Mind Games (lxngdon and MaryGold)

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Usually Maritza would punch someone in the face if they tried to touch her, but since she had been cuffed after the incident of that morning, that would be quite difficult, and besides, it was Quinn, who was helping her immensely. So she let him lead her outside by the elbow, trotting along beside him and looking around the hospital with interest.

The place was so quiet. At home, back in Mexico, even at night the place was alive with noise. There would always be some kind of drug making going on, and they always had family over in the large house they lived in. You just had to learn to sleep with the noise, and even if Maritza had gotten annoyed at the excess sound, she missed it now.

She missed it so much.

They reached the courtyard and Maritza happily inhaled a breath of fresh air. She'd be lying if she said the place wasn't cleaner than home, but she didn't care, she missed it more than anything. So much that she felt sick when she wasn't there. She felt tortured when she was away from her family.

And she didn't know when she would be going back.

Maritza collapsed on a bench and sighed heavily. "Thank you for this."​
 
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"Under normal circumstances I would say no sweat, but ... you know." Quinn shrugged a shoulder, sill standing on his feet.

They weren't normal circumstance at all. No one could be under anything average when they were submitted into a mental hospital and it especially applied to him with his mother actually running the hospital. It didn't help his health in the least when his own mother submitted him into the hospital and in his eyes, she purposely picked on him.

She had always been picking on him.

He continued to stand, finding that it kept him more alive and awake. Though, pacing also kept him more active too he decided to stay still. "We can stay out here for about two hours or so. "

Quinn looked away from her momentarily to where a camera stood on the edge of the entrance. Of course, it was taken care of, including the hidden camera, but it wouldn't last too long.

"Sadly, you still can't break out." If that was possible, Quinn would have already been gone.​
 
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Two hours of freedom.

Maritza opened her mouth and pulled the bobby pin out from beneath her tongue and immediately began to pick at the locks on her hands. Now that she could see somewhat, it was a lot easier, though the locks were still complicated so she didn't get it immediately. But she was getting there.

"So how the fuck did this come about?" she asked Quinn, looking up at him for a moment before returning her gaze to her hands. If she could unpick these locks -- of course, she could use her hands anyway as the cuffs weren't connected and only sat in place to keep her gloves on.

But if she freed herself, she was one step closer to escaping.

"I mean, if this place is so air-tight you shouldn't be allowed to meander around on the grounds at night." Not that Maritza was complaining at all. "But this is good, it means they have weaknesses. And if no one's watching on guard then that means we escape at night."

Her analytical mind was working overtime to come to some kind of conclusion, a plan. She would use these trips to the grounds to glean whatever information she could about the institution and thus determine a way to escape. Because she needed to escape. She needed to be free.

"When I get out, you can come with me. Your mother's a puta, she --"

Maritza stopped as the lock on her right cuff clicked open. She froze for a moment, before sliding the glove off and revealing her slender hand. It had worked.​
 
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"Oh." Was all Quinn could think to say. So, she had got them off? He was obviously impressed, but his mind was elsewhere. He was more interested on a different aspect of her instead of her skills she had picked up being in the cartel or whatever. Something that was of actual significance in the hell hole they called a hospital.

"You have nice hands." He said with a cheeky smile , rocking back and forth from his heels to his toes. It was only small talk, but he was done with that. There was no time that needed to be wasted. Time was of the essence.

He squinted his eyes at her hands up to her arms. tilting his head slightly and trying his hardest to figure her out. Sadly, he couldn't see what it was that had been the problem with the naked eyes. Yet, his mother seemed to have known just by looking. She knew everything with just a glance.

Then again, she majored in psychology with flying colors. One of the greatest geniuses in the world was what she was. Sometimes, it felt like she was so much more than that, Honestly the whole hospital and world outside of it did.

"So, what happened with the guard back there? How'd you burn him?"​
 
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Maritza laughed. She had a nice laugh -- light and bubbly, contradictory to her personality. "Ah, yes, all the boys back in Mexico courted me for my beautiful hands," she snickered as she unlocked the other cuff and slipped off the other glove.

She couldn't believe she was free. Well, no, she wasn't free completely, but the release of her hands was so liberating to her that she actually let out a deep, heavy sigh and closed her eyes for a moment.

Then he asked about the guard.

