Chapter four

He sat in the couch, hands on lap, head down. I sat beside him, one arm around his shoulders.

“How’d you escape then?” The question had been burning in my mind ever since I had found where he came from, and I hoped now for an answer.

“They let anyone leave, there’s a door, at the back. Anyone can come and go as they choose. They just don’t.”

“Why not? Why wouldn’t you leave straight away if you have the chance.”

“Because you know what they’ll do to you if you go through that door.”

The unthinkable.

“Why’d you leave then?” I was pushing my luck, but now would only stop when he choose to.

“Sometimes it’s better to be crazy, because then you don’t know of all the bad happening around you.”

I knew not what to say to that. “They make you crazy then?”

“You make yourself crazy once you know the truth.”

“And do you know the truth?”

But he had said all that he was going to say. I left him to himself, going to the kitchen where I once again rustled through the cupboards. Anything to think. This boy knew what went on in Eternity, and if his knowledge could be told to everyone. But I knew it wouldn’t work. Especially if they were already on to us. We’d have to leave.

I turned to him, still sitting on the couch. “C’mon Son, we’re going on a road trip.”