Caged Body, Free Mind

Rising Fire

I can hardly take it. So many lies coming out of  what I thought was an honest man's mouth. If one word he said is a lie, then it is possible that all of them are. I no longer believe a word that leaves his untrustworthy mouth. Sure, I'll let him think he has power over me. He'll never know the difference. I thought I could trust him, but now it is obvious that I cannot.

On the contrary, I HAVE to get out of here. The time to act is NOW. I have been blind to it for so long, but it is I who decides my fate. I have the power to change my life for the better. I know this will not be the easiest path, but I also know that it will lead me to freedom. Somehow, some way, I WILL get out of here. Even though I am considerably weak to fly at this age, I will. My body may be weak but my will is strong; stronger than a hundred men. Soon the red glowing embers in my eyes will set aflame, and nothing will stand in my way.
Out of the ashes of my dreams,
out of the dust my soul has been reduced to,
I shall rise.

Ester found a way to sharpen a metallic rock she discovered on a branch close to her after a windy day. Even more to her advantage, it had the ability to cut through the steel bars, if given enough time rubbing it against them. However, with this newfound gift, she had to use it wisely. Although it would be quicker to escape if she used it on the cage's door hinges, Will would notice, and eventually find the rock and take it away. So instead, Ester began cutting through the bars with the vines wrapped around them.

For hours on Thursday, she worked at a gradually thinning point in the middle of the bars. By mid-day, the bar gave way. This minor victory empowered Ester to keep at it, for every spare moment she had was another second toward freedom.

For the next two weeks when Will visited, Ester took great care to hide the rock and the hole in the bars. She hid it inside one of her pillows on the other side of the cage where he couldn't reach it. She pretended to be her unaware, normal self. Will, on the other hand, was getting a little more strange. Whenever he handed her supplies he often held her hand and creepily stroked his long fingers on her arm. It made Ester feel very uncomfortable, and made it even harder for her to pretend to be blind to what his intentions were.

It was now Saturday of the third week of grinding the worn rock upon the bars, when a loud metallic creaking noise could be heard, before the fourth bar broke and fell to the ground. She couldn't believe her eyes. She was ahead of schedule, as she had been cutting nonstop.

She had finally cleared a hole large enough for her and her huge wings to get out of, so she began packing a small bag to take with her. She did not know how long it would be before she could get food again. In her bag she also packed two small boxes of her mother's gifts, a couple bags of tea, and a map  of the land she had torn out of a book. She also took with her her handmade astrolabe, an ancient tool for measuring one's direction by the stars. Ester had taken great care to mark her place carefully in order for her to plan correctly which direction of stars to take. She rested for a few hours, occasionally looking outside the hole in her cage at the now unobstructed view. It was nice, not seeing the bars blocking her view of the stars.