Maritza opened her eyes and looked up at Quinn with an uncertain expression on her doll-like face. Should she tell him? He had proven to her that he could be trusted, but, still, she was slightly nervous.

"You can't tell anyone," she said warningly, pushing up the sleeve of her left arm with her freed right hand. Maritza closed her fist, exhaled deeply, and opened her fingers.

Inside her hand was a small flame, a soft orange plume of fire that crackled in the night air. She opened her eyes and watched it move, before opening her fingers even further and causing the flame to lick over her fingers and the back of her hand. It slowly crept up over her wrist and all the way up to her elbow.

Her caramel-toned face was dyed a deep gold by the light as she looked up at Quinn. "Apparently I have pyromania."
 
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Quinn blinked his eyes once, gazing over the flames covering her hand. His mind went blank for at least ten seconds before he reached out to put his hand over the fire, feeling the intense heat coming from it. Anyone's first thought would be to pull away to avoid burning themselves, but Quinn reached to touch the orange flames and of course when he did, he pulled back in pain from the burn.

"Shit!" He bit into his bottom lip, pacing back and forth not because of the pain, that was only a mere flesh wound, a small burn on his two middle fingers, but because of the confusion and sudden panic that struck his heart.

What had she just shown him? It was real, he wasn't hallucinating as usual, or at least he didn't think he was. If it was an illusion, this was one of the intense ones that even the medication had a hard time resolving ... He slowed his pacing, pinching his lips tightly.

Medication couldn't get rid of reality.

"How long have you been able to do that?" He asked, holding the wrist to his wounded hand. Though he couldn't think about the pain, it was the last thing on his mind. He sat beside her, frowning slightly. "Leah talks to animals." He mumbled underneath his breath, puzzling pieces together in his head.
 
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Maritza let him touch the flames on her hand even though she thought it was stupid. She guessed he just needed the affirmation. When he swore, she rolled her eyes and extinguished the fire, having made her point.

"Ever since I was about seven?" she guessed, watching Quinn pace. "My mama caught me with a candle and I was making dragons out of the flames ... only my family know," she said in a serious tone, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can't tell anyone."

She licked her lips at the mention of Leah. She could talk to animals? Odd. What were the chances of there being two patients here with abilities? Unless ...

She looked down at her gloves. "They must have put them on me so I couldn't use my ability," she concluded with wide eyes. "That's ... that's why they shipped me halfway across the world. This place must be special."

Maritza shivered and clicked her fingers to conjure another flame to keep herself warm. "What else can people do? What an you do?"
 
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"What can I do? I'm schizophrenic, I can't -" Quinn cut himself off, feeling a cold shiver run down his spine. He was schizophrenic, he had been officially diagnosed with it two years after his 'incident', if you could even call it that. He had been suffering from it long before, though. The voices, the images, the almost poltergeist things he saw happening. It was terrifying.

Frankly, he much rather believe he was seriously messed up in the membrane than come to see some bigger, conniving picture. But he had been in the hospital, or whatever it was, long enough to see the truths. His heart was pounding against his chest, he tried to close his eyes and level his breathing to calm down.

"I know a lot a people, obviously. What they can do? Fuck, I don't know all of that." He shook his burnt hand as if he could shake off the injury with it's pain as if it was dust. The blonde reopened his eyes blue eyes, looking ahead thoughtfully."I m sure the fact that we actually know something makes us a bigger problem because there's still no way out unless they let you go."
 
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"Well, they're not going to know that we know unless we tell them," Maritza said in a slightly exasperated tone. She reached over and took his arm gently, squeezing it reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll get us out of this bullshit."

She didn't know how in that moment, but Maritza was determined to go home. And if that meant freeing her only friend, well, shit. She'd bring Quinn with her if she could.

"But right now, we need to think of a plan," she murmured. Maritza hesitated before picking up the gloves, slipping them on over her hands and clipping the locks back together. However, since she had already broken them, they could be easily undone with a squeeze, but when the guards checked them they would remain clasped.

"Try and find out who else has abilities, okay? Until then ... just keep this a secret. If the guards find out we know something we're fucked."
 
