The moon hung low and big. She had never remembered the moon so big before. Its luminescent glow turning the black night sky a shade of midnight blue. It illuminated the path before her, showing her just where her bare feet should tread. She gathered up the hem of her nightgown and held it high, so as not to be slowed down by it. Her long dark hair flowing behind her as she ran. She knew she had left him sleeping, rolled over to one side...snoring. She had even double-checked, just to make sure the sleeping pills she had slipped him were working. She couldn’t take a chance of him waking up to find her gone. She couldn’t help but look behind her as she bound forward into the night and shivered a bit despite the warm summer air.
She thought now, as she ran away from there...away from him, how she had turned and surveyed the room once more before leaving, why....? As if it held some nostalgic memories for her, something other than pain, fear and heartache? The glow of the moon coming in through the skylight shone bright across the bed where he lay sleeping. She could see him clearly. He looked almost vulnerable and childlike as he slept. “Don’t be a fool” she reminded herself. She thought about how the corners of her side of the chocolate comforter were turned down ‘just so,’ so that she could gingerly slide out of bed, just in case he wasn’t sleeping as deeply as she thought. The cool gray tones of the walls and ceiling made the room feel more like a prison than a bedroom. Their black and white wedding picture hung mockingly on the wall near his side of the bed. The moonlit sky coming through the stark and naked double windows made the room feel unfriendly and even colder somehow, if that was even possible. He hated curtains, they made him feel “claustrophobic.” She laughed satisfactorily to herself as she remembered stepping back into the room just once more, to slide her feet over the plush carpet messing up those crisp clean vacuum lines he always demanded. It was silly she knew but it brought her great satisfaction nonetheless.
She hadn’t brought the map with her...she knew just where it was buried. It pulled her towards it, like a magnet. A pulling she couldn’t resist...a calling she knew she must answer...as if it were the one in need of rescuing. The path was narrowing and she knew it was about to become steep and rocky around the bend. She slowed and carefully lowered herself down the embankment, allowing her right foot to get a firm steady plant each time before shifting and shimmying side ways down the embankment. She trekked slowly knowing she needed to go faster but knowing too she couldn’t afford to be slowed down by slipping either. She was at the big rock now and leaned on it for better balance before turning once more to look back towards the house...her heart caught in her throat as she noticed the light in the attic window glowing its yellow betrayal. She felt the blood drain from her face and found herself nearly choking by the fear alone...frozen for a moment...the dreadful realization that he had woken!
She hadn’t much time at all now! She knew she would have to move quickly. Her only advantage was that she had gotten a head start and that she knew where she was going, while he had to rely on the map. Why hadn’t she just forged the map? She knew why....she was too frightened...convinced that somehow he would have known and his wrath was just too unbearable to risk it. He’d of most likely killed her this time.
She scurried as quickly as she could...trying to be careful so as not to lose her head start. She hadn’t worn shoes because she knew she could get through the woods quieter without them. Plus he always kept her shoes locked in his big tool box...it would have taken time and made noise that she couldn’t risk. She used her left foot to absorb the weight of her balance, while her right foot pioneered the way, making sure to find stable ground as she advanced. She could hear the river getting louder and she knew she wasn’t far at all...her right foot miscalculated and landed on a sharp stick, she tried to compensate for the shift in balance but at the same time her left foot slipped on layers of old decaying leaves that carpeted the forest floor and she lost her footing completely. She let out a stifled whimper as the sharp piercings of sticks and brush punctured and ripped at her flesh...gouging and scraping her all along her left side, while she slid helplessly towards the raging river below. Finally her hand was able to grab a low branch and hold on to it. She gripped it tight and just held on for a moment, making sure it was secure enough to anchor her weight, before trying to recompose her balance and steady herself up onto her feet again. This time she descended backwards down the embankment rather than sideways, as if going down a ladder and carefully lowered herself down the rest of the way. She was almost there, almost home free.
Once she got to the spot where she had buried it, she knew all she had to do was quickly dig it up and cross the river at the calm, shallow spot that lay just a few hundred yards down river. She knew her brother would be waiting on the other side just like they’d planned. Then they could go to the police with it. She would finally be free from that monster once and for all!
To find out what happens next read The Escape Part II
© Copyright 2010 Christine Maxwell All rights reserved
