Summer Escapade

Chapter 3. The Great Escape

Chapter 3. The Great Escape

I quickly shut my laptop down immediately after I bought our plane ticket online. I didn't tell Jasmine but yep, we're going on board.

After making sure everything's ready, I opened my window surveying the environment. Our neighbor's house is empty. The owners are fortunately not home because they're out for summer vacation. So I threw my bag outside and heard it land with a thud. My room being the farthest from the others, it landed near the wall of the compound separating our lot. I listened for any movement and nobody seemed to have noticed. Relieved, I then checked the parameters outside and didn't see any strange thing or movement or whatever unusual. Good sign.

Forty minutes to go. I hoped Jaz was doing okay on her own.

I heard somebody knock on my door so I quickly shut my window. When I opened the door, it was my older sister, Anne. She's home for the summer. She's studying in the Metrpolis preparing to go to law school in Oxford.

"Dinner," she said.

"This early?" I asked. That's odd.

She shrugged. "Mom feels like it."

"Okay. I'll be down in a sec. Thanks."

"Sure," and she's gone.

One more thing before I leave: my goodbye note. Just a simple one saying goodbye and don't worry about me stuff. And I've said that I will be back when everything is fine. I hope. Alright, we don't want it to get cheesy.

I hid it somewhere noticeable but not too showy. After running a full check for the last time, I went down to join them. Usual dinner with my family. We just talked about random stuffs like that of what happened recently and my father assured everybody that it'll be okay soon. They're negotiating now so it'd be okay even before the classes begin. Great, because I can't wait.

I quickly finished my meal and waited a few minutes before I got up and excused myself. My mom looked at me surprised. "You should eat more," she said.

"I'm full," I said and decided to grab an apple on the fruit tray placed at the center of the table. I started to turn towards the stairs.

"Do you need anything, son?" my dad asked. Wow, weird.

"No, Dad, I'm fine. Thanks," I looked at them once more. This felt like goodbye. I shook my head and went back to my room.

I locked my door when I got in. They had spare keys anyway in case they started to notice I'm missing and look for me. I snatched my leather jacket and shrugged it in. There I stuffed the apple I took and stood by the window. Okay, you've got fifteen minutes to pick her up, Alex. Get going.

I once again opened my window and climbed on it. Looking down, I started climbing down, thankful that this is not the first time I did this. This usually happens when I sneak out back in high school.

I ran to the wall as silent as possible and grabbed my bag to throw it over the wall. When I heard it land with a thud, I hoisted myself over the top and jumped on the other side landing beside my duffel bag. After I was on my feet and picked my bag up, I went to the back part of their compound and there I saw the small door for their emergency exit. And I can't just use the main gate since I knew somebody's patrolling out there. I looked for the key hidden in the removable stone on the wall and eureka! There it was. I used to play here with their kids when I was little so I know about this. Good thing, they didn't change its hiding place. I quickly unlocked it and placed the key back on the stone. I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. I heard it automatically clicked for lock so I need not to worry about a burglar coming in freely because I sneaked out. Yeah, I'm that considerate.