My Great Escape (Part 2): Chapter 9

In case I forgot to mention, it's raining in buckets. I've been outside not 5 minutes, & my clothes are soaked through to the skin.

I'm fucking freezing, & my hoodie weighs a ton now. So much for good planning...while I was researching train fare, I didn't take 5 seconds to check the weather WHY?!

Because OBVIOUSLY I had my sights set on freedom, have a one track mind, & am a top notch planner!

So now I'm clawing at the charcoal grey shingles on the roof of my parents' house, because if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer not to take a tumble.

-"Zoe! What can I do to help?!"

Griselda swoops down in a panicky blur, knicking my white knuckles with her razor sharp talons in her haste. Warm sticky blood mixes with cool rainwater. & I lose the grip I had with my left hand.

I slip a little more.

-"Fuck! Back off Gris! I'm gonna fall & break my head!"

-"I'm sorry!" She flutters up, & I lose sight of her.

I'm starting to breathe too hard, too fast. Deep breaths, I tell myself. You've done this a hundred times or more. It just wasn't raining so hard you couldn't see before.

But it doesn't matter. You don't NEED to see.

I swing my left hand back up, fingers fluttering across the shingles, looking for a grip. I find one.

I try to redistribute my weight, & spread my feet, the rubber toes of my sneakers getting a little traction.

Just a little.

I scoot down, ever so slowly. An inch at a time. Getting close to the edge.

I feel a small smile creeping across my face. Almost there. I'm gonna make it.


KA-BOOM!


The crashing thunder catches me off guard, & I lose not only my composure, but my grip. For only a split fucking second--but it doesn't matter. It's a split fucking second too long.

I go skiding down the roof, feet scrabbling, arms stretched out in front of me....fingers reaching. One of my fingernails catches & pops off & I hear a ragged screech.

& realize it's coming from me.

& someone's wailing in my head.

I reach the end of the roof & grab madly at the gutter--another fucking mistake--but who's thinking at this point. I'd have been better just to try to roll up & take the fall. I'd land in the grass; it wouldn't have been too bad.

But I'm running on pure instinct at this point, & I grab the gutter with both hands.

I never stop to think that it's too damn old; it can't support my weight. Or the force with which I make contact. Not rusted out as these gutters are. Has Dad ever even been up here, I wonder?

A jagged bit of rusted metal bites into my left wrist, right into the vein.

-"FUCK!"

I can't see the blood because of the wet hoodie clinging to my skin, but I feel it.

Warm pain washes over me.

I release my grip.

I let go.

I hit the ground with a thud. Cold wet grass on my warm face.

Not cold anymore.

-"Zoe!"

Griselda sounds far away.

My eyes are heavy. Fuck it, I'm just gonna lay here in the grass. Just for a little while.

I close my eyes, just for a minute, I tell myself.

Everything washes away in a dark crimson wave....