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Quinn squinted his eyes at Maritza slightly. How in the world could she so easily accept what they had just discovered? Even if she did have abilities it wasn't as if she knew everyone else did too. He was totally terrified and confused. Terrified if what it all meant, what it would boil down to. And confused because he was unsure if escaping was really an option.

Abilities some people had, yes. But why hadn't anyone been able to do so with those unique powers? There was still so much holes and he wanted then filled before going anywhere. Not that he was confident in any escape, but it was nice to hope for.

"Fuck the guards. They aren't that perceptive." Nor was most of the medical staff either. "If you see my mother around you should walk the other way. She can just look at you and know things." To say she could read minds would be an understatement. She knew just about everything, even things no one knew about themselves with only one look. He swallowed hard and rubbed his eyes.

His mother. She was the director. She was involved. Deeply involved.

He shook his head and tried to focus. "Look, I can't just go around asking people if they have abilities and what it might be. Some people who may think their just I'll and I'd be reported." It was true, he knew it would only catch more attention too. Besides, you couldn't trust just anyone.

"So, we'll just have to break into her office. My mother's, I mean."
 
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"Stay away from your mama, got it." Maritza could do that. She didn't like the bitch anyway. And there was no way she wasn't in on this whole conspiracy. The conspiracy that exploited her son.

Maritza had deep-rooted family values and the idea that anyone could just do that to their child, just dump them in a hellhole and not actually care for them, was insulting and preposterous. Her own mother had fought tooth and nail to keep her in Mexico and she knew that Maria would probably punch Quinn's mother if she got the chance.

At the idea of breaking into the office, Maritza's face lit up like Christmas lights. "That's the best idea I've ever heard." She might not be a dealer or a junkie but she sure as hell was a criminal. How could she not be?

Maritza turned to Quinn and touched his arm with her gloved hand. "We'll figure it out, okay? In the mean time, we both need to get back before they notice we're gone. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow."
 
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Quinn nodded his head softly and stood up to his full height. Some time had passed since they first came out and it was about time they headed back before there was time was up and he surely wasn't going to get in any trouble for this, the punishment would be something he wouldn't be able to forget. Besides, for once, he wanted and needed to be in his room to be able to sit, think and plan with all the information they discovered.

Truthfully, he was still hoping it was simply that he was a schizophrenic teen because as difficult as that was it would still be a hell a lot easier than what he was thinking now. This, strange powers , it only left him shaken. And even more so, knowing his mother was part of something bigger.

"You can head back to your room on your own, right? I need to put these keys back." He informed her, twirling the keychain on his finger.

"I'll see at breakfast then. Hopefully, by then, this will all make sense." He mumbled underneath his breath.
 
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Maritza walked into the dining room the next day with a slightly suspicious glint to her eyes as she studied every patient's face with scrutiny. She doubted she'd be able to see which ones had powers and what they were, but, still, she looked because she was curious.

And they needed to know.

She obtained her breakfast and found Quinn, scowling at the kid who went to sit next to him until he backed off and she took the seat. The kid sat opposite Quinn and Maritza leaned in to murmur to her friend.

"You got a plan?" she breathed. "For getting in, I mean."

Maritza was the criminal but Quinn had been here longer so it would be up for him to gather information and then she would work from there.
 
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"You know you don't have to mean mug everyone, right?" Quinn said, casually as if it was just another breakfast morning in Horizon Psychiatric Hospital. Clearly, it was not and the look in his eyes said it all. He had nearly stayed up the rest of the night pondering and pondering after their conversation.

He knew Maritza's main goal was to get out and go home, though, his wasn't exactly the same as hers. If he somehow did manage the impossible and got out, he wouldn't have a home to go to and he wasn't sure if Mexican was the place for him, especially considering Spanish wasn't his dominant language. And he couldn't simply leave his sister and all of the other patients wandering around.

"Anyway, I think I have a plan." He pushed the food around on his plate gently, gazing ahead. "Have you ever broke in to a place during broad daylight?"
 
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"Of course I've broken into places in broad daylight," Maritza said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm in a fucking cartel, Quinnlan, I've broken into more places during the day than I have at night. It's more thrilling that way."

"Excuse me," said the kid sitting across from them. He was very small and very young-looking, with a mess of brown curls and lightly tanned skin. Probably Italian. Maritza cocked an eyebrow at the boy.

"Are you going to eat that?" he asked her, pointing to her breakfast muffin.

