Close Your Eyes

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I touch the end of the wire, shivering and lightheaded. Blood is dripping onto the concrete and I can hear footsteps upstairs. It has been hours, and I have a gut feeling that Damien is getting ready for work.

I tear at the sleeve of my shirt until it gives way, and then I tie it around my forehead tightly.

One end of the wire is needle sharp now, so I remove the wire from the other breast and begin to file it.

I work on it for hours. I hear footsteps throughout the day, but later on while I'm still filing, I hear more footsteps, and then forever later, the house is silent.

With two needle sharp edges, I creep up the stairs and sit in silence at the top step, listening for any sound.

I have no idea how long I sit there, but it's well over an hour, because I counted to three thousand, six hundred.

If I am going to escape, I need to do it while they are both at home.

If Damien is gone, Sabrina is awake, and there is no way to know for sure who is home during the day.

I am convinced it is night though, because I haven't heard any movement for over an hour.

Deciding the coast is clear, I kneel in front of the basement door and work the lock. After reading the book on lock picking, I locked my bedroom door and opened the lock with a bobby pin and my screw driver.

I work on the lock, reminding myself it is all about the tumblers.

After what feels like an hour, the lock clicks, and my heart begins to hammer in my chest.

I sit there for three hundred seconds, listening to silence, and then I creep down the stairs.

I put my wireless bra back on, and I shut off the basement light.

I don't want them to wake up from the light flooding the hallway. It is not worth the risk.

I walk in the direction of the stairs until my foot hits the bottom step.

Slowly, I climb the steps, and then I tuck the wires in my bra, and I slip out into the hallway.

I feel around the wall until I find the kitchen, and I silently turn on the light for the ice machine.

My mind and stomach are screaming at me to swipe some bread, but the wrapper is going to be too loud. It's too dangerous.

I shove the ties around my head over my shoulder, and I open the junk drawer.

I find my screwdriver, along with a longer phillips head screwdriver. This one would easily be able to unscrew an outlet.

Here goes nothing.

Since I understand bomb wires, I can certainly disarm a home alarm without raising any eyebrows. Chances are, Damien won't notice anything until he leaves for work and it does not beep.

I find a pair of scissors from the junk drawer, along with a photograph of Damien and Sabrina and grab both of them, and take the phillips head screwdriver and the scissors. I put my tiny screwdriver back.

I get the flashlight from under the sink and walk silently over to the alarm system.

The alarm reads, "occupied, armed. 1:14AM, Tuesday"

I unscrew the panel it is connected to and gently tug it. Sweat drips down my back as I silently click the flashlight on, looking at the wires

There has to be, like, twenty wires here.