Chasing Sapphire

13. ESCAPE?

Silently, I walked out of the closet but not before covering my pink top by wearing his black coat. It won't help me disguise myself but at least, it's better than going out in the exact clothes I was wearing today morning.

I reached the window and after opening it, looked outside. It was the ground floor so I won't injure myself. The shower was still running in the bathroom so I had enough time. I carefully hopped over the window and then stepped down from it on the other site, almost crushing the poor grass with my weight.

I carefully closed the window from outside and then looked around. All the sides of the lawn were covered with walls expect one, that probably continued to the back of mansion. I silently followed the path that led me to the back door of the mansion. There was just one problem, the door was locked.

"Shit," The path ended where the gate was present, separating the mansion from the rest of the jungle. It was stupid of me to think that I could just leave the mansion easily. And even if I could, where would I go? To the jungle. The sun was about to set in an hour so I would end up spending the night in jungle, becoming the dinner of wild animals.

But there was nothing else I could do. There was no way to go back inside except going to Atticus' room and this time, he would definitely catch me.

As weird as it may sound, spending the night in the jungle seemed a better option than facing that man again. Those blue eyes had haunted me in my dreams for years; I don't want to look into them again.

With that thought in mind, I reached the gate and assessed it. I could climb through it with some effort but there was one issue. To reach the other side, I would have to jump and the gate was tall enough to crack my bones.

I extended my hand to touch the gate and the coldness of metal caused a shiver down my spine. Bracing myself, I gripped the rod and climbed on it with the help of the small shelves protruding from each rods.

It took me a minute to reach the top and from there, I looked down to the ground. I wasn't an athletic person so I didn't have that control on my body. If I fell down in wrong position, I might risk breaking my bones.

I closed my eyes and decided to risk everything for my freedom from this place. As I jumped, I braced myself for a hard blow or the cracking voice of my neck but nothing like that happened. The dried leaved built a cushion for me and the impact wasn't as strong as I had expected. Yes, my arm hurt like hell and my knees were probably bruised but nothing life-threatening at least.

After massaging my arm for a good time, I found the courage to stand up and walked to the opposite direction from the mansion. We were still at the edge of jungle and I followed my instincts to guide me out of that place.

His coat protected me from the cold and I stepped forwards in full speed, making my way through the shrubs. I ignored the thumping of my heart at the possibility that I won't make my way out of this place safely. But I had to take a risk.

There was something wrong with West family; I was sure of it. And most importantly, Atticus West wasn't an average rich person; there was something really dark and mysterious about him that nobody told me.

I had been walking for some half an hour when I heard a loud howl that numbed me for a minute. The howl was followed by another howl, a slightly muffled one. One by one, I heard almost five different howls coming from some distance.

I increased my speed, feeling thumping of the ground beneath me. The howls kept coming, the distance between us decreasing slightly. It felt like the source of these voices had spreaded themselves in the jungle and now were coming towards me, from different directions.

"Fuck," I cursed when my ankle twisted and I wobbled. I would have fallen down if there wasn't a tree there to support me. I took some deep breaths, the pain in my ankle and the feae in my mind enhancing my anxiety.

Another howl reached my ears and I cursed again. Bearing the pain, I walked in the forwards direction, my speed slower than before.

The sound of thumping of ground was coming closer from every direction. Sooner or later, they would catch me and tear me apart. I knew my death was close but I didn't want to acknowledge that depressing thought.

Adrenaline in my veins helped me forget the pain and I succeeded in increasing my speed, but it was all in vain. No matter how hard I try, the animals were approaching me and it was clear from the noises that they were much bigger than me.

Then there came a time when I stopped running. There wasn't any point in trying so I gave up and turned around to face the death; a part of me wishing that they won't be able to reach me through the maze of trees and I would be safe.

But it didn't happen. A black wolf finally found me. For a brief moment, it looked me into eyes and my whole life ran in front of my eyes. Sweet or bitter, it was my life and this was the potential end of it.

I closed my eyes and then the next moment, the huge black wolf jumped on me, throwing me back on the ground and straddled me. The impact forced me to open my eyes and look into the brown orbs of the scary animal, dripping with fury.

And then something strange happened; something that shook me to my core.

It changed into a man.

__________________________