Escape
Sep 07 ● 3 min read ● WRITE ON Magazine
Hazel leaned over, brushing her lips against her sister’s forehead.
“Goodbye.”
She fumbled with the window, shoving it open, greeted by a gust of cold air. She slid outside, her bare feet slipping on the tiles, her hands reaching out for the drain pipe.
“You ready?” Gale asked her.
Hazel looked back at her house with a mixture of sadness and delight. Finally. The West Gate. Only two guards on duty. “You take the left, I’ll take the right,” she whispered. It’s for the best.
Gale nodded, his face unreadable.
Taking a deep breath, she snuck behind the guard. She’d never done this before. It broke so many rules that dictated her people’s lives. But an uprise was coming. Hazel could
feel it in the air. It was all because of her. It was only a matter of time before they would come knocking at her parents’ door to arrest her. She kept telling herself she was doing the right thing. But what if she wasn’t? Hazel shrugged those thoughts off, focusing on her job. She raised her fist, leaping through the air, and smacked it down on the guard’s head. He stiffened, then crumpled.
The gates creaked open. Hazel stood in front of them, sunlight flooding through. A huge forest lay between her, and the other cities. Perfect.
“Get them!” someone yelled.
Bullets zipped over their heads. They hightailed it towards the forest, ducking, until they reached the edge.
Hazel turned around, pushing two fingers from her temples to the city, her final goodbye.
The guards hesitated, but didn’t follow. Hazel stopped, the image of her sister floating in her mind. She couldn’t leave her to the mercy of the guards. But it was too late now. She turned from the village, and followed Gale into the dark woods.