The escape

The lights wake me up. I know it was the lights, because its always the lights. I'm lying in a bed. My clothes are in a heap in a corner, but aside from those and the bed, the room is empty, blank white walls and ceiling with a single door in front of me. I figured it would be a good time to get up and get dressed (nudity is not my favorite thing in the world), and see where I was. So I did. Or rather, I started to. I sat up, then tried to get out of the bed, but my feet were tied to it. Ok, that is somewhat odd, since my hands are free. So I grab the ropes, untie the knots, and slip out of the bed. I grab my clothes and start to get dressed.

Just as I'm getting my pants on, I hear the door opening. Turning to see what was coming in here with me, I see a woman, young, well shaped, absolutely gorgeous. She looks at me, and says with a smile "And just where do you think you're going? We've hardly begun." As she says this, I notice she has a couple more pieces of rope, among other things in her hands.

"I'm just going to get going now" I respond. She gives me an evil eye, then, with surprising speed and strength, grabs me and shoves me at the bed. I grab at it to try and stay up, reeling from the blow. Even the mattress can't keep that one from hurting where my stomach hit. I turn to her again and she gives me another shove, but this time I'm ready. I shift a bit to the right, grabbing her wrist and using the strength she has to more or less throw her onto the bed. I can't keep this up, but I see her keyring, dangling on her belt' I hope it has the key to get me out. I grab for it, and she gives me a punch, followed by a sharp kick. I can feel both blows, where the bone in my arm feels broken from the kick, and where my shoulder took the force of her punch. But I have the keys, now. I run for the door, grab the handle, and swing it open.

I step through the door, slam it shut and turn the key, then take a look around. There are two men standing in this room, and a door behind them. Very big men, they aren't exactly the types of guys you ever want to see, especially not coming towards you. My fight or flight kicks in, and I start to shift back, hoping to draw a lunge from one of them. The one on the right takes the bait, making a lunge. I shift left, drawing him further off balance, then push off, running past him with a spin, heading towards the open door behind the two bouncer wannabes. The second one makes a reach for me, but the spin throws him off, he can't get a good grip. I make a push for the door, shoving through and into.... a hallway. It is empty, save the doors that line each side. The walls and doors are all white, just like everything else I've seen, but with large black numbers painted on each door, 17-2, 17-3, 17-4. I take off running towards the near end of the hallway, where there is another door, labeled with an emergency exit sign. I don't remember getting here, but that seems to be how I get out. The door has a push bar, so I just run for it. I hit the bar and the door swings open letting me out into another hallway. The doors are much more spaced in this hallway, and simply numbered. The one across from me is marked 18, and there is no indication which way I should go.

I decide to run right, and take off. I can hear the two thugs running behind me, and I can tell they will be making a race of this. I run, looking for any signs that this is where I need to be going. This hall, like the last, is empty, no people, no signs, just the doors. I notice that the end of the hall is approaching fast, but there is no exit sign over that door. I slow down, grab the handle, turn it and pull the door open. Not sure what else to do, I push through, even though the room is so bright I can't see. As I step in, my eyes adjust, and I can see the skylight. Well, more of an open roof, a glass dome keeps out the elements, but the sun shines brightly. In front of me are some bushes and trees, and the whole room smells like nature, like my hikes through the woods. The walls curve off to the right and left, giving me the impression this room is round. I turn right, following the wall, avoiding the shrubs, which can't possibly help me escape. There is a door on the wall, marked "A". I shove it open, but keep going. I hear my pursuers, still behind me, and I hope they get thrown by the door. I continue, passing another door, not opening this one. I hear the door I opened closing, and I don't hear my pursuers, but I can't be sure. I find another door, "C", and decide to try it. It opens, and I run through it. Another hallway, doors with numbers on them. I run down the hall, hoping to find an exit. As I run, I pass door after door, nothing different but the numbers. I'm nearing the end of the hall, and I hear the pursuers again, but much further behind. I kick the speed up again, as I can see the door at the end now, and the small light above the door, which hopefully means that that is the exit.

