Hope's POV:

This is reckless, what I am doing. No doubt on that.

I placed the note I had written under the glass on my bedside table.

'Don't come looking after me'. It said in stylish handwriting.

Ever since I was little, I had been taught everything my father thought I should know. And that included calligraphy.

My backpack was full and heavy as heck. I had kept all my essentials in there. Food, clothes, my passport and money mainly. It was not enough to last me 8 months, but hopefully I will figure something  out eventually.

This is the most daring thing I have ever thought of doing, without a doubt. 

How would I exit the palace unnoticed? Where would I go? Should I reconsider my decision?

I shaked my head to clear my thoughts. "Remember why you're doing this". I reassured myself, thinking that everything will be  fine.

I only took one step further but then took two steps backward when I realized I was forgetting something. My phone.

I began looking for it all over my room but it was nowhere to be found. At last, I facepalmed when I remembered suddenly that I had kept it in the backpack since I had no pockets on my hoodie or on my yellow dress that I was wearing underneath. 

Am I sure about this? Apparently not.

I sighed. Sometimes my mind works in dumb ways. Let's hope this won't be one of those times.

Well, here we go.

I tried to cover most of my face with my hoodie. It was one in the morning and that's why the palace seemed deserted. You could hear the sound of a pin drop to the floor.  Which meant that I had to be as stealthy as possible. So step one is getting out of the palace unnoticed.

I just have to believe in myself.

I slowly and carefully opened my bedroom door, not to make any noise and peeked outside. The long corridor was dimly lit and empty. Perfect for me. I set one foot outside first, then the other and slowly started walking.

I only get one chance at this and I do not want to waste it.

**********

I took a deep sigh of relief when I was finally standing in front of the massive gate of the palace. It was not actually as hard as I had imagined since all the staff and my father were asleep at this hour.

I looked to my right and my left, and spotted a window at an approximately  eight foot distance. It was large enough for me to step outside, at that gave me great joy as it meant that I now only had two steps left. One: Get past the guards. And two: leave somewhere far away from here.

Carefully, I stepped outside the window and then closed it. I spotted three guards at a distance from the window. Two were nonchalantly chatting away while one was lost in the world of dreams.

I tried to think of some way to trick them. That shouldn't be too hard. Let's play the old "throw-an-object-far-away-and-lure-them-there-trick".

I rummaged through my backpack for something which was not of much use and would make a loud noise.  At last, I settled on a book I had packed which, I have to say, was pretty heavy. "This should work" I thought to myself.

I then looked around and searched for the farthest and darkest place out here. I grabbed the book and threw it as far away as I could with the force I mustered up.

It did indeed make a loud noise.

The two guards immediately stopped talking and looked at each other. The taller, skinnier one said something to the other indicating with his hand to the guard who was asleep. The other guard responded with a shrug and said something too which I could not hear due to the distance between us.

The tall guy nodded hesitantly before heading towards the source of the voice along with the other guard.

I squealed inside my head. So far, my plan was working perfectly. Soon, I was going to be out of this place and on a ferry. My mind was filling up with exciting and psychotic ways to spend these last months.  I will surely go to California first. After all, it was my dream destination.

As soon as the two guards disappeared into the dark, I began sprinting stealthily towards the massive main gate. 

I was getting closer and closer to the gate, until I abruptly started  to pant furiously, and came to a devastating stop.

The cancer was sure kicking in. 

I was trying to catch my breath, but my mind was filling up with the consequences I would have to face if I did not succeed in this escape. And that is why I had to keep running. 

An enormous amount of adrenaline spread through my body at that thought which encouraged me not to give up. 

Remember why you're doing this.

And so I, ignoring the pain in my abdomen, continued jogging towards the exit. At last when I reached there, I slowly opened the gate, which created a slight creaking sound but thankfully, it didn't bother the guard's sleep.

I quickly slipped out of the palace and closed the gate behind me before sprinting away again as far as I possibly could from the palace. After a minute or two, the pain in my abdomen intensified and became unbearable, forcing me to come to a stop, whimpering.

I leaned against a wall, calming down my rapid heart beat. My legs were hurting terribly to that extent where I just wanted to sit down in the middle of the road. But I knew I could not stop until I had boarded the ferry. The risk was too big. If anyone would be outside their house at this time, they would definitely recognize me as the Princess of Gelnesia.

After taking a few deep breaths, I gazed back at the palace and gulped, swallowing the lump forming in my throat and said the words,

"Goodbye, Father."