Jasmine  

V  

Normally , I wouldn’t trust someone I just met like this, but do I really have a choice? Plus, he feels like someone... safe to trust. I don’t know why.  

Anyway, after I tell the strange individual about my observations on the cell, I see his face go white.  

Then... he blacks out.  

Really? At a time like this? Ugh.  

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I begin to shake him, and once that doesn’t work, I start to slap him repeatedly.  

“WAKE. UP. NOW.”  

“Hey!” He awakes with a jolt. “No need for all that!”  

“We are in a cell, possibly near execution, and you’re falling asleep? Absolutely not. Get up. I have a pla-”  

At my mention of a possible (and highly probable) nearing execution, he turns pale again, and... oh great. Not again. How does an idiot spanning 6’7 get so easily terrified?  

I’ve had enough of this. I look around to see how I can wake him up for good, then I remember the murky water that fell out of the ceramic bowl. It’ll do- it's cold enough.  

I grab his head by his hair, and dunk it into the puddle on the floor. My plan works, and he awakens with a jolt.  

“Hey! Not again!” At this point, I’ve had enough of his stupidity.  

“Listen up, Mr. Majestic-Hair. We need to get out. As I’ve made clear, we might be facing an execution. Don’t- don’t do it...”  

Luckily, he has some sense not to pass out again. Despite this, I realize what I just said, and my cheeks turn red.  

“Okay... so... what’s your plan? Also, love the nickname.”  

“Riiight... it was an accident. Don't take it as a compliment. So, for the plan. Well, we need a way to get out.”  

“Right.”  

“So breaking bars are out of the question.”  

“Whatever you say.”  

“-as there are no bars.” I shoot him a dirty look. Doesn’t he have enough sense to be quiet when others are talking?

“Sorry.”  

“Anyway, no bars, door is locked thoroughly, and probably guarded, so that’s out of the question too.”  

“Mhm.”  

Here he goes, talking again. Can't he shut up? “Anddd... yeah that’s about where we are with the plan currently.”  

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds.

“Soo... now what, little miss genius? You woke me up for this? I would rather be blacked out right now.”  

“At least I got somewhere, instead of passing out twice!”  

“Got where? You just laid out the basics- stuff we already know.”  

“Ugh. Okay then, what do you have?”  

We sit in silence for about a minute.  

“That’s what I thought.”  

We both sit in annoyance, deep in thought. How can we get out? We can’t drill through the floor, due to the obvious absence of a drill. Even a screwdriver would be helpful at this point. We just need something sharp. I mean, on this island, they probably don’t have access to cement, so the walls are also probably made out of some cheap replacement. Anything sharp could dig a hole through in less than a couple of hours.  

My eyes drift around the cell, the gaze of defeat.  

“Soo... how’d you get here?” He’s trying to make conversation? On the literal brink of death? I don’t think I like this guy very much.  

Despite my annoyance, I decide to play along.  

“Thievery. You?”  

“Ah, same.”  

We sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes. What did he expect? Obviously this conversation wouldn’t lead anywhere. I mean, who’s excited to talk about the crime that got them incarcerated, and possibly killed?  

“Easily scared, huh?” Here he goes again.  

“What?”  

“The bowl. You dropped it immediately, and startled, after the door opened and they shoved me in. We weren’t even that loud- so I assume you’re easily scared?”  

Who does he think he is? I wasn’t the one who passed out twice, he was. What a hypocritical jerk.  

I roll my eyes at him and reply. “I mean, not really. I just don’t like loud noises. Besides, you’re the one who fainted TWICE from just the mention of an execution!”  

“How are you going to say ‘just’ an execution? That’s a really big thing, you know.” He smirks at me, thinking that he won this argument.  

Ugh.  

I roll my eyes again, and allow my eyes to drift again, turning away from the annoying individual.  

But just as I’m about to begin studying the useless room again, for the slim chance of finding anything, I turn back around to him, eyes wide.  

“I’ve got it.”  

Cairo  

VI  

Finally. I mean, there’s no way I’d be the one coming up with a plan, so it was pretty much all up to her from the moment I got in here anyways. I did try, though.  

Unfortunately, my first plan was to spit on the walls and hope that it was corrosive enough to burn through, so I’m glad she finally came up with something.  

“What?”  

“I’ve got it. A plan.”  

“Finally. So, go ahead. Spill.”  

With an excited look on her face, she crawls over to the broken ceramic bowl, feels around for a bit, and pops up with the sharpest piece.  

“Right, so... how does that help us, exactly?”  

“Don’t you see?” She looks at me with a disappointed look, expecting me to understand what she wants us to do with the broken oriental plate.  

“Um...”  

 She rolls her eyes and scoots closer to me, bringing the shard right between our faces. “We use this, to dig through the wall.”  

 What the hell?  

I look at her like she’s crazy... because she is. How does she expect this to work?  

 “Through cement?! Yeah right. Think of another plan.”  

 She stares at me, mouth agape, with an even more annoyed look.  

 “Cement? Are you stupid? Do you really think a remote island off of the coast of Espen has cement, when it doesn’t even have a police force? The city “fighters” roam around with clothes made out of scraps. I doubt the government of Espen even knows, or remembers that this island exists, despite it’s size, just due to how far away it is. Plus, the walls are too smooth, not grainy, to be cement. It’s definitely some sort of cheap drywall that they reinforced with wooden slabs. Definitely easy to dig through with this.”  

 ...Wow.  

I stare at her, now the one with the open mouth, in shock, and in awe. Maybe she’s not so bad after all. I mean, having a smart person with me on a team can’t be that bad... right?  

Plus, I mean, she is pretty.  

Anyways.  

 “Hello? Earth to... whoever you are?” She waves her hand in my face, and I jolt from my daydreaming.  

 “Yeah, sorry, sorry! I get it now.” I grin at her. “See, I can understand stuff! I’m not stupid!”  

 She rolls her eyes again, unimpressed, and promptly stands up.  

 “Well, we better get to chipping through this wall if we want to get out by nightfall, which is when I assume they’ll start the city exe-… event. Grab another sharp shard off of the floor right there, and get over here to help me. It’s dark in here, but I think we can do it.”  

 “Got it. Oh, and by the way,”  

 “Yeah?”  

 “I’m Cairo. People call me Ro for short.”  

 “Jasmine.”  

 “Pleasure to be in your company, Jasmine,” I say with a grin. It’s a princessy name, can you blame me?  

 She rolls her eyes, and returns to her wall work, but I glimpse the smallest hint of a smile as she turns away.