Suddenly one of the doors in front of me opens up, and a third thug enters the hallway. I try and maneuver around him, but the hallway isn't wide enough. He grabs me, and I can't get free. I lash out with a kick and a punch, thrashing with my arms and legs and hoping to hit a sensitive spot and get free. My thrashing hasn't made a difference, and the other two are fast approaching. I draw my knee up, hard, hoping to catch him off guard. I hit his groin hard, causing him to loosen his grip. I plant my feet, shove, and get free, breaking away towards the exit door. He tries to grab me, but he's still feeling my blow and is easy shake off. I start running towards the door again, making the best of the fact that he is going to slow down my pursuers. I hit the door, which has another push bar, running full steam through it. As it opens wide, I hear the alarms going off in the hallway. No time to worry about that now, I have to focus. I seem to be outside, in an open, grassy area. About a hundred yards in front of me the trees begin, filling the horizon. I keep running towards the woods, and I hope that will provide some cover. I look behind me, and the building looms large, mostly grey steel. As I run, the woods get closer, and I can see movement. Behind me, the door opens again, and I glance back to see the thugs, charging at me again. I call out, hoping the movement in the woods was friendly. "Help me! Somebody! Help!"

The movement in the woods stops, and suddenly I see it. A small man comes charging out. I can hardly believe it. He runs out towards me, stops as I get close, and waits as I reach him. He catches me as I run, grabbing me and pulling me behind him. The men chasing me stop about 30 feet from me, unwilling to approach the small man who came out of the woods. They look at him, and he stares back, making no moves, just intimidating the men. They turn, heading back towards the building, one of them shouting a warning "This isn't over. He can't always protect you, you know."

As they leave, the man turns to me. As he does, I can see him smile. "Welcome home. You've run to me, and I have saved you from those things that chase you. But he spoke the truth. I can't always protect you. But if you stay with me, there by my side, I can. When you walk away, you are beyond my protection."

"You've saved me, and you say you can protect me from those who wish me ill. But I fought them, and I survived. Surely I can go it alone." I start to walk away, towards the woods.

"You fought them, yes. But you can't win on your own power. You knew you had to get out of there, that that place would only cause you problems. You ran, and ran, and ran, but you got tired. They got closer. They came at you from a new direction. And you ran. And you struggled to get free of their grasp. They were catching up to you again. They would have eventually. I won't stop you from leaving, but can you make it on your own, if they come back? Can you make it to where you're going on your own? Do you even know where you're going? If you stay beside me, I can protect you. But only if you stay with me."

I stop, looking back at him. Could this really be? Those men, they hurt me. Trapped me in a room, chased me, made me feel pain. And they were smart. I only escaped because this man intervened. He waited for me to come to him, then he chased off my pursuers. But he said they would be back, and I know he was right that I couldn't take them. But would this man really protect me? "Ok, lets go. Where are we going, and what do you want me to do?"

"Come, follow me, and we will see many great things." He walks to me, a few steps from him, and then continues towards the woods. I turn and follow him, into the woods. I want to see these great things he says we will see. And I want to stay away from those men and their pain.

As we walk through the woods, the sun is shining on me through the leaves. The woods seem bright, friendly, like home. The man still walks in front of me, showing me the path through the woods. "What was all that? Why the room, and the pain? And how did I get in there in the first place?"

He looks back at me, still smiling, as he says "Well, here's the thing. They don't like anyone who wants to get away from their guards. You've been thinking about it for a while, yeah? You've known there was more to life, something missing that the guards didn't want you to have. And you started asking questions about it. So they made every effort to keep you. To see how much you wanted it. That's why the room. When you get isolated like that, and everything seems hopeless, so many people just break down and accept the prison. But you didn't. You wanted to get free so much that you were willing to run out of the hole you were in. You may not remember it, but you walked into that place."

As we walk, I ask more questions. And I start to feel so sore. My arms and legs, from thrashing against the man. My sides, where he grabbed me, and my shoulder, still sore from the door. In this peaceful time walking in the woods, it is so easy to look back on my escape, and feel my wounds. Wounds that will be bruises and scars, some day, but right now are just soreness and aches.

We approach a break in the trees, and as we come to the edge, I see the sun shining bright, and through the trees I can see a few small buildings. Brick walls, flat roofs, along a small street. A dumpster is overturned on the left, and garbage is spread out all over the street. The street itself is cracked, potholes all over, though it doesn't look like its been driven on for a while. There are no cars on the street, but a few mangled looking bikes stand in a pile on the corner about 200 yards from where we came out of the trees. "Where are we? Where are we going?" I wonder aloud.

"We're going to where there is someone else who needs to escape." As we step into the street, we start heading for a building on the right side of the street. The brick walls show signs of age, chips, fading, some spray paint in parts. The door is green and wedged open, though inside the building looks dark. We step in, me being bold and going through the door first. He follows me in, and I turn back to him.

