All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 4
- The Great Escape-

-Clover-

I had a dream.

It was an odd one, but in a way felt very peaceful. I was laying down on a queen sized bed, in a room that had a royal blue and grey color scheme. The room smelt of clean linen mixed with a slight cologne fragrance.

Other than the bed the only other furniture in the room was two night stands on either sides of the bed with lamps on top of them, a six draw dresser, a flat screen TV mounted to the wall and a chair in the corner.

The only familiar object in sight were the white sheets that my body happened to be wrapped in and the two suitcases leaning against the far wall.

Then there was a lady, she was wearing a white lab coat and looked to be in her mid or late 30's.

Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Harris was the name she introduced herself as.

My head was throbbing and I was very confused, but she informed me that I was safe and had nothing to worry about under her care.

I probably shouldn't have been so trusting in this stranger, but she seemed to only be telling the truth. So I relaxed letting her listen to my lungs, my heart rate, take my temperature and blood pressure and start an IV.

By far this was the best healthcare I've had in over a year, so why not take advantage?

That was all I could remember from the dream before my mind drifted to darkness. And here I am now, waking up on my twin sized mattress in my ran down apartment dreading calling Mr. Jackson to explain why I was not at work.

I opened my eyes.

I was in a queen sized bed in a room with a royal blue and grey color scheme. The only furniture besides the bed was two night stands on either sides of the bed with lamps on top of them, a six draw dresser, a flat screen TV mounted to the wall and a chair in the corner.

The only thing familiar to me were the white sheets that my body was now tangled in and the two suitcases leaning against the far wall.

Connected to my arm was a pole with a now empty IV bag.

What the fuck.

Where was I? Who's house was this and how'd I get here?

The last time I checked it was sunrise and I was back at my appartment barely alive.

I was still barely alive now, but from my view out the window it was well past sunset and I wasn't in my apartment anymore.

The more my mind rushed with ideas of how'd I get here, the more my head throbbed. And the more I thought about who brought me here, the more my heart raced.

Sure I felt comfortable with that doctor but I thought she just apart of my dream, along with me being in this room. And even though I trusted her in my dream, she was currently no where to be found, which didn't help easy my nerves.

I was in someone home, against my consent. With no knowledge of how I even got here.

The only thing that made logical sense was I must've been kidnapped out of my home. And the only person or should I say people... I know that are capable of this is them...

The men from the woods, the gang that tried killing me and luckily failed. I'm pretty sure they'll make sure they succeed this second time around hence why I have to leave...now.

Ignoring the pain, I ripped the IV from my arm and applied pressure using the white sheet that I quickly untangled myself from.

Using the IV pole for balance I went straight to the door.

The door was not only locked but the handle was turned in the wrong direction. Whoever put me in this room wanted to keep me in because I'd need a key to get out of the room and I doubt they were nice enough to leave one on the nightstand for when I was ready to leave.

There goes Plan A out the window.

Speaking of windows—-

I shuffled as fast as I could to the window with the assistance of the pole. And just as quickly as Plan A went up in flames, so did Plan B. From the height of the window I could tell we were up on maybe the second or third level of the house and there was no tree close enough to assist me down safely.

I begun to feel extremely nauseous and panicked. There was no easy way of getting out of here unless someone let me out.

I looked around the room for anything that may assist me in my escape, a hair pin or paper clip to try picking the lock with but there was nothing in sight. This room was wiped clean of anything that might be useful.

Then my eyes fell upon a shiny dime sitting in the car by the window. It probably fell out of someone pocket while they sat and watched over me sleep. Not too far away from the chair was a vent that looked big enough to crawl through.

Taking this as I sign I let go of the IV pole and crawled over to the vent, pushing the chair aside in the process.

Luckily, the dime was slim enough to fit into the cross shape grooves of the screws that held the grate in place. And the more I twisted the screw to the left the looser it became before eventually falling out.

After the first three screws were out and I was working on the last one, I could hear foot steps and laughter not too far away.

The last screw fell onto the carpet, I pulled the grate from the vent pushing it to the side ready to crawl through but pause once I heard the voices getting gradually louder.

"Who's making food tonight, I'm in the mood for some steak and potatoes?" I couldn't pinpoint who's exact voice it was, but I knew it belonged to one of the gang members I met earlier.

And by the sounds of the foot steps, he was not alone.

