When Darkness Falls (Book 1, the Darkness Falls Series)

Chapter Seven

My eyes drifted towards the window. It was a two-story drop from my bedroom to the ground, too high to jump but not too high to climb. Ivy curled up the walls, some creepers as thick as branches, seizing the house in a strangle-hold. If I was careful, I could use the ivy as a ladder.  

The window creaked slightly as I eased it open, and I held my breath. Every fraction of movement sounded magnified in the silence of my bedroom. I was half-convinced everyone could hear it, and any second now Noah would burst in and demand to know what I was doing.  

But no one came. I eased the window half-open, just enough for me to squeeze out. Then I hesitated. The time I spent with Riley was the only real act of rebellion I'd ever dared, and even then I only did it because I knew I could get away with it. What I was planning was crossing the line Noah had let me draw in the sand, and I didn't want to think what would happen if he caught me.  

Sitting on the windowsill, I hovered between two worlds, the cage I'd been raised in and the freedom of the outside. I chose the outside. 

As I was swinging my legs out of the window, I glanced across at Sophie's bed. And found her staring right back at me. Panic leaped through me like a wild thing, and I clutched at the window-frame to keep myself from falling.  

Seconds that felt like hours stretched between us. I hadn't even made it out of the window and already I was busted. I opened my mouth - to plead my case, I think - and Sophie promptly closed her eyes.  I gaped at her. Sophie knew what I was doing and she wasn't going to stop me. Gratitude surged through me.  

I slithered out of the window. A breeze murmured through the trees, caressing my face and for a moment I hung where I was, my fingers gripping the gnarled tongues of ivy. If this was freedom then it tasted sweet. I'd have laughed out loud if it wouldn't have got me caught. 

Climbing down the ivy was about as difficult as I'd expected. Noah had trained me to shimmy up and down ropes like I was a monkey, but this was hardly the same thing. It was so dark outside that I could barely see any hand or footholds and had to rely on the surety of my own limbs to guide me, slowly and precisely to the ground. It was a good thing I kept my nails short, otherwise I would probably have torn them all off.  

I jumped the last foot and landed in a crouch. There was a light on in the house so someone was definitely up. I took off running in case that someone had heard the thud when I hit the ground.  

I hadn't stretched or warmed up before starting my run and for once I didn't care. My muscles were going to be sore in the morning and I didn't care about that either. This wasn't a practical jog, something to exercise the body. I needed to run, hard and fast, away from my house, my family, my life. I needed this freedom even if it was only a farce, a tiny taste of what I'd never have.  

Endorphins flooded my body as I settled into a steady sprint, my muscles warming and loosening. A feeling of calm settled inside my head. It was as if everything that had happened over the last couple of days was packed away back at my house, and I was running from it, leaving all the questions and all the fear behind. For the first time in the last twenty-four hours, I wasn't weighed down with doubt and worry. My body felt lighter, like I'd shed physical weight, like I could leap into the air and be carried away on the wind. It was exhilarating.  

I ran away from the town and in the direction of the woods. Thick trunks loomed out of the darkness like towering soldiers. I didn't falter as I plunged into the unbroken shadows. Something - probably a fox - scurried away from me with a startled bark. In the distance, the cry of a hunting owl drifted through the night. The last time I'd come through here, I'd been arm-in-arm with Riley, heading towards the sounds of voices that signalled the party. That had been the night I met Luke.