"Where to now?" I ask. He points to the door on the right. I step up to the door and give a knock. The door swings free, opening in and showing a room full of junk. The piles are high, and I see boxes, bags, candy wrappers, soda cans, mixed in with games, movies, books, clothing, and other things I can't identify immediately. The smell of rot comes through the door, and I almost immediately gag. A pile of what looks like fruit that hadn't been touched is in one corner, and that is where the smell must be coming from. I push in through the doorway, looking around for anybody. I hold my nose, trying to block the smell, but that doesn't help. I look around, but I don't see anyone. I finally see the person we're here for, laying on the ground in the next room, with a larger man standing nearby. As he sees me approach, he turns to me, moving aggressively. I step back, and he sees the man behind me. He immediately stops, turns away, and leaves through a sliding glass door behind him. We approach the body on the ground, and she looks up at us. I notice that she has some dirt on her, and her hair is a mess, though the red color shows through strongly. Her clothes look as though they haven,t been washed for months, and she looks like she has been laying there for at least that long.

"Come with me," comes the voice behind me, "and I will protect you from him, so long as you stay by my side." The man looks at her, smiling, and she smiles back. He steps forward, in front of me, and kneels down beside her.

"I can't believe you came back for me. I'm so dirty, I can't possibly go with you. How can you even be in the same place as me? This filth that covers me, surely you can see it." She starts to cry, and I just want to go to her, and do something to comfort her. I start to step forward, and the man puts his arm out to his side and stops me.

"She must make this decision for herself. I will take her back, clean her up, but she must make that first step, again."

She looks up at him from where she lies on the floor. "You'll really take me back again? Even after I turned away from you, and came to this filth? Even after I led others away from you, and hurt so many, and hurt myself? You'll really wash me of this filth, and take me back?"

"Of course. I will always take you back and clean you up. Though I prefer when you walk with me, instead of coming and going," he says to her, holding his hand out to her. She grabs it, pulling herself up, and gives him a huge hug. She pulls away, and he starts to lead us back out the way we came. As we reach the street again, stepping back into the sun, I feel so good, like things are improving around me. I feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing, finding people in the mess, and helping them out of it.

She turns to me, smiling, looking so much more alive then when she was lying in the filth of that place. "I'm Sandy. I haven't been here in so long. Not since I was a child. But I ran away. I was drawn away by things that looked interesting, and I felt so safe, so in control. Like nothing could touch me. And I finally figured out why that was. When I was with Him, I was safe. He protected me. But when I turned away, tried to make it on my own, I was lost. I don't ever want to go through that again. I'm going to stay right here, by his side."

"And I'll stay by you, if you let me," he says to her. "There is a lot out there that wishes you harm, but stay by me, and you'll never have more then you can handle."

As we walk down the street, I look around at the things that are here. Many of the buildings look run down, like they've been unmaintained too long. I catch glances of people through many of the doors and windows, always with those big thugs standing near them. Many of them seem happy, smiles and dancing, but their eyes look empty, sad, hollow. So many of them just look like they want to run, but they don't know where to go. "Why do they all look so empty? Don't they know they can be free of those men that stand there? I've only seen one or two fighting or trying to run."

Sandy answers me, "Many of them don't know to call out. Many of them are happy, or think they are, because some of the things you do feel good. And many people can't imagine a life without the guards, who keep them from doing anything too crazy. Some of them can't even see the guards."

"But they hurt you. Why would you stay with them, not try and find something else, if they hurt you?"

"If you don't run and fight, then they don't hurt you. Sure, the scars from the things you do will last forever, but they don't hurt right away. And after a while, the pain from your scars isn't as much a factor as the good feelings."

"So what do we do about it? If we tell them that they can be free, surely they would come away from the guards and be free."

"Some will, some won't. But we don't know who."

The man steps into the conversation again: "And that is something you'll just have to try. Talk to people, tell them they can be free of their guard, if they just want to be. And I will be with you, when you need me. I will convince people, and if you turn to me when the guards came back for you, I will keep them away. You just have to turn to me. For now, I have to go help someone else. But I will never be further from you then you want me to be." And with that, he turns and heads into a building on the left.

Sandy turns to me. "So, should we go and find someone else who needs to see that they can be free?" She starts off towards one of the other buildings on the street. I look where she's headed, and I know for sure, that is where I need to go. I take a couple quick steps to catch up, then walk alongside her down the sidewalk. This is the beginning of something wonderful, and now I understand why I am here. There are so many buildings on this street. How long before we have visited them all? Talked to all those in them who need this freedom? As we go on, I know that this is where I belong.