Escapade

Prologue

Author's Note:

Copyright © 2012 Alias Black. All Rights Reserved  

I hope you like this story!

The picture to the right was made by @Iverlaine, and this prologue is dedicated to her as well!

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It was dark.

 I snuck my way around the mansion in the dead of night. It was so quiet, I felt as if the lack of sound itself was a kind of sound. The only source of light throughout the hall was escaping from under the doors in the halls, which meant that some people were still awake.

That was going to make my escape a little harder.

I tiptoed my way to my room, glancing behind me to make sure no one was following me. I closed the door behind me gently and looked around. My room was large and circular, with my bed right in the middle. It was designed specifically so that there were no corners or nooks to hide anything in, and everything had to be in plain view. I quickly padded my way to my walk-in closet and opened it, searching the countless shelves for the bag I had already packed long ago, and found a fully packed duffel bag lying on the ground under my coats.

Running away was going to be hard. I already made sure everyone was busy the night I was going to leave this place, hopefully forever. Almost everyone here was attending a cotillion thrown by one of our relatives that actually didn't live here. I, of course, wasn't invited.

As I walked toward the only window in my room, I tied my hair and slung the bag on my shoulder. The two-story fall was going to hurt, but it was the only way out. When I reached the window, I heard something rustle behind me and stiffened, listening. Then, slowly, I turned toward the source of the noise--

---and found nothing.

Resolving that I must've just been paranoid, I turned back to the window and opened it. I threw my bag ahead of me and jumped. The air whooshed around me for a few seconds before I landed on a garden of flowers, rewarding myself with a few scratches and bruises.

Instantly an alarm rang, and the entire mansion's yard was lit up. The light was so bright it almost seemed as if it was daytime. I scurried to a large bush and flung myself and my bag into it.

 "Did you see anything, Chuck?"

 The sound of feet rustling against grass drew closer. I crouched and tried to make myself as compact as possible in my hiding spot. Through the leaves, I saw two pairs of boots facing each other directly in front of me.

"Nah. Must've been a squirrel.  These people are way too paranoid. I mean, putting up a motion detector? C'mon, Rob. There are little critters everywhere that could've set it off. Remember last week when the alarm went off and we found out it was just a rabbit ?"

Chuck started to shuffle slowly back to his post. I sighed in relief. Thank God for that rabbit. But Rob was still standing stubbornly in his place.

"I dunno..." he said hesitantly. "What if it's not a false alarm?"

Chuck sighed, exasperated. "Then whoever it was must've been scared off by all of the lights and run away by now."

 Rob started walking slowly to the bushes I was hiding in. Then, he ran toward the flowers I sat on just recently. "Hey, Chuck, check it out!"

  Chuck trudged toward the flowers. "What—oh. Looks like we got a runaway, eh?"

  Rob crouched down on the flowers and examined them, then looked up to my window. "Must've been that Natalie girl. She's probably trying to run away again. I'll bet you anything she's still nearby."

Crap.

 Chuck laughed. "This'll be easy. She's just a sixteen year old girl. All we gotta do is get her out of her hole and she's as good as caught."

  Rob stood up again and cupped his hands on his mouth. "NATALIE! Here, girly girly girl. I know you're here. Come on, show us your pretty little face!"

 They still had no idea where I was hiding, which gave me an advantage. As soon as the security guards turned away from where I was hiding, I ran from my hiding spot and landed on one of them with a flying kick. He crashed onto the ground face down. I bunched my hands together and hit him on the back of his head. With an "oomph" his head fell back and he was unconscious.

  The other guard roared and ran towards me. He grabbed my arms and twisted them to my back, turning me so that he was behind me. I groaned from the pain, but I wasn't going to give up that easily.  I raised my leg forward, knee foremost, and then shot it right behind me to his ankle, the way a donkey would. I heard a satisfying cracking sound as his bones broke from the contact of my boots on his legs. His hold on me loosened from his pain, and I shot out from his hold and kicked him on his stomach. He landed on the ground and raised one hand in surrender, the other clutching his stomach painfully.

  "Never underestimate your opponent, Chuck," I said, feeling a rush of adrenaline. I'd always wanted to have a cool last line after a fight. When I was sure he wouldn't attack, I took my bag from my hiding place and ran as fast as I could across the yard, the light shining on me like a limelight. As soon as I got out of the property, I knew I was safe.

 I was free.