Jail Baby

Attempt

Three days later, I was looking for Axl. He had kind of been ignoring me.

Finally, I had him cornered. We were outside again, the hot sun beating down on our normally sheltered backs.

He was sitting on the ground, staring at the dirt, a thoughtful expression on his handsome face. He had his back pressed up against the dull gray building.

I silently sat down next to Axl. His hand was on the ground, near me. Slowly, I reached my hand out to touch him. I poked his hand softly.

"Psst, Axl," I whispered. He looked up at me and cracked a smile.

"Hey Kadence," he said.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" I decided to just get to the point. The faster I got there, the quicker I could leave.

"I haven't," Axl muttered, obviously lying.

"Axl, you suck at lying. No wonder why you're in here. The police were probably like did you do it and you were like pfft noooooo." 

"What lying?"

"Axl! Please!"

"Fine." He rubbed his face with his palms, than ran a hand through his hair.

"Why have you been avoiding me? I'm your only friend, you should know better than to lose me."

"I just, um have had a lot on my mind."

I didn't think he was telling the whole truth, but I couldn't be sure. My social skills weren't the best. I raised an eyebrow, wanting him to continue.

"That's it," he said, shrugging a little. I decided to just take his word for it. For now.

We sat in a few seconds of silence. This seems to happen to us a lot. "You look really pretty today," Axl said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Uh, thanks, but I look like this everyday," I said. I was wearing the same bright orange jumpsuit that I had to wear everyday. I usually run my hands through my hair to brush it a little, just so it doesn't get in the way. I never wore makeup, there was none. I didn't see why I looked especially pretty that day.

"Yeah, I know." Then he got up and walked away. I guess he still didn't want to talk to me. Or maybe he had something else to do. I didn't know. I just rolled my eyes and walked off, getting ready for my next adventure.

The next day, I was eating breakfast, when there was a bunch of shouting coming from outside. "What's going on?" I asked. My question was met with various shrugs and shakes of the head. I rolled my eyes. Helpful.

I decided to find out for myself. Everyone headed to the door, anxious for a glimpse at the uproar. I squeezed out the door, that wasn't nearly big enough for it to be comfortable to get through the crowd. Fire hazard much?

I ran outside into the heat. I walked up to some guy, hoping for some sort of answer. I recognized him as Larry. I knew him.

"Hey Larry, what's going on?" I asked again.

"Someone tried to escape," Larry said.

"Who?" I wondered if it was someone I knew. I did know a lot of people. I could think of many who might want to, but not one person jumped out at me. Then it hit me, Axl!

"That new guy that you've been hanging around. What's him name again?"

"Axl?"

"Yeah, that guy. The one with the weird name."

"I like his name," I commented defensively.

"Yeah, yeah. Reminds me of a tool. Is he a tool, Kadence?"

"Nah, he's cool, until now," I said.

"Anyways, how far did he get? He break the record?" I asked, straining me neck to try to see him.

"Pretty far. He knocked a guard unconscious, stole his uniform, then caused a distraction in a faraway cell. Then he just ran and ran. He got to the exit, and he gave the guard his security badge to check. The guard let him through, and he should have been home free, but the guard thought about it, decided that he recognized him, and chased him. I heard he got shot in the foot, but just kept running. What a savage."

We ended up shoving our way to the front of the crowd to see. There, about ten yards away, was Axl.

Three guards surrounded him, all trying to grab him. He was fighting back. He sent flying punches and kicks at all the guards, though his right foot was clearly bleeding a lot.

"Go Axl!" I screamed. All the prisoners joined me in chanting, "Axl! Axl!" When someone tried to escape, all the prisoners get along. It was like a huge bonding system.

Unfortunately, less than a minute later, they finally got a hold on him. They shoved us out of the way, and dragged him through the crowd. Everyone patted his back as he went by.

He almost made it, he was a hero. He had broken the record. He would always be remembered for his great escape.