The Perks of Being a Freak (Editing)

69. A Caged Bird

The next morning, my alarm woke me, but my eyes were so crusted with dried tears that it hurt to open them. I stumbled to the bathroom and stood under the hot spray of water until I felt halfway human again.

I dressed for cold weather in a pair of dark skinny jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. I threw on my coat, and pulled on my mittens as I climbed down the ladder.

The door was still locked.

Were they going to keep me locked away even though I had school? Could they really do that? Wasn’t it illegal or something? This had to be illegal! I could call the police.

There was a note on the ground.

Lia,

We’re not allowed to talk to you or give you food or anything. I’m going to talk to one of the guidance counselors, because this is not okay. Just stay put. We’re going to get you out, I promise.

Seth.

P.S. I’ll tell your boyfriend. We might be able to sneak him in.

I grabbed my phone and called Seth, hoping that I wasn’t too late, and knowing that I wasn’t.

“Lia?” He sounded surprised.

“Don’t talk to a counselor,” I exhaled. “Don’t make this more complicated. I’ll be okay up here for now. I’ve got food and water. Just tell them I’m sick or something.”

“Lia this isn’t okay,” he said. I heard yelling around him, and realized that Seth must be with his friends in front of the school. “What they’re doing is cruel.”

“I can get out,” I insisted, scaling the ladder and looking around for a way out. The windows were still sealed, and I was locked in.

“How?” Seth sounded sarcastically amused. “You’re windows are screwed shut. The door is locked. It’s a cage, Lia. You’re a caged bird.”

“There’s a vent,” I saw, locking onto it. “There’s a vent that lets fresh air into the attic. I’m going to get out through it.”

“That is going to be so hard to replace,” Seth sounded exasperated. 

“Just don’t tell anyone,” I begged. “Aaron and Max will never forgive me if I get our parents thrown in jail.”

“You wouldn’t be getting them thrown in jail,” Seth groaned, sounding annoyed. “Their mistakes would get them thrown in jail.”

“Just don’t,” I begged. “Please.”

Seth was silent for a long time, and I tightened my hand into a fist. If he told people, it would only make this so much more complicated.

Then he grunted in agreement, and the line went dead.

I pulled my desk over to the wall where the vent was and stood on it. Inspecting the wood and plaster around the metal, I figured that I could probably kick it out of the wall with relative ease.

“And if I’m really lucky,” I murmured. “Mom and dad’ll be right beneath it, looking up, and it’ll hit them in the face.”

I grabbed the beam that ran from slanted wall to slanted wall across my ceiling and swung back. Growling, I used the momentum to plant my foot against the grate and kick it out of the wall.

It landed in a rhododendron bush.

It was a tight squeeze, but I’ve always had narrower hips. It was more my shoulders that were the problem. I tightened them into a streamline and squeezed out.

And then I was out of the cage.