Van eventually fell asleep thinking about how to escape. It was mentally draining to think of something so hard when you literally had no idea where you even were or where to start.
He woke up groggily to the sound of banging on his door causing him to panic initally falling out of his bed not knowing if the orphanage had finally come for him. When he got up and finally opened the door he saw it was Max and Erika.
"Were you asleep… how can you even sleep with all this going on?" Max asked seeing Van rubbing his eyes and his hair stuck to his head and face.
"Heh it's kinda how I cope with stress it's easier to sleep on a problem and think about it later." Van replied with a sheepish look, feeling sort of guilty that he would literally sleep through so many of his problems.
"Sheesh man, whatever let's go dinner started 20 minutes ago if you miss they might become suspicious, so we came to get you." Max said as he turned and left in the direction of the cafeteria.
"Hold on let me get on my shoes!" Van said running back and grabbing his shoes hopping to put them on while walking somehow using the other hand to ruffle is hair into shape.
…
About 10 minutes later they arrived at the cafeteria that held almost 5,000 orphans. Breakfast lunch and dinner we're broken into 3 sections each an hour long to accommodate the 12,000 orphans they currently had on the premises.
They had a rotation of meals they would serve and tonight was chicken cordon bleu night which was a lot of orphans favorite as it tasted the best right behind pizza night.
They also had cereal, salads, and different types of sandwiches they could make for themselves at any time for the kids that had specific preferences.
Van and Max got in line for the Cordon Bleu while Erika got a salad and made a turkey sandwich. They sat at a table off in one of the corners of the room so they could talk without too many prying eyes.
There were a lot of kids in the cafeteria almost filling it entirely up so their conversation would likely be drowned out by all the noise but they still wanted to be safe.
"So what's the plan do you guys have any ideas because I'm beat I don't even know where this orphanage is." Van asked if max or Erika had any ideas on how they were going to escape.
It's true the orphans rode public school busses to school but prior to that they'd be transported to their schools designated neighborhoods via private underground trains as to keep the location of the orphanage a secret from the public and the orphans.
The more van spoke and thought about the orphanage he couldn't help but wonder, why hadn't he suspected something was wrong with this place sooner?
"I actually have a map of the grounds; I copied it from the memories of one of the mistresses a few years back thinking it might be useful one day." Erika said causing Van and Max to silently applaud the versatility of her ability.
"Im starting to think there's nothing in existence your ability wouldn't be good for if I couldn't control space I'd be jealous." Max said complimenting her. "Also I think we should use your map to access one of the railway tunnels."
"I don't know if the map will help with that the only entrances to those marked are the main ones we all use when it's school season and during breaks they barricade those entrances and exits." Erika replied thinking it was a good idea just not feasible.
"Maybe there are other entrances but what do you think Van, now that there's a map we have more options to plan with." Max said while bringing Van into their brainstorm as Van usually had some pretty good ideas no matter the situation.
Van had quietly and thoughtfully listened to Max and Erika brainstorm a little bit while he thought himself about the situation and what the map offered his group.
"Well I think first we should look at the map together and plan a few different routes, once we've planned a few routes we should also have contingency plans for if things don't work out as planned. The tunnels don't sound like a bad idea but if we did take one to exit with, we'll be sitting ducks if we're caught." Van said making points that made both Max and Erika nod and think about this even more seriously.
"Where do you guys think this place is, like what's outside of the entrance and exit gates?" Van asked Max and Erika as knowing what was in their surroundings would help them properly prepare if they were able to escape and somehow still couldn't use their abilities.
"We're surrounded by a forest." Max and Erika said in unison surprising each other not expecting the other not to know any details about their location.
"You go…" Erika said wanting to hear what Max knew about the surrounding territories.
"Well I know that this entire facility is almost like a military base they send us to school so that once we grow up if we're lucky enough to not be taken as an experiment we can manage in the outside world or be further indoctrinated as staff. Also the base is on the flattened peak of a mountain…"
"I did some reconnaissance about a year back and found that they have observation towers along the mountain about every 5-10 miles the mountain is also a part of a mountain range called the Lucian Mountains, I can look it up later if you'd like and maybe we can figure it out together." Max said explaining what he knew about the immediate surroundings of the orphanage.
Max had covered almost everything that Erika knew about the surroundings even teaching her something in the process so she could only nod in respect at his own information gathering methods.
They continued to eat and discuss things before they all headed to Erika's room to take a look at the map.