The Return

The Plan

“Looking at the snow?” Berkeley opened his eyes and saw Nurse Mary grinning at him. “It’s quite lovely, isn’t it?” Berkeley sat up from the window sill and rubbed his eyes. 

“Yeah it’s beautiful, I wish I could be out there.” Berkeley glanced out the window, below snow plowers trudged through the snow. Kids ran around the park throwing snowballs. Berkeley watched as one of the kids ran to the small playground for cover. Slowly, a little girl with brown hair showed up. Her pink and brown striped dress flowed in the wind as a woman with dark brown hair slowly pushed her. The laughter of the two echoed in Berkeley’s mind. He blinked as soon as he realized that Nurse Mary was staring at him. “Sorry, I dozed off.” He slowly got up and walked over to the cart, completely avoiding any interaction with Nurse Mary. 

“Berkeley.” Nurse Mary crossed her arms and had a disappointed look written all over her face. Berkeley picked up the case which held his pills and turned around.

“What?” Berkeley watched as the quick retort made Nurse Mary frown. Nurse Mary was the only other person who believed that Cleo was still out there. Berkeley opened up the case and took his daily pills. Nurse Mary stood up and walked over to the cart and picked up a clipboard. 

“Today you have a checkup at 10:00, therapy at 10:45, and we haven’t figured out what’s happening after that.” Nurse Mary glanced at Berkeley and laughed once he saw his concerned face. “I’ll see when your lunch is.” Nurse Mary gave Berkeley his breakfast and then rolled the cart out of the room. After waiting for about five minutes making sure that Nurse Mary was nowhere to be found, Berkeley got up and walked to the common room. He loved going there to hang out, all the colorful furniture gave him hope and never failed to make him happy. 

“Hey Berkeley!” Berkeley looked up to see Ryan walking towards him. In his hand was a grey gaming computer he got from his mother. 

“What do you have to show me?” Berkeley asked as he saw Ryan starting to open up his computer. 

“So do you remember how we were saying it was like jail in here?” Ryan opened up his computer and a digital map appeared on the screen. “Well I found out how to get out.” Berkeley and Ryan always talked about escaping but never thought about it enough to put it into force. “All we have to do is wait until ten at night, walk down two flights of stairs and then walk out the back exit.” This was it. This was Berkeley’s chance to find Cleo. Ryan stared at Berkeley, waiting for his answer. Tomorrow he will be out in the city looking for his friend. He looked out the window and saw people scattering the streets, talking with their friends and family. 

Berkeley smiled, “She’s out there, and I’m finally going to find her.”