Maritza glanced down at the muffin and looked back up at the boy. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Patrick Cossini," Patrick replied. As she watched, his outstretched hand flickered out of existence for a split second.

Immediately, Maritza gave the kid her muffin.
 
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"Don't call me Quinnlan," Quinn warned her with a tightness to his tone.

No one called him by his full name except for his mother and father and frankly, he'd like to keep it that way. He liked his name, though, it was unique to some it was actually an Irish name. Though because only his guardians called him by it, he had adapted some I'll feelings when called by it. He had a rather twisted relationship with both his mother and father.

He sighed deeply and looked to the called Patrick, watching him and Maritza interact with him. It was clear for him to see the strange abnormality he had just witnessed, but he didn't comment on it for the kid's on safety. He smiled a little.

"Is that all you wanted?" He asked, kindly. He wanted to finish talking to Maritza, but he wasn't going to shoo the boy off. He wasn't rude, like the person beside him. Or maybe he was just a really patient person.
 
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Patrick looked intimidated by Maritza but calmed by Quinn, so he nodded, took the muffin and rose to his feet.

"Wait --" Maritza began, but Patrick was already gone and Maritza slumped back into her seat with an irritated sigh. Since she had basically spent all of her sixteen years in the company of her family, she had not developed the best social skills of all time, which explained her notorious rudeness and everything else that made her an inapproachable person. She had never cared before, but now, she knew she needed to make friends in order to get out and go home.

"Did you see that?" she whispered to Quinn, watching as little Patrick walked around the room and tried to get people's muffins. He didn't look much older than eleven, which was sad to Maritza. They'd imprison little kids here?

"That totally proves our theory," she muttered. If they'd found one other kid here with abilities ... that could not be a coincidence. There was something going on and Maritza wanted to get to the bottom of it, sooner than later.

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"Or the light is playing tricks on your eyes." Quinn didn't mean to sound negative, but he wasn't even sure his thinking could be considered negative all things considered. It would be easier for them all if they were just unstable people living in a hospital to get better. Maybe believing everyone in Horizon were special was easier to her since she had grown up knowing about her powers or whatever they were.

And anyway, he wasn't going to base their entire theory on her and boy's hand which had looked to vanish for barely a second. He was too smart for that. He had been taught better. He needed solid proof.

"I wonder what he's doing over here. They usually like to keep the children and teens separated." Seeing children in the hospital wasn't the least bit foreign. They had their own unit, as did the young adults.

Though he shook those wonders from his head and looked at Maritza."Here's a better question. Have you ever broke into double layered electronic locks? Fingerprints and all?"
 
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"Um, no." Maritza frowned. "I've disabled security systems before," she offered, pushing a gloved hand through her thick brown hair and licking her lips. "They're relatively easy, but I'm guessing this is a tad more sophisticated technology." Maritza huffed and hot, fiery air hit the back of Quinn's hand.

This was most definitely not going to be easy but she was going to do her goddamn best to try and get out of this place. She needed to get home, as soon as possible. She needed to get back to her family.

"Most people probably don't miss it when they leave a cartel," she sighed, casting her eyes down to the table. "But, I mean, it's all I've ever known. It's always been my life. I don't think of it as a crime, I think of it as a lifestyle. I know what we do is wrong but ... I don't know. It's hard to explain."

Maritza tossed her hair over her shoulder. "If you get me something with her fingerprints on it I might be able to do something with it."​
 
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"Well, that's a pretty fucked up lifestyle, but if it's home it's home." Quinn shrugged his shoulders lightly. He knew he couldn't see what good came out of a cartel and he would never be able to live that life, but she was raised in it. Therefore, it was her home and all she knew. He had a similar feeling as she dir about some other things, but he wasn't going to let those feelings get in the way of his goals.

"I am not going anywhere near that woman or where she's been, so, I can't do that." Was his immediate answer because he wasn't going to. It was way more risky than it was worth. "Besides, she's cautious about that stuff." Which made sense to him if you lived in a hospital with a great many patients who weren't actually ill. Or most of them seemed that way.

"We'll just have to ask for help or something." He looked ahead, eyes wandering around the room from one person to the other. How many people did he know in the facility? Many. Though, what they could do? He was unsure.
 
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