Run (a Taylor Swift Story)

13- Escape plan

A/N 13 💪

The minutes stretched on, the darkness wrapping around them like a heavy blanket. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the room was silent. The only sound was the soft, uneven breathing of both girls—tired, broken, but alive.

Carrie’s mind, despite the exhaustion that pulled at her, kept turning. It wasn’t over. She knew that. Not yet.

Her hand still rested lightly on Taylor’s arm, a small tether between them. She could feel the slight warmth of Taylor’s skin beneath her fingertips, the faint rise and fall of her chest. But even as she tried to hold on to this fragile moment of calm, her thoughts spiraled. The fear was never far away, lurking at the edge of her mind. They were still trapped, still prisoners in this cold, dark place.

Carrie opened her eyes again, the dim light of the small room barely enough to see the contours of Taylor’s face. Her features were still etched with exhaustion, but there was a softness there now, a quiet surrender to the stillness.

Carrie swallowed hard, steeling herself. There was only one way out. They had to escape. But how?

She had been planning, even in the depths of their shared despair. In the silence, her mind had run through every possibility, every detail, but the chains... the guards... the walls—they were all insurmountable barriers. She couldn't get any closer to Taylor, couldn't comfort her in the way she needed to, because they were both so tightly bound by their captors' design. And yet... they had to fight back.

Carrie gently shifted her position, her chains scraping against the cold floor as she moved closer to Taylor. She didn’t wake the girl—didn’t want to jar her back into the nightmare. But she needed to think, needed to plan their way out before they ran out of time.

Her mind whirred with strategies—every escape attempt in movies or books she'd read growing up. But reality was so much more suffocating, and the odds were stacked against them. The only thing she had left was her determination—and her trust in Taylor.

Carrie stared at the stone walls, trying to spot any flaw, any crack that could be a way out. But the walls were as unyielding as everything else in this place.

Taylor stirred slightly in her sleep, and Carrie’s hand tightened briefly on her arm, her heart leaping with fear that she might wake and fall into another panic. But Taylor’s breathing remained steady. Carrie sighed, allowing herself a brief moment of peace.

She had to get Taylor out of here.

And then an idea flickered in her mind. It wasn’t much—barely a spark—but it was something.

Carrie took a slow, steadying breath, her eyes scanning the room. The chains. The locks. The guards. None of them were infallible. There had to be a weak point. A place where their vigilance might slip, just for a moment. If they could find it, just one mistake, one opportunity...

And then there was the key. She didn’t know where it was, but she had seen one of the guards take it when they entered earlier. If she could get close to one of the guards—somehow—she might be able to steal it.

Her thoughts continued to race. The guards were always on alert, never too far from them, and the slightest movement might give them away. She had no way of knowing when they'd have a chance. But they would. She knew it.

She glanced down at Taylor, still unaware of the quiet battle taking place in Carrie’s mind. She had to wake her, had to tell her. They couldn’t just sit here and wait for something to change.

Carrie’s voice was barely a whisper as she spoke, a softness breaking through the tension in her chest. “Taylor,” she murmured, her fingers brushing through Taylor’s hair. “Wake up. We need to talk.”

Taylor stirred, her eyelids fluttering slightly, but it took a few moments before her eyes opened fully, the confusion from the remnants of her panic still clouding them. She blinked several times, as though trying to ground herself in the reality of the room around her.

Carrie waited, giving her time to come back from the storm in her mind.

“Hey,” Carrie said, her voice gentle but firm, “I know you're scared. But we can’t stay here. We have to get out.”

Taylor’s lips trembled, but she didn’t speak right away. Her gaze shifted to Carrie, a flicker of uncertainty still present.

“I know,” Carrie continued, her voice soft but resolute. “I’ve been thinking... There has to be a way out of here. We can’t just let them break us.”

Taylor’s breath hitched, a quiet sob escaping her throat. But Carrie stayed steady, staying close. She needed to believe, for both of them.

“We have to wait for the right moment,” Carrie said, her eyes scanning the room once more. “When they make a mistake. When they’re distracted.”

Taylor nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing in thought. “But how?”

Carrie’s lips pressed together as she considered the possibilities. The guards. The locks. The key. There had to be a way to turn the pieces in their favor.

“I saw one of them with a key,” Carrie explained quietly. “We just need to get close enough to take it.”

Taylor’s expression shifted, as if her mind was turning over the idea. Slowly, she nodded. “And then?”

“We break the chains. We get out.”

It was a simple plan, almost laughable in its simplicity, but in the face of everything, it felt like the only thing worth holding onto.

For a moment, the silence stretched between them, heavy with the weight of the risk, of the uncertainty. But then Taylor’s eyes met Carrie’s, and in them, Carrie saw something new—an ember of determination.

“We’ll make it,” Taylor whispered, almost to herself.

Carrie nodded, a faint smile crossing her face despite the circumstances. “Yeah. We will.”

And for the first time in what felt like forever, they had a plan. A small one. But it was a start.

No matter the odds, Carrie wouldn’t give up. And now, neither would Taylor. Together, they were stronger. And that would be enough. For now.