Good Things Never Last

Chapter 19

I lay there for hours, pondering and analysing every aspect of the situation in which I found myself stuck in. It was a real predicament.

My body ached from the injuries I'd sustained during the events that led to my incarceration, but the discomfort was gradually dissipating as the days passed.

I swivelled my body around to face the door as I sat up. I carefully lowered my feet onto the ground and shifted my weight onto them until I was standing upright. I eventually got a good sense of the room I was in after standing up for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. A mirror in the left corner caught my eye as I groggily made my way over to it.

My skin was paler than I'd ever seen it before. Huge bags lay underneath my eyes, making my lack of sleep extremely obvious. My hair resembled a bird's nest, but I suppose that's what happens when you're thrown into the air by an explosion. My trousers hadn't changed. They were still torn to shreds and the bandage was still wrapped securely around my torso and arm.

I started raking my fingers through my knotted hair slowly, attempting to make it look somewhat presentable even though I didn't really have anyone to look presentable for at that moment. My eyes wandered to the old oak door that sat on the wall to my right. It looked a little battered, but other than that, it was in reasonable shape. I rolled my shoulder and stretched a bit in an attempt to wake myself up before I walked over to it and grabbed the chilly iron door handle with both hands and twisted it.

Click

The sound of the door handle turning indicated that Dream had not locked it before leaving earlier that morning. I slowly opened the door, preparing myself for all the possible outcomes. Peeking my head around the doorframe, I found myself in a long corridor. It had many windows along the left-hand side of it, displaying the beautiful gardens of wherever I was. To my right, there were around five doors identical to the one I'd just opened.

I stepped out of my door and into the corridor, instantly feeling goosebumps rush up both my arms. Did I want to get out of that place? One hundred percent. Was I scared? Definitely. Did I know how I was going to get out? Nope, I did not have a clue.

I slowly began to make my way along the corridor, avoiding any floorboards that looked like they would creek under my weight. My plan was to move silently and analyse my every move before I even made it. Once I reached the end of the corridor, I was met with a stone spiral staircase leading down towards the floors below me. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I decided to test my luck. As I slowly descended, I carefully listened for noises that would suggest that my enemies were on the move, yet I was met with nothing. Just complete silence.

The stairwell slowly got brighter and brighter as I made my way down it until I found myself on the next floor, presumably the ground floor. The stairs still continued downwards but I decided that I wouldn't need to descend any further as I thought it would lead to an underground level, meaning there wouldn't be any doors to leave out of.

It was rather open-plan, with a kitchen on my far right, a living area on my left, and a door directly in front of me. The door led outside. To the world. To my freedom. I quickly looked around the room once again, checking if anyone was there as I slowly tiptoed towards the door, grasping the handle in my hand as soon as I reached it.

The cold breeze instantly hit my face, making me feel alive once again. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I hadn't expected that my escape back home would be so easy. Sighing to myself, I started running, no longer caring about how much noise I made. My only thought was about how I'd get to see my brother and friends again.

My heart was pounding in my throat, the wind blowing my hair away from my face as the pitter-patter of my feet hitting the dirt below me could just be heard. I'd never felt more alive. I was running through an open patch of grass, heading to the spruce forest that I knew led to L'Manburg. I'd been in it many times before with Tommy and Tubbo when I was younger, back when the Dream SMP was nothing more than a single community house.

I thought the trees were a good way to stay out of sight and that they would make me a lot more difficult to follow. Dodging past all the bushes and lower branches of the trees, I kept on running forwards. My body was screaming at me to stop and take a breath. My ribcage felt like it was being ripped apart, yet I kept on moving. I needed to go home.

I peered through the tree line as a tall black structure came into view. The walls. It was the walls of L'Manburg. Changing my direction, I started running to the right, towards the wooden pathway that led to the gates, towards the path that led to my home.

My torso was killing me and as I looked down at my bandage, I saw the shade of red become darker as the gauze soaked up the blood from my reopened wounds. I quickly glanced behind me as the wooden path came into sight. Looking back into the forest, I saw no one and heard nothing.

I had done it. I got away.

I slowed my pace completely so that I was only walking. Looking down at the bandage that was dripping with my fresh blood, I let out a sigh before stepping onto the well known wooden path.

I continued onwards, trying to slow my bleeding through the bandage, but before I could do much, I walked into an object.

A solid green object.