17

Running up the staircase behind each other, we searched Level 4 for any sign of Teddy or Katie. Everywhere we looked, people were clashing together in an infinite struggle which even after two days hadn't died down a single bit. "She's really going all out with this, huh... How many do you think would still be alive if Katie had told them to just focus on escaping..." Ruz said to himself as he stepped through the bodies that littered the corridor. I decided it would be a good idea for me to check my old room I shared with Teddy while we were here, and to find a moment alone to gather my thoughts. On the inside, it was no surprise that the room had been ransacked - nowhere was safe anymore... then again, things weren't exactly secure here before. As I picked up the only momento I cared about, the picture of my father which was lying discarded by the opposite wall, Jill slid into the room without warning and shut the door behind her.

I had nothing to say to her, but she encouraged me. "Go on... Say it. Just get it out before the rest come back..." I swallowed the lump growing in my throat. "...You're weak. What you did... It was incredibly selfish - people needed you, I needed you. All you had to do... was wait." Jill looked down at the floor, and decided to sit with her back against the wall. After a good minute of silence, I did the same. "...On my first day of high school, I was so happy. I didn't have any friends, in primary school... I guess I was a bit of a geek. No one payed any attention to me, but on my first day, I got to talking with a group of girls, and I felt... normal. It was great... Only I found out that night, on my facebook... They'd taken pictures of me, photoshopped them into different ones... Ones of me getting hit by a car, of me getting beaten up, even ones of me doing..." She stopped. I just looked at her, wondering why she was telling me all of this. While I was thinking about Jill, a question popped into my mind. One that had appeared before, but I wanted to ignore it. "...Jill... What were you doing, in Blackpool...?"

She ignored me, and continued murmuring to herself. "Everyone made fun of me... People followed me home from school, my parents were embarrassed that all of this was happening... like they didn't want to know. I couldn't take it anymore, so I... I took a handful of my mom's sleeping pills... and... and a bottle of vodka form my dad's cupboard..." Her voice was shaking, as she held out her hands like she was doing it all over again. This wasn't the Jill I knew. "The next thing I knew, I was in the back of an ambulance... the paramedic, he saved my life. He told me that nothing, no matter how dark things get, is beyond help. He even gave me his phone number, told me if I ever needed to talk to someone, he'd come straight away. I called him, once or twice every month or so, and told him what happened at school, and he'd give me advice. Eventually, the bullying stopped, and I moved on - but I never forgot him. Patrick Machair... Brad Machair..." She started sobbing. I would've comforted her, but I was too pensive about her story to react just yet.

"When I heard about it... I saw in the paper, his name - he was found dead, washed ashore on the Isle of Skye. I knew I had to come. He told me, that he had a secret - something he couldn't tell anyone, and he felt so guilty about it... and he said it destroyed his family. I knew I had to meet them, tell them how grateful I was, and then I found out you were... the last one left. You were all alone, and you were going to go to his funeral all by yourself. I had to come to Blackpool, but in the end I couldn't go in that church. I wanted to meet his son, so badly - your dad... He saved my life, Brad."

We both stood up at the same time, and for a while just examined each other. She came to Blackpool, to meet... me? I decided to forget about her recent relapse, and talk to the Jill who belonged outside of The Facility. "Well, you've got me... The boy of the big, great hero. What do you want to tell me... God fucking knows he told you more than he told me. Didn't he mention, or was THAT a secret too... WHY did you keep this from me!?!" I yelled at her. She backed away into the corner, terrified of my rage. "BECAUSE, I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW... I ALMOST WENT CRAZY!! Brad, I didn't think any of THIS was going to happen, you have to believe me... and when it did, I couldn't let you know that I knew you before, you'd think I was the reason you ended up here..."

Oh... I thought. She was concerned about me, about how I was going to take it... When all things considered, whether I had anything to do with it or not... I was the reason Ruz brought Jill to The Facility. "...Ruz must have saw us talking, when that guy stole your bag in Blackpool... If you were at Patrick's funeral, he must have realised you knew him, and could help with..." Jill looked at me through her tears, confounded. "What do you mean? Your father was..."

I caught her up with everything I had learned from the diary, plus all the other things I had hidden fom her... It took a while, but we both got up to speed. "No way... I can't believe he was going through all of that... and he still found time to help me whenever I called..." Jill choked. I couldn't be angry at her anymore, I was exhausted emotionally. All I could say was, "...This doesn't change anything, Jill. What you did there... You can't take something like that back. Why did you cut yourself... Why didn't you stay with Katie when you found her?" Jill was taken aback. "You don't know? Katie's been-"

Suddenly, Ruz burst through the door with Sammy riding on his back, and grabbed us both with a wild look in his eyes. "Level 5, HURRY." We practically flew up the staircase, wondering what could possibly be happening - and then we saw it. Absolute chaos, raging throughout the Inner Cavern where many were first brought when they ended up here. It was only once I arrived that I noticed Buny was not with us, but my attention was focused on the girl in the centre of the battle - Katie roared as she smashed into the sea of people, smacking them down with a pole she was using as a weapon. I had a hard time telling who was on what side - and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone was just fighting everyone. It was utter madness. "K-Katie!!" Jill yelled at her, drawing her attention away from the bloodbath long enough for an inmate to sneak up behind her - she was prepared though, and in an instant he was lying under the trampling feet of the brawl in front of her.

Climbing over the sea of heads flailing, she finally landed beside us and flicked her hair from her face. "..Brad, so you finally decide to show, huh. I see you're on THEIR side, can't say I'm surprised. Once a lowlife, always a lowlife..." I shook it off. "Katie, forget about all this fighting and petty revenge. It's only going to end badly for everyone - how is this going to look once we escape? The police, they'll think WE'RE the insane ones!" Katie laughed loudly. "'Petty'?? That's some mouth you've got, ganging up with those freaks. You DO know that he's Level 2, right? I'll bet Ruz never told you the things he's done... The people crying, the people dead... all because of him. He even had the cheek to drag Jill here and beg for us all to play happy-families and escape! You should've left him rotting in that cell, it's better than what he deserves. Fucking pathetic, the lot of you..." Ruz looked at the ground, obviously not liking anyone talking about his past here. Jill whispered to me, "I couldn't stay with her, just... look. She's a monster now... a vengeful black hole. I don't even know how much she wants to escape now."

"We don't have time for this..." I sighed. "C'mon - we're going." As I started walking out of the Inner Cavern, I felt Katie slam her pole sharply down on my shoulder and a jolt of pain spread through my entire arm. "I don't think so... I think It's time I told you a little story. About a girl, who was brought into hell itself... all because of a mistake. She didn't deserve it, everyone knew... and yet nobody would help her. She was lonely, you see..." I turned around just enough to see Katie holding her silver locket in her other hand, wiping it lightly on her jacket. "Then, there was a boy... a wonderful boy. He told her things that he couldn't tell anyone else... and she told him things she never would have thought about if she wasn't with him. Every day, they would find each other in hell, and make surviving a little more sufferable for each other. They were even getting more intimate, getting closer..." 

Katie breathed heavily, and drew her eyes into a cold stare. "...And then YOU came along. Someone with nothing to live for, and you let HIM die instead." I was getting uneasy... Katie was obviously in an unfit state of mind - I just never realised how bad it was. "Now, what do you have to say about that? You're sorry? Don't even bother. You're just Facility dirt, and I won't allow any of you to escape. God forbid you bring that stench of yours to the surface and infect the rest of the world... just like you have tainted the rest of my fucking life."