5.3

With goosebumps, Ben stared at the skull. That's why his walls had been so freshly painted! Claudia had remodeled the "cell" so that he wouldn't recognize it as such. That meant he was a prisoner. For the good of the outside world. Ben flipped the book closed. He knew he would have learned more if he had stayed longer. He also knew that he would probably never get the chance to enter the room again. But he didn't care much about that at the moment. Claudia had betrayed him. It wasn't too much of a surprise, but it still hurt. Betrayal rarely had a nice aftertaste. In the hallway, Ben touched the wall and asked for the exit. The house didn't answer him. It didn't show him the way. It had never answered him that question, but now Ben understood why. He had preferred the times when he didn't understand it, but there was nothing he could do about that. Now he understood so much. Now he understood why Claudia had taken him in so willingly. Now he understood why Claudia forbade him to go to school. Now he understood why Ron waited for him every morning even though he obviously didn't like him very much. To make sure he stayed where he was and didn't escape from his prison.And they had kept all this from him. Maybe even Amare. No, Ben shook his head, Amare seemed to be avoiding him but she couldn't have had anything to do with it. That was impossible, she would have definitely said something to him about it. He shook his head. That was completely out of the question.They wanted him to sit there doing nothing until the end of his time! And all because it was written in some book! Ben pounded along the hallway. The light told him that it would soon be morning again. But he felt no fatigue. He would show them all, they would see how effective their attempt to lock him up here was.