His Prize

Chapter 13: Escape Day (Part 4)

I'm awoken by the cold air nipping at my arm. Everything is dark. I'm still on the cloud bed. I must have fallen asleep.

I scan the room. Alex is nowhere to be seen.

The dinner plate has been removed. He must have come back to fetch it while I was sleeping.

I bend down to look under the door. The living room is dark, and the house is quiet.

Did he leave the door unlocked? I am allowed in the living room after all.

I slowly twist the doorknob, and it opens without a fight.

I step into the dark living room, and my heartbeat speeds up. This is my chance, the moment I've been waiting for. The thought of escaping breathes new life into me, and I immediately get to work.

I make a mental checklist. First, I need to figure out where Alex is located. He could be out or in his bedroom. The microwave says it's 3:27AM. I've never seen him stay out this late drinking, so he's probably asleep in his room. That means I need to be quiet. Alex located – check.

Second, I need to find a way outside. I have access to the bedroom, the living-room kitchen, and the bathroom. The front door is right next to the kitchen. I try turning its handle, just to check if it's locked. I don't want to open it yet in case it trips an alarm.

It doesn't budge.

The garage door is next. I tip-toe over to it and try twisting its handle. It's locked too. Dammit.

The only door left is Alex's bedroom. I guess I'll be going through a window.

I know the windows in the bedroom and the bathroom are reinforced. The living room's windows are much bigger than the kitchen's, so I'll start with those.

Some can be opened, but they have window bars on them. The panes which don't open are bar-free. If they were broken, I could fit through them.

I carefully inspect the panes under the moonlight. I'm searching for bubbles or any other sign that they are laminated.

From what I can tell, they're just normal glass panes. Lack of bubbles aren't enough to be certain, and if I try smash them and they don't break, it'll wake Alex, and I'll still be trapped.

After considering my options, I decide that it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'll bet my life on shattering these windows. If I don't escape, I'm dead anyway, so if worst comes to worst, all I'll have lost is a couple weeks of misery before he kills me.

Now, I've got to find a way to break them. I need something large and heavy. I try the kitchen cabinets, but they're all locked. Dammit – who the hell locks kitchen cabinets?

He's so neat that the kitchen is almost bare – almost. There's a large metal pot on the dry rack. It's got some weight to it. If I throw it hard enough into that window pane, it should do the trick. Escape route found – check.

Thirdly, I need some kind of weapon if I want to survive in this parbeing city. Just so that I have some way of protecting myself. A kitchen knife would be my weapon of choice, but everything is locked up.

I head to the bedroom and fish out the glass shard from under the mattress. This'll be my weapon. I use it to cut a long piece of material off the curtains.

I wrap it around the bottom half of the shard, making a handle. Once I can hold it without cutting myself, I tear the material off and tie it up.

I smile, rather impressed with my ingenuity and my new glass dagger. I practise my sword fighting in the air before returning to my senses. I don't have time to be messing around right now. I'm armed – check.