Art had his ear pressed to the door, his eyes were closed and sometimes his face would twitch or frown,

"I think it's almost time. I'm hearing a lot more footsteps now."

"Are you ready guys? The angel has given us a chance to escape, let's not waste it."

Cala whispered. I did my best to keep the tiny ones happy, picking them up, chasing after them, that sort of stuff.

"Cala, get your sister ready. We're about to move."

Get me ready? I'd been ready for ages. I couldn't speak but I wasn't deaf. I knew the plan. Stay as a group, if we got caught we split into our teams. It wasn't hard. I looked at Cala and she translated for me.

"She says we're ready."

I knew damn well that she understood my intent, ever the peace lover Cala decided to dumb down my words. I shot her a glare but she just smiled while putting a finger to her lips. Yeah yeah, I get it this isn't the time to cause problems. Just be ditzy and cute, got it. I looked at Art and smiled at him but as usual, it was like I didn't exist.

"Cala let's get going."

Cala this, Cala that. Art only talked to the board without a personality. We all grew up together but I had never heard him say my name once. We gathered the kids by the door and watched as Art pulled a small key out of his mouth, unlocked the door and cracked it open before putting the key back in his mouth. I thought he'd pick the lock or something, where and when did he get that key? The door was opened only a teeny weeny bit but he looked through it with such focus in his eyes. Cala leaned next to me and whispered.

"You're not being nice, I have a personality."

Then show it! Whatever. I calmed myself down by repeating the slum mother's words. Boys like cute girls, boys like cute girls, boys like cute girls. I gave Art the best smile I could and struck a peace sign to show I was ready.

"Alright Cala, everyone let's go."

I swore to change my name to 'everyone' just to feel like I'm not a ghost. We followed Art out into the hallway and he carefully led us around the building. I only remember the rough shape of this place, none of the rooms or doors stuck in my mind. If the angel had given us more time or prepared us earlier we wouldn't need to follow Art. I hoped she was alright. It was nice to feel like part of a group, when we were all swaying and singing together I felt so much better, when she looked at me I felt like I wasn't invisible. The angel didn't know how much I needed her to be okay.

We went down some stairs and everything was going fine. I stayed at the back of our group to make sure that none of the tiny ones ran off somewhere they shouldn't. They didn't run away much but if I took my eyes off of them for a bit too long they could be gone before I knew it. Art snuck up to the corner and listened carefully before peeking around it.

"The big staircase is in the room ahead. It's too open, there's nowhere to hide if we are seen, we need to move quickly. Cala, stick close."

I was going to scream and let everyone know we were here if he kept that up. I looked at Cala with pleading eyes but she just shrugged. I knew it would be weird to say 'Oh could you tell my sister to stick close instead?' but there had to be a way to suggest it. She's the talker, she must be able to figure it out. We all made our way down the big stairs but suddenly Art lifted his head and tilted it. I knew he heard something, that's what happened if something got his attention.

"Run."

Art whispered while taking off down the stairs. A door loudly clicked at the very top of the stairs and panic filled me up. I forced the kids down the steps as fast as I could but one of them tripped and stumbled into someone who caused another to fall until they all fell halfway down the stairs. The tiny ones started crying and I heard someone above say,

'Are there kids here?'

I picked up the four-year-old and tried to get the others on their feet and running but some were still too weak to run much. I looked up and met the eyes of a woman. No!

"Why are there a bunch of kids down there?"

She was pointing right at us over the railing. Another said,

"Kids? How did they get out? They're supposed to be locked up?"

"Why are we locking up children!?"

Yelled a third voice.

It took all five of them to hold back the long woman who was thrashing around violently. Lucky! They couldn't spare anyone to get us. While they argued we continued running until,

"Anyone there! Some kids are escaping! Capture them now!"

We all reached the bottom and saw Art holding open a door motioning for us to go through. We started running to him but a woman came through the door and grabbed his shoulders while he was looking at us. He turned and spat into the woman's eyes and knocked her legs out with a leg sweep when she let go to wipe her face. He took the key out of his mouth and jammed it into the eye of the woman.

"Faster! We're only one door away."

Art shouted. We all managed to make it past the screaming woman and into the mirror room. Only one door was at the other end, we made a mad rush for the door and ran through into the front room. We were surrounded on both sides by workers but like the angel said we just ran for the front doors. I was slow while carrying the child and just as I was about to make it around the desk I felt something grab the back of my robe. I pushed the kid forwards as I was dragged back and picked up. I punched and kicked but I was stuck. I screamed as loud as I could but the others kept running towards the door to the freedom that was only a short walk away.

Art came running back and my heart felt light, everything was going to be okay. He ran straight towards me and swept the tiny kid off the floor before turning and running out. He didn't even look at me. Cala was one of the first out and Art just left with the last of us, I was alone. Everyone abandoned me. There wasn't any point in struggling anymore. No one was coming back. I went limp and waited to be taken back. How many fingers would they take for this or would something worse happen because I tried to escape?

I gave up completely until a worker with an eyepatch snatched me away and leapt the desk.

"Go! Run far away!"

As I ran to the doors I heard a piece of their argument.

"You're disobeying the Mistress again? Haven't you lost enough?"

"You've never had kids! I'm not going to stand by and let children get tortured. Orders or not. She can take my other eye too!"

I opened the doors and ran out into the blinding light. When I grew up I wanted to be like her. Someone that did what was right because they could, because it would hurt too much to ignore it. I was saved from my lonely world by the kindness of others, someday I wanted to be the saver.

It was hard to see in the bright light of the surface. I heard Cala say.

"See I told you she would get out, now we just wait for the angel."

"She's not coming."

Said Art angrily.

"You said that about Exa too."

"This is different, Joan sacrificed herself for us."

"No…"

No… you're lying.

"She didn't plan to escape, she made a distraction for us. Whatever she did, she's already caught. We need to keep moving or we are next."

I would wait for her. She said she'd be right out after us, I heard her say it.

"We want to wait for her."

Cala stated.

"Cala you're smarter than this, let's go."

"No."

Art's anger dropped for a moment and he looked upset before returning to normal.

"It's your funeral. When we get to the stew guy I'll tell him where you are. Keep out of sight."

We hid in a nearby alley, where we could see the doors as Art led the kids away without looking back. He didn't care about me at all. No matter how hard I tried he only saw Cala. Why didn't he try to save me? I'm not stupid, I'm not a freak, I'm not useless, I'm not Cala, I'm a person.

I am Exa.