My Choice to Leave

Hey everyone :) since i had time i decided to upload the rest of the story :) Enjoy!

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I walked back up the steps quietly towards our living room, praying that father was asleep already. I didnt want to speak with him at the moment.

"Where were you?" My father's voice boomed, startling me as i walked into the living room. He was drinking a brown-ish liquid. "Does it really take you that long to clean up that mess?"

I took a deep breath, head held high, " Dont you think you are a bit too harsh on the servants? Especially Clary. She is only 15 for goodness sakes! She is still a child."

Father looked up from his drink, "Excuse me?  You dare question your own father?" Father was clearly drunk. His face was red and his pupils were dilated and glazed over. He then stood up, and with his free hand father struck me in the face so hard the noise echoed across the room. This was like when Pierce left, father made up any excuse to hit me in any way, shape or form.

"I am retiring to my quarters now Arabella, I want you to think of what you have done and report to me in the morning." And with that, father left the room. I stood there stunned, i touched my left cheek. It felt how and raw.

After what felt like hours but must have been only seconds I slowly walked across the room  and looked into the humongous wall mirror father made Clyde install a few years ago. Father always told me i was special but all i saw was a regualr 19 year old girl with long brown hair and an oval face. Clyde once told me that my face was my best feature, causing him to look down at his shoes and blush. He said my aqua eyes shone like the ocean at it's best and my smile was gorgeous. I belive i even turned pink, which usually never happens. Father always told me to be strong and to keep my emotions in check. To show you emotions is to show weakness, he would always say that whenever he tucked me into bed when i was younger. But i am an adult now; i dont need my father to tell me what to do, i dont need anyone telling me what to do. I quickly but quietly ran to my room and grabbed as much money i could fit into my pockets in my dress (which was enough to survive a few years) and ran back downstairs to the cellar.

"Clyde? Are you still awake?" I whispered urgently, praying that he was.

The door opened and out stepped Clyde, looking as if he just woke up. His bed head made him look adorable but yet sexy at the same time. Focus, I thought to myself, do not get distracted. "Arabella? Are you alright?" His face was lined with worry, his eyes looking at the hand print father left on my face.

"Wake up everyone and tell them to pack their most valuable possessions, and tell them to pack as light as possible. We are leaving now!" My body was filled with adrenaline, knowing that if we were to all escape, father would blow his top and would get every single one of his tracker 'friends' to find us.

"Bell's, are you sick? Quick, come in first and what in the world happened to your face? What did master do to you?" Clyde quietly ushered me into his small room. I remember when Clyde arrived with Clary i helped them both decorate their little rooms, father yelled until his voice was hoarse but i didnt care. I finally made friends.

"I shall explain later. Just go get everyone; if we want to escape we have to leave hours before sunrise. I have enough money to hast a few years, hurry!"

Clyde looked at me as if i had all of a sudden grew another set of eyes but he quickly obliged. With minutes all 5 of the servants were up and ready to go, including Clary.

"Thank you Arabella!" Clary quietly whispered, "Thank you!"

I cleared my throat and everyone became silent, this was an advantage of being the daughter of a Duke, everyone listened. "I know all of you are wondering why you have been awoken and i want you all to make a choice. We are leaving Kingsbridge Manor, once my father wakes up in the morning we shall be forever in great danger. We will always be on the run and hiding; you can chose to stay here. These are your options, you can stay and live with fear everyday and get tortured or risk it and escape into the next province. I'll have you know that the next province is a few hundred miles away. We have to cross Kingsbridge River and we have to try and get over the humongous ravine. Keep this all in mind when you make your decision, alright?"

There was a couple seconds of silence then everyone quietly whispered that they wanted to escape. Even Ella, father's most trusted servant. "He treated me horribly; i would do the same to him if i could." She replied when we all gave her questioning looks.

"Are you all ready?" I asked, "We are leaving now."

Everyone nodded and Clyde took my hand, Clary took the other. We quietly exited the manor using a side door father didnt know about and Clyde gave a small whoop, they were finally free from father. As we ran into the woods, I thought to myself, i would rather risk it then to ever look at my father ever again. After what he did to my family he deserved all this. He never deserved to hurt Clyde, Clary or anyone else. We were all human and we all deserve to be treated equally, no matter what class we were on. I promised myself, I will get everyone over the border, if not i shall never forgive myself for as long as i live, especially Clary and Clyde. They are basically the only family I have left. It would mean the world to me if we find Pierce but i didnt get my hopes up. A chapter of our lives has past and we are all on a new one now. We have to get through every single page until we finish, we are against the odds but we can do this. Before heading into the woods i turned my head for the last time and saw the manor on the hill, my home. I spent my entire life within the manor walls; i never thought i would ever leave KingsbridgeManor.

"Arabella?" Clyde asked, "Are you okay?"

I nodded, i made my choice to leave and i am going to have to face the consequences. "Let's go."

With that, we all took a deep breath and scurried off into the night.

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I hope you all liked my first ever short story! Dont forget to vote and comment. It means the world to me :)