Outward

He couldn’t believe that his single bedroom
window was unlocked and using the classic
technique of tying his sheets together
he repelled down the side of the building
to make his escape. They were all there
as a way to make them stop with all their
wasted time on video games they couldn’t
help but play, but really they were counting
all the days to just be free so they could see
what they were forced to leave behind.
In the yard he discovered that one of the girl
patients had ditched her teachers too.
He saw her hiding in the bushes with a look
of desperation in her eyes. Their paths
crossed more directly behind a tool
shed towards the edge of the property.
They laughed at their now foolish chance
to make it somewhere they could be themselves.
She told him she knew an arcade nearby
and they had everything she wanted to
be part of, it was just a couple miles down
a certain road that was well within the distance
they could walk. They didn’t talk too much after they
jumped the fence but they admitted to themselves
it felt the greatest to breakout of their captivity.
He knew a trick where he could always get
quarters through a maneuver where you
break the change release in drink machines.
She watched in awe as all the coins poured out
like blood in a samurai movie from defeated
foes who no one remembers the name of.
They went inside the place she knew,
but were caught before they even heard the music.
It turned out the arcade they kept close by
was just a part of the facility meant to capture
any runways with out the need for any heavier precautions.
The escape was all a part of their probation.
As punishment they mopped the halls together
during meal time and she told him she found matches
by the ash tray on the car ride and that the tool shed
had a tank of gasoline.