The Author

A great escape

As soon as Henry left, Lily cried herself to sleep wondering why he had called her "Aunt Lily". Maybe she misheard him. Perhaps because she was so small to him that she was the same size as an ant. When she woke up the following morning all her crying from the night before brought about an appetite so she snacked on the tray of assorted cheeses and crackers her kidnapper left behind. While she ate, she listened for any subtle movements outside her door for her captor and was relieved to hear nothing. She wasn't entirely sure what time it was. Lily got up from where she sat and craned her head to look outside her room's window. Based off of the limited light entering her room it could have been early in the morning or late in the evening. She wasn't completely sure, but it felt like morning to her.

Lily pondered some more about her strange captor. He didn't seem evil. If he was feeding her then there was something about him that made him care for her well being. Apparently he knew her and knew about her father, but she knew nothing about the man who kidnapped her. Apart from saying very little to her, he never hurt her. Sure she had struggled against him, but it was only when she resisted that the stranger used some force to restrain her. Lily found her whole kidnapping very odd. Even her environment felt strangely familiar. As she moved about, she felt a peculiar sensation tingling in her bones as if the air she breathed around her was telling her that she was 'home', but she knew she wasn't. She wondered where she was and looked about the wooden room. She got up and moved closer to her room's door pressing her ear against it. When she couldn't hear anything she braved turning the knob. She turned the knob slowly and then silently peeked out into the rest of the cabin. Abandoned. She exited her room and braved the hallway.

If her kidnapper left her unattended then surely there was a bit of trust at play. He trusted her. At least he gave her enough freedom to roam about the deserted cabin, but why? Why would this strange man capture her? What did he want from her parents? Something about giving her father something. Why couldn't he have just given whatever the item was back in New York? What was so special about this place that he had to give it to him here?

She left her wooden cell and walked cautiously about the cabin. She scanned her surroundings, trying to burn into memory as much as she could in hopes to recant the details to her parents later when she escaped. If she could escape. She saw an abandoned fireplace and moved by it. As she snuck by the empty pit it suddenly roared into life. The sudden blaze frightened her and she jumped back a few steps out of alarm.

How was that possible? Motion detectors? She wondered. Was this old cabin more technologically advanced than she realized? Lily knew that she had never been to this cabin before in her life, so why couldn't she shake this familiar feeling about this place? It wasn't the cabin. She wasn't cold. In fact, the room's temperature was quite comfortable. So why were there goosebumps on her skin? Perhaps she was having some form of an allergic reaction.

When her heart settled back down into her chest, she looked about the main living space some more. She noticed a few books her mother would have enjoyed sitting over in a corner collecting dust in an ill-forgotten bookshelf. Across the room there was a fridge with a hand written grocery list. She moved in closer to get a better look at the parchment. Upon closer inspection, the handwriting looked eerily similar to her father's penmanship, especially with the letters 'f', 's', 'r'. Suddenly, she saw the cabin's door. When she saw that the coast was clear she made a mad dash to escape. She turned the knob and attempted to run through, but was immediately repelled backwards into the cabin by some mysterious force. Lily fell to her back and the force from the blow knocked the wind out from her lungs.

As soon as she was able to catch her breath she got up and slowly approached the door's open frame. She inserted her hand through the doorway but it was like pushing her hand through saran wrap and could not pierce the door's invisible barrier. She couldn't escape. The invisible force was preventing her from leaving, as if it was being enforced by... magic.