They moved us to the hunting lodge when it became apparent that the city was too much for us to bear

All those minds assailing us, each sending out a flood of hurt, a deadly sea of sorrow and despair

We did not have the strength to stand, and so some died, and so some ran inside themselves to find a place to hide

The doctor’s drugs could not defend us. It was decided then to send us, for the project’s safety, deep into the countryside

There were just the three of us sufficiently undamaged to be useful to the project’s grand design

We never saw the rest again. I still have no sure knowledge of the fate of all the ones we left behind

Though I was kept locked in my room when not under sedation as the doctors ran their poison through my head

My still-expanding powers let me roam all round the woodlands with my spirit, while my body stayed in bed

That is how I listened as the institute director, stiff with fear, met with the minions of great powers

If the project could not meet its goals it would be terminated, and our lives would then measured in mere hours

So I cast about for someone who would come and help to free us, but I only found the bandits in the woods

Called themselves the Freedom Fighters, but it seemed, from what I gathered, all they ever freed was other people’s goods

They were what I had to work with, so I quietly inserted thoughts of riches hiding in the hunting lodge

A ransom for three children so majestic it would free them from all want, and fear, and living on the dodge

I led them to the people who could pay to make it happen. A mother, or a father, or a brother they could call

I guided the arrangements ‘til they came to full fruition, and tomorrow in the morning they will come to get us all

Instructions are precise as to the method of our movement. Sealed in cryo-stasis we will sleep the trip away

Only to be wakened far from people, far from cities. If our minds are to be salvaged, far from all we have to stay

But just in case, I build an out for I and my companions. Suppose we woke with people near us, more than three or four.

A cozy little hidey-hole inside a box of madness. Just take your sanity inside with you and shut the door.

Everything is ready now. My plan is running smoothly. The drugs will bring unconsciousness before the men arrive

They know the doors that are not barred and where to find the cryo-box. They know the ones to kill and those who must be left alive

And when I wake in some far place with my dear brother close at hand, and no one else, I hope that I will find

Serenity until my skill and training and my growing will, can let me live with others and not go out of my mind