Mason opened his mouth to protest before noticing the nailed planks across the front entrance. He made a slow “Oh” motion with his mouth upon realizing the obstacle. At the sound of his mysterious nickname, Mason let up a smirk, shooting his right hand up to his forehead in a salute. “Yessmam!” he spoke, his voice still hushed, as if someone may hear them. He hadn’t the slightest clue as to what Yolanda’s odd word meant, but to him it sounded vaguely similar to the word ‘officer’ so that’s what he always imagined when she spoke it. Either that or ‘honor’, but he’d prefer to be a cop than a judge any day.

He walked past Yolanda and stepped up onto the landing. He inspected the red letters of the sign near the door and turned over to his friend. “Check it out,” he motioned toward the sign with his thumb. “So considerate about other cultures,” he joked, referring to the various languages the message was displayed. 

“Okay, okay,” he murmured to himself, searching the ground for anything of use. He stepped down the porch and returned to Yolanda, reaching down by her feet for a sharp-edged rock. He tossed it in his hand and grinned. “It speaks ‘window-breaking’, don’tcha think?” With the rock in hand, Mason climbed the steps and approached one of the first floor windows. He swallowed his fear as he neared it, his paranoia pleading him not to look within the building. He pulled at the sleeve of his thin jacket to cover his hand and held the rock firmly in his grip, its sharp point toward the glass. He turned his head away from it and smashed the rock into the window. He heard a small crack and repeated the action. The window was fairly sturdy, especially for something that’s been lying around unattended for years. He chalked it up as the asylum installing thick glass for the safety of their patients. Made sense. After a few more not so subtle blows, the window shattered inward. Mason looked up to see the damage and was surprised that not much was broken; at least not as much as he had thought. Still, now that it was already broken through, hitting away the edges wasn’t too much of a task. He made sure to get rid of any shards sticking up from the window sill before dropping the rock and returning his attention to Yolanda.

Mason leaned his head forward in a bowing motion, directing Yolanda to the new entrance with his hands, oblivious to the cuts his right hand endured. “M’lady,”
 he grinned.