Uploaded September 2010 | Updated September 2026, 29 minutes ago

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Story by alex22868
Cover illustration by me.

I'm terribly sorry for how crappy this one is. I felt sick while making it, my throat was sore and blaaaah. ;-;

Some words are purposely omitted to make the reading run smoother.
All parts of the dramatic reading will be uploaded when they are finished being edited. I will only be reading the Prologue and Chapter 1; Chapter 2 has not been completed yet.
Chapter 1 will be broken up into eight parts.

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Days dragged and sputtered forward, as if time did not want to choose between going slower or faster. Weeks began to meld into each other.

It was one day two months later that Ty came over to me during the morning meal. We hadn't really spoken for a while, just talked in passing occasionally during break or during the odd meeting. So I was glad he came over to sit and talk with me. But I could see from the look on his face that what he had to say carried weight.

Sitting down on the floor next to me, Ty looked off into space for awhile. I wasn't sure why he was here, so I let him think. But I did rest my hand on his and waited for him to be ready.

Finally, he turned to me and whispered, "Hannah... I think I might have found us a way out of here. It's extremely risky, but if it pans out we could walk out of here and never have to come back."

I stared blankly at him for a moment. The words that were coming out of his mouth weren't making any sense. "How?" I whispered back, disbelieving. "How could we possibly get out of this hellhole without getting caught?"

He was silent again for what seemed like forever; he then answered, "A couple of my friends work in the main building instead of the assembly line, serving as secretaries, servants or other attendants for the soldiers. They sometimes have to access and edit prisoner records for the higher command, although usually they're watched by guards to make sure they're doing what they should be doing. They're thinking of editing records so that we can be sent to this camp up in Tennessee. The thing is, prisoners sent up there have to change from truck to train halfway; it's supposed to be easy to slip away then."

I wasn't sure what to say; it seemed so flimsy. "If we can edit the records, if we can slip away, sure that would work. But what if we can't? If they catch us, they will kill us. Ty, I don't want to be a downer, but this sounds really risky and unlikely," I sadly responded.

"But we have to take it!" he said angrily back, his voice slightly louder now. "I don't know if you remember, but you aren't the only person who's missing their other half! I have no idea where Hayli is, and I want to find her just as much as you want to find Alex. And I swore to myself I would take all and any chances I had to get out of here to find her. Hannah, don't you want to find Alex? This could be our chance!"

My words caught in my throat.

He was right. I didn't want him to be, but he was. I couldn't let a chance to find Alex slip by me. If I did, I would forever after wonder if I could have found him, could have seen him. I had to take this chance, however risky it may be for me.

"You're right," I replied sadly. "If this means getting to possibly see Alex, I can't let it slip by. I... I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

Ty brightened a little bit. I don't think he would have done this crazy plan without me, and he was probably glad he didn't have to agonize over convincing me. He leaned over to my ear and said, "We're gonna meet tomorrow at morning meal. We're going to go over everything that you'll need to know to make this plan work. Come to the south-east corner of the mess hall. We can't draw attention, so this is the only time we will all meet together. Make sure to be there on time."

With that, he stood up and walked back to where he had been eating before, leaving me to contemplate what was to come.

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Story, concept, characters (C) alex22868
Cover art (C) lsugirl123