There's no way, I'm going to give them a second chance to kill me without fighting for my life first. And like a light bulb flickering suddenly with light, I had an idea.

I threw the four screws, about a foot away from the vent, leaving it wide open. I tugged the white sheet that was semi soaked with my blood and laid it right near the entrance of the vent with the IV pole.

As fast as I could, I crawled away from the vent. Taking cover I rolled underneath it the queen sized bed curling myself into a ball as I heard the footsteps stop outside the door and the lock clip out of place.

As the door opened the voices settled down, as someone momentarily popped their head inside, before pushing the door all the way open.

"She's gone" one of the boys said, being the first to notice the empty bed.

The rest of the boys piled in, walking around the room confused to where I've gone. From underneath the bed I counted six pairs of shoes which confirmed my 'who took me here?'  Question.

"Look" one of the boys said, making me smile inside as they all walked to one specific area in the room.

They gathered by the vent. They were taking the bait!

"She couldn't have gotten very far". I knew that voice, it was their leader Demarco. I didn't have to see him for fear shoot threw every nerve within my body.

"Where does this vent lead?" Someone else asked.

"I don't know, but check the entire house. There's no way she could've left without us noticing" Demarco said, sounding irritated about this current situation.

"She has no scent, she won't be easy to find" Someone else said making Demarco sigh heavily.

Scent?

"She's still somewhere in the house. I could tell" he stated.

As quickly as they came in, five pairs of shoes left the room leaving one pair of all black Timberlands behind.

After a couple of seconds of Demarco standing in one spot, I begun to lose hope on my bright idea. The plan was to have them think I've escaped through the vent and once they all left the room I'd look for a way to get out of this house.

I did not plan on Demarco staying behind doing God knows what.

Just as I was on the brink of tears, the Timberlands walked to the other side of the bed and out the door, leaving it wide open.

This was my chance.

I dragged myself from underneath the bed and pulled myself to my two feet. With all the strength I had, I forced my body into overdrive ran out the room door and down the grande hallway where I found a set of stairs that led down to what looked to be the main level of the house.

As quietly as I could, I quickly descended the stairs. Being as careful as possible to not alert the boys where I was.

As soon as I got to the last step, I heard foot steps coming from the hall at the top of the staircase. Running around the corner, I took coverage behind a large pilar and watched as two of the boys passed the staircase and continued down the hallway upstairs.

Now that I got pasted two, there was only four more boys to get pasted.

I tiptoed to what looked to be the front door.

On the right side there was a coat rake, and a mahogany desk that held a vase of colorful flowers and a bowl with Ford car keys inside.

I had a gut feeling to turn around and the second I reached for the car keys a light on the front porch came on. Threw the stain-glass on either sides of the door I could see two more of the guys from last night walking up the porch stairs towards the front door.

I took the keys from the bowl and ran past the staircase that I came down not too long ago, and down a hallway before the could open the door and spot me.

I now found myself in large kitchen. The fire on the oven was on, warming something in a pot up. But I didn't have time to observe how beautiful the kitchen was, I was on a mission and my prayers were answered when I seen a clear glass door that lead to what I could only assume was the backyard.

I slide the door open carefully, just enough so I could squeeze out the back and closed it behind myself.

The cold air immediately attacked the skin on my legs, bare feet and face. I was already as sick as could be, I felt like giving up that very moment.

I could barely see a thing.

If it weren't for the stars up above, I'd be roaming around out here completely blind.

I took the stairs down the back porch two at a time, and I didn't have to look too hard to find the driveway that consisted of three cars and of the three cars there was a red Ford Jeep parked at the very end.

My head was pounding, it was hard to breath as I tried moving fast before anyone could spot me. This escape was taking every last ounce of energy right out of my body.

I ecstatics once I neared the car.

I've outsmarted these gang members, escaped death twice all while I'm this sick. While they were all inside looking all over the house for me, I was out here with someone's car keys ready to drive into town and get help.

Instead of using the remote to unlock all the doors in the car, I used the key to only unlocked the drivers side door. I didn't want to attack any attention with additional noise.

Once I was inside the car I quickly locked the door behind me, put the key into the ignition and brought the car to life.

The second I pulled out the driveway, the front door of the mini mansion house opened. Five of the boys piled out watching the car driving away.

—————

K_26ss