Escape-Short Story

Hello, hello! Today I bring a fun little short story I wrote for fun, starring Ava! XD It’s not my best work, but it’s certainly a chaotic, hilarious, and lighthearted snippet. Enjoy!

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So maybe it’d been a bad idea to release fifteen toads in Zaria’s bedroom, but for the record, most of it had been by accident…mostly. Maybe it had a little to do with her older sister being the leader of an entire city who tended to take punishments too far. Maybe it also had to do with Zaria hating her.

Ava squinted up at the ceiling, staring at the large crack in the plaster. She was ninety percent sure that the crack had gotten a little bit bigger since the last time she had been locked in her room staring at it. Which was only… She paused to calculate. 

Six days…not even a week!

Now, to be fair, the reason she’d been locked in her room this time had been for an entirely different—and less entertaining—reason, but still. Come on! How much of a dictator did Zaria have to be to lock her sister up again! 

Ava grunted, sitting up and gazing around her bedroom. There was no use in complaining, that would just make her feel worse. She brushed a lock of hair out of her face, taking a deep breath. 

The door was still locked, standing there like an immovable giant. As it had been for the past hour…or was it two…maybe three? 

She couldn’t really tell. All she knew was that her thoughts had long-since failed to entertain her and her barren bedroom hardly had enough things to look at—she made a mental note to change that later with some books and pictures on the wall. She was just stuck, staring at the ceiling and imagining things. 

She got up to her feet and stepped over to the small, cracked window at the opposite end of her room, fiddling with the handgun at her side. The glass was fogged up and far too dirty to really see out of, but it was enough so she could see down the seemingly endless drop below. A few other Shadow Lizard patrols strolled around outside, looking like ants. There weren’t many. She could possibly escape without notice if she wanted to…

Ava shook her head. There were so many problems with the idea of escaping. One, the window was locked. Two, if she was caught Zaria wouldn’t be too happy. Scratch that. She wouldn’t be happy in the least. And Ava’s punishment would be far worse than being locked inside her bedroom. 

But then again…

The last thing she wanted to do was sit around for hours or days. There were so many other things she could be doing…besides, she’d escaped before…

A small smirk came over her face as she stepped over to the small desk and tugged on one of the top drawers. It flew open, revealing a cluttered assortment of random objects. From batteries to coins to wads of paper. 

She began rifling through the assorted objects, throwing a few pencils and lime stress-balls to the ground along with a few random paintbrushes with paint still crusted onto them.

“Oh where is it?” She grumbled, pushing another lock of hair out of her face. 

Finally her fingers brushed against an odd piece of twisted wire. She gave a happy giggle then shut the drawer again, completely ignoring the mess of objects on the floor. She stepped over to the window again then bent down and began fiddling with the wire.

She grinned when she heard a click. People may underestimate her ability to get out of sticky situations, but they were wrong. She could get out of them every time. She could get caught, have everything taken away that could be used for escape, and locked up again and again, but nobody could trap Ava Emmer. She was a master at escape.

Ava pulled the wire out of the window lock and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. She opened the window slowly, making sure nothing creaked with how old the window was. When it was finally open enough, she stepped over to her bed. She lifted her mattress up. A strand of coiled rope caught her eye, among a few other objects. She snatched the rope along with the small leather book. She stuffed the book into her pocket and carried the rope over to the window. 

The drop was utterly terrifying…she couldn’t wait to climb down to the bottom. The smile on her face grew wider as she pulled herself up onto the edge of the windowsill. It took quite a bit of stretching, but she managed to reach the large metal pole above the window. She looped the rope around and around the bar, tying it firmly onto the bar. She gave a few hard tugs to make sure it would stay before tying it tightly onto her belt. 

This is either going to be something I utterly regret or something I will thank myself for in the future….probably both. 

She swallowed hard, sliding her body forward. She kept her eyes on the outcropping that the bricks made under the window. Her palms grew damp as she gripped onto the windowsill, slowly sliding her legs over the edge. 

For a breathtaking moment, she only felt air under her feet, but then she hit the outcropping. She was practically hugging the edge of the building, her knuckles white and her heart pounding inside her chest. 

After taking a few more deep breaths, she glanced around and pulled her feet off the edge. She dropped again, landing on the edge of the bricks with a thud. 

She cringed. That was far too loud…eh, it’ll be fine. She gave a small nervous chuckle and began climbing down the building again. Her heartbeat was ringing in her ears, but she did her best to ignore it. Everything would be fineeee… 

She slipped. 

Her heart lurched into her throat as she waved her arms wildly, trying to regain her balance, but it was a futile endeavor. She fell. 

A scream caught in her throat as she worried her rope wouldn’t hold. The sun shone brightly in her eyes, momentarily blinding her. Maybe it had been a terrible idea. Sitting in her bedroom would certainly have been better than getting squashed on the dark pavement below with every single Shadow Lizard patrol staring at her. 

She gritted her teeth, bracing herself as the pavement came closer, looking like a monster wanting to swallow her up. 

That’s when the rope grew tight. Ava bounced upwards a little then bobbed back down, right in front of a window. It took a few moments for her to realize the rope had worked. When she did, she finally let out the deep breath she’d been holding. 

Thank goodness… 

She tried to move, then found herself stuck. Oh great… She tipped her head up to find her whole body tangled up in the rope. 

But that hardly seemed the least of her concerns when her eyes caught on the window beside her. She glanced at the glass only to find herself face to face with Zaria, who was sitting at her desk, a mixed expression of shock and fury tangled up on her face. Her bright green eyes narrowed at Ava. 

Oh stars… 

Ava gave a sheepish grin, wriggling one of her arms out of the rope and giving a small wave. Her face turned a bright pink. She was in for it now.

At least I didn’t die…

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Until next time, 

A.J. Syngraféas