Bloodlust | lrh

14. The great escape

Luke isn't the same after he shattered Soka's camera. The girl said that she hates him, and he knows she does. She's ignored his existence for three days, regardless of how many olive branches he's stretched out. In her defense, they haven't exactly looked like olive branches.

The day after it happened he had one of his housekeepers go up and clean the mess for her. Soka yelled at the poor woman to get the hell out and slammed the door in her face after. He was trying to get rid of the reminder, but he never even told her he sent the woman.

Yesterday he told her to come eat dinner through her closed bedroom door. Usually he would rip it open and drag her downstairs if he wanted her to do something, but he felt like he was walking on eggshells. She didn't answer his request, and after a couple minutes of waiting outside her room he finally gave up and went back to the kitchen.

Soka is sitting on the floor next to the pile of broken pieces. She's gotten into bed only to sleep, but when she's awake she just wants to be next to the mess. She wants to escape, and that's all she's been thinking about the last three days.

The challenge is something she's up for. One of her favorite things to do is solve puzzles, and getting out of this hell is just another puzzle. She's left the property a few times now, and she knows that's enough information to get her started.

She also knows that most of their supplies are in the basement, and that Luke's willing to leave her home alone for short periods of time now. She just needs to be patient, and when the time is right she thinks she can manage. She hears voices by the front door and crawls over to listen, cracking her door just enough so they aren't muffled.

"We'll back in a couple hours." Calum's voice echos in the foyer. Soka quietly sneaks out to take a look. She wants to know who's leaving. Luke is standing by as Calum, Mike, and Ashton all go out the door.

She rushes back into her room as fast and as quietly as she can, but the sound of her door closing catches Luke's attention. He bolts up the stairs and stops at her door.

"Soka?" He calls out to her, his hands on either side of the doorframe. He waits a handful of seconds with no answer. "It's snowing again." He shakes his head at the horrible job he's doing at speaking. He thinks maybe he can get her to go outside, maybe even make a snowman with her again. That moment lives in the back of his mind whether he wants it to or not.

The girl sits with her back against her door, a fail safe in case he tries to come in. She hears every word but chooses to keep ignoring him. When she finally hears his footsteps go down the stairs she climbs back into bed.

Her heart nearly beats out of her chest when a loud thud comes from her window. She looks over to see snow splattered on the glass. Another snow ball hits it as she's watching, and she knows full well that it's Luke.

He's standing in the yard waiting for her to come to the window. He grabs more snow and tosses another one, and after a couple of minutes there's still no sign of her. Luke sits on a rock that's not hidden under snow yet, staring out into the yard. He doesn't fully understand the sudden need he has to be around the girl.

When the snowballs stop, Soka glances out her window and sees him sitting there. He doesn't look like he's going to move any time soon, so she takes her chance to get into the basement.

She flicks the light on and tries to rummage through everything down there, hoping to find at least rope. There's a pile of flashlights on one of the tables, so she grabs one and turns to scan what's hanging on the wall. When her eyes land on a bundle of nylon rope she snags that too. She even finds gardening gloves, which she plans to wear when scaling down the outer side of the wall.