. I’d become his personal assistant. I’d had to explain the
concept to him but once he understood, he latched on to me like a leech. I
fetched him coffee, retrieved reports from the printer, did his laundry, and
any other menial task he could think up. Once he realized I was a former
counsellor, I was even allowed to type up patient notes. I’d found out about
every one of the inmates here. Every single one could see that the staff were
alien. I’d learned how to make myself so handy, that the staff began to talk in
front of me.

They knew we could see them. It was
some kind of immunity, the way they talked about it. People who weren’t immune,
could only see them as regular humans. I told the others, of course. It made
everything so clear. My boy didn’t hate me, he just didn’t realize what was
going on. I needed to get out and warn him. Him and his family.

In the meantime, the residents here
were being gaslighted into thinking they were crazy, that there were no aliens.
I ran into Edna on a trip to fetch coffee for Jenkins. She was washing woodwork
in the hall. “Hey.”

She looked around and replied.
“Hey. How’s it going?”

“Good. Jenkins is having a staff
meeting at two. That’s when we make our move.”

“I’ll pass the word.”

I went on my way. Having Edna in
the halls was a life-saver. She could pass messages between us easily. I found
Mike in the kitchen. He’d been taken on as kitchen drudge. While he put cups
away, I grabbed one and gave him the word.

“I’ll be ready. Maybe take a pot of
coffee to Jenkin’s office?”

“Good idea. I’ll be waiting.” I
left with the coffee on a tray with some cookies. Jenkins loved cookies. That
would put him in a good mood the rest of the day. I still had to figure out how
to get Ralph outside the security door.

“Dr. Jenkins, coffee.” I put the
tray down on a side table, then poured him a cup. I put that, and a napkin with
three cookies on it, on the desk, close to his hand.

“Thank you, Laurie.” He picked up a
cookie and munched on it. “Umm, that is so good.”

I swear the monster began to purr.
“Um, as I was walking by the outer door, I noticed the floor out there is in a
real state. Not a good impression at all when visitors come in.”

He sipped his coffee. “Well. Yes,
you’re right. I’ll have someone clean that up.” He started to go back to his
reports.

“I can tell Ralph. I swear he’s a
genius with that buffer. Did you see the dayroom floor? It’s like glass.”

He looked up. “I don’t…”

“Don’t you worry. I’ll tell him.
You don’t have to look after every little detail.” I started to leave the office.
“Oh.” I turned around just at the door. “I don’t want him to be in the way of
the staff. When would be a good time for him to get cleaning?” Then I waited,
all innocence.

I could see him struggle with the
decision. I knew he didn’t want Ralph out there. But there were guards. Come
on, come on. Say two o’clock.

“Have him do it at two, while I’m
having the staff meeting.”

“Good idea.” I had to restrain
myself. I didn’t want to look too enthused. “Should I tell Security?”

“No. I’ll do that. You just tell
Ralph.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ll do that right now.”
I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as I left the office. This was
going to work!

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