A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 19

     August, 16 1963

The door to my room was noiselessly unlocked. It was around three in the morning. I shifted closer to the wall watching a man in a black suit walking in. In one hand he held a pillow and in the other a gun. I witnessed him firmly walking to my bedside and pressing the pillow to the place where my head should have been lying.

Everything happened in slow motion. The adrenaline spiked my blood, pushing the fear out of my system. A cold sensation of worry vanished from my stomach. My mind switched off all the thoughts, becoming focused on one and only thing – my need to escape.

Never in my life, I expected that kind of courage out of myself. When he made the first shot, I jumped out of the corner and pirouetted into the doorway, grabbing the side of the door and shutting in behind me. By that, successfully trapping the man inside. The lock was one sided. From inside the cell, it didn't have a knob or a keyhole.

The next thing I know, I was running by the hallway hearing gunshots behind my back. At the end of the corridor was a glass door that separated the main offices from the cells. I ducked my head, covering my face with my arms and jumped into the glass, breaking it and landing on my side. Instantly, the howl of sirens erupted in the air, alarming the neighborhood. I shook my head getting rid of confusion, and swiftly scrambled onto my feet and continued running.

While running, I tried several doors, and one of the handles gave in. I unlocked the door and sent myself inside. Ironically it was the office of my doctor. Thinking fast, I grabbed her chair and started hitting the window glass. The glass fell out of the frame and with a clink reached the ground. I looked out from the fourth-floor window not actually processing the consequences of my window escape. A little farther down I saw a tree of a solid build. I remember my heart racing and sweat pouring down my face.

My fate was written black and white.

I was certain that it was the last minute of my life. But when I heard footsteps rapidly tapping by the hallway going my way, something clicked inside me. I took a deep full chest breath and jumped out of the window aiming for the tree.

When I forced my eyes open, I found myself clutching to the branches. I haven't registered yet, the pain that pierced me through, just the howl of sirens and gunshots in the air. The next what drew my attention was a cracking sound and acting on instinct, I started searching blindly with my feet a hard surface. One of my feet kicked a tree trunk. And once I felt it, I used that foot to hook up to one of the branches and pull me closer to the trunk. One by one I relocated my burning palms to the lower branches and started making my way down. I had only two minutes to get off the tree and hide somewhere on the ground, and knowing that, pushed my physical hurt on the background. I reached the last available brunch and jumped down.

Instead of running into the darkness of the alley, I choose the opposite direction that led to a wide-open square. I had no idea of my location. This was definitely not Washington DC. But thinking it through for those two short seconds when my decision should have been made, I chose to go against nature. I was already defying the laws of this world, why not to continue going against the grind.

On the go, I pulled my shirt off and threw it away onto the different street to confuse the police. In the distance, my ear already had picked up the sounds of the police vehicles.

My feet were working, sending my body away from the horrible building that was filled with demons. I reached the beginning of the square and using the last of my stamina started running to the building on the other side.

Almost at the same time as the police had arrived, I've made my leap into a dark shadow of a silent narrow street. And as my feet touched the ground, I continued running. Not once I tripped or stopped to take a break. Only when the neighborhood changed its scenery to a poorer one, I slowed down and started looking for somebody's laundry items hanging outside that I could borrow. I knew that I wouldn't make far in my current outfit. I needed to be as casual and invisible as possible.