The Escape

Everything was obsidian black. The same it had been for as long as I could remember. There were no windows, no clocks, nothing that hinted at the time of day. Time had no portion here. It was just black and cold. Always cold. I couldn’t tell if I was fat or skinny. Not that your size mattered, when you couldn’t even make out the outline of yourself, or view the fingers you held up.

But I did tell myself that I was beautiful, to put some ease to my mumbling mind.

Why was I here, in this condemned place? I hadn’t a clue. I didn’t know if my parents were trying to get rid of me, hoping I’d just finally die at some point. I barely remember their faces anymore. There were no visitors. Nothing, well, except for the scurry of a rat every now and again. It didn’t have to be a rat. Could have been something much worse, but I was still alive, so I guess not.

Today was quiet, I noticed. There were no receding footsteps of anyone to or fro from here. I pushed my weakened body against the freezing wall, trying my best to stand, my knees knocking against each other unable to hold my weight. But I had to do this. I needed to distract myself from my thoughts of finally ending my life, of crashing my head against the wall. My body moved against the stone structure, fingers gripping the small holes that laid embedded in the assembly to keep me up right. I leaned against the door of my dungeon; it was the only place that made a noise whenever someone thought to bring food.

My ears pressed against the cold metal trying my best to make head or tails of the situation. Unable to garner a familiar sound or rather any sound at all, I moved closer, palms pressing against it; leaning further in. The door creaked to my surprise, but before I could hold myself up, the door swings open, lurching my already weakened body forward and dropping me face down. I laid there trembling; afraid I’d be caught and too shocked from the overwhelming light that now enveloped my body from the open corridor. The wind swept over me, moving through my sleeveless clothes reminding me of how naked I was.

After being there awhile, I scrambled up using my arms to cover my eyes, unable to deal with the light. No one was around, I observed. Absolutely no one. Descending a few stairs everything started to come back to me. This was my home, there used to be guards, servants, people walking everywhere. But now everyone was gone and my door was unlocked.

I continued walking forward squinting, my eyes having lost adjustment to light, being kept in the dark so long. My gaze swept empty halls, abandoned baskets, overturned chairs and tables, every time wondering what could’ve taken place for them to have left everything like this. My knees buckled against each other, throwing me to the ground as I gasped finding everyone at the fountain across the ground. Something red was scattered everywhere and the man that was staring up at me had a dazed look in his eyes.

He was dead, they were all dead.

Willing myself to stand, I picked myself up from the ground needing to leave. If someone did this to my family, they’d kill me too if I stayed around any longer and more than likely they might’ve been searching for survivors. I didn’t have time to lose. I hurried out of the estate, ensuring to hide whenever I saw or heard anyone. If I got caught… I couldn’t afford to be caught. I’d only gotten free after all those years of being stuck in hell and if I could help it, I was never going back.

Not to the real one and not to the one they created.

Keeping an eye on the men who were busy shouting back to each other about something that wasn’t in the least pertaining to me, I rounded a column, only to fall dead in my tracks coming face to face with another. I stood still, his back turned to me, praying he didn’t turn around. Slowly, pulling my body I edged closer to the tall flower pot that was close by, missing his vision by only a second. I watched him from between the branches, refusing to breathe until he walked away. His eyes scanned over to where I was, large frame going rigid as if he could sense my presence. A heavy presence settled between us, like lingering rain clouds flashing with tightening for telling doom. I couldn't understand the enormous depigmentation of his skin that almost seem porcelain yet deeply translucent but was a real person. Another long gaze in my direction, as if he was playing a waiting game with me before the intruder moved off once more.

Who were these people?

And why do they seem so frightening and pale?

∞

I was stuck behind the enormous copper flower pot for the rest of the day. The strange looking horde seemed somehow to be searching for something, or someone. I could never catch whatever they whispered among themselves save for the one or two words of their master being completely pleased with their work. Whoever their “Master” was, they made short order of everyone that was previously here. It took superhuman strength to kill all those guards- to kill my father. That man would never die. Father was almost impervious to poison; he was skilled at fighting, and no one questioned his decrees. No none. Even if that decree was to kill me.

I wished I felt some shred of remorse for their death, but I’ve been locked away from people so long, I didn’t have empathy anymore. The only thing I knew was cold and darkness. Both were synonymous. Wherever it was dark, it was cold and wherever it was cold, was dark.

The sound of something crackling in the distance and constant thudding woke me from slumber, the sensation of heat against my skin. I almost screamed seeing the place completely ablaze. They’d set the estate on fire! Scrambling, I got up quickly ignoring the pain that shot through my back and the sudden dizziness that enveloped me from my immediate rise. If I didn’t escape now, I won’t have the chance again to feel that way.

I ran through the corridors hoping it would take me out to the main hall and to the large gate that they’d often left through. I kept falling as the smoke grabbed at my throat, clawing at it preventing me from breathing. I fell again, struggling to climb over a wall that had gotten damaged, rubbing violently at my eyes with ash covered hands.

I screamed once more covering my head as something blew up, sending debris flying all over the place, a burning piece falling just inches away from my feet. I was terrified to move, unsure where to turn and my body was giving out.

Taking a deep breath, I ran again, doing my best stay low, climbing over a few lianas, heaving myself up onto the top to get a better view. The gates weren’t very far off. I just needed to get there. I glanced back at the surrounding buildings realising the fire had taken down almost three quarters of the estate and was now steadily heading towards me.

I needed to get there fast.

Running on the roof, because if I went back down, I’d certainly die from the fumes, I continued forward, noticing that I was the only one around. They’d left the place to burn to the ground after slaughtering everyone, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be remorseful or incensed! If they hadn’t slaughtered them maybe I’d still be stuck in that godforsaken place, and now that they did, I was finally free. It made me wonder the type of monster they were keeping from the world. Was I horrible, would I do terrible things? Would some apocalypse descend if I remained alive? Or maybe I was ugly. I wasn’t even sure what my reflection looked like.

I gripped the wall of a broken building once again, aiming to get down from where I was, the flames now taking apart the roof, as I reached the outer court.

Then the worst thing happened.