The Lure of Adventure

Sam kissed me hard, refusing to let go while Nathan grabbed his bicep, yanking and tugging him back away, grunting in a strained voice that they were going to be punished by the sisters if they weren't there for morning roll call.

Sam's lips curved into a smile against mine and he left one more peck before turning his head away. "Alright, alright, I heard you. Say bye to Missy."

Nathan hugged me tightly and I hug him back, squeezing his shoulder and pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Stay out of trouble, please." I warn him when he pulled away. "And keep him out of trouble... As best as you can, anyway."

Sam beams, crossing his hands behind his back. "Alright Nathan, get moving."

He waves his brother past him to the sidewalk. I turn halfway to look up the block to my house which still stands with dark windows. Claudius is not awake yet, thank God.

"Okay, one more..." He kisses me again, pulling away to arms length and pausing. "Just one more..."

"Alright, alright, get moving before Nathan has a nervous breakdown." I shoo him away, laughing.

"Okay," he laughs, turning to walk off, looking over his shoulder. "I'll visit again in a few days... I got Monday night off!"

"I await your visit!" I call back. "Now, go, go, go!"

He and Nathan laugh, turning to take off jogging up the street. I watch them go until they became distant dark spots on the sidewalk and my lighthearted joy dissipated to sorrow. I now have to return to my home, as well.

I turn and go my own way, burying my hands in the pockets of my jacket, taking my time enjoying the early morning. It has already lit up enough that the streetlights have turned off.

I pick up the pace a bit, cutting across the neighbor's yard toward my bedroom window. I look around before reaching to lift the window open, I hurry and scramble up the low wall, squirming through my window and falling onto the floor with a low thud.

Immediately, I roll onto my stomach and stare at the door, lowering my chin to the floor to look under the door for approaching feet coming to investigate the commotion. No one comes.

I push myself up off the floor, going to the closet to find something to wear to bed. All the while, pleasant memories from tonight are playing through my head. I can't wait until the day comes that we don't have to sneak around anymore to be together... No one left to avoid, nothing to hide.

I climb into bed, pulling the blankets up to my neck and swaddling them around myself, closing my eyes.

~~~

I open my eyes, feeling groggy and disoriented. It takes me a few minutes to become fully conscious while I lay there face down in my pillow. I listen for the sound of life outside my door, but all I hear are the birds chirping cheerfully outside my window.

The window...

I bolt up in an instant, tripping over my feet to get to the window. I push it open the rest of the way, immediately searching the sill for the little prayer rock.

Confused, I lean out my window to look at the ground just below the window. I must have knocked it off when I came in. But no, I don't see it... It'd be hard to miss, since it's painted red with white lettering amidst a bed of other beige rocks. I scan the area and see it nowhere.

Okay, so maybe I knocked it off into my bedroom when I came in. I turn, looking at the floor around the window and getting on my knees to look under the bed. That's what I was doing when I heard a knock and looked up to see Claudius standing in my doorway, a bright but awkward smile on his face.

"Good morning... Did you lose something?"

I quickly shake my head. "No, I uh..." I pat around the carpet, searching for any excuse, but he already moved on from it.

"Well, when you get done there, breakfast is ready."

He turns and heads back down the hall. I watch him go and scramble to my feet, pushing my hair off my forehead and turning slowly to look all around myself. It's nowhere to be seen...

I look back toward the bedroom door, frowning in deep thought. Hadn't I... Locked that door last night before I left?

I walk toward it, pulling it halfway closed to inspect the inside lock. The keyhole is empty now.

I look around my room, searching for the small silver key. Then there, sitting on the edge of the vanity by the door, it sits. I snatch it up and inspect it in my palm. What the Hell is going on?...

Had Claudius been in here last night while I was gone?

"Missy!" His voice comes down the hall from the kitchen, beckoning me to hurry up. I huff a deep, impatient breath and put the key in the pocket of my pajama pants, walking briskly down the hall to the kitchen.

I step in and find him at the sink, merrily scrubbing some dishes in the sink, the little radio quietly playing tunes beside him. The phone rings.

"Go ahead and get started there, I'll join you in a minute... Excuse me."

He dries his hands off and leaves the kitchen. I rest my palms on the headrest of the chair, looking at everything he'd made set out on the table. Slowly, I walk around the chair, pulling it out and taking a seat. I could hear him talking quietly on the phone in the living room for a few minutes, and after a bit, I kinda zoned out and did not hear him anymore. In fact, I didn't even notice the long silence with no talking until he came back into the kitchen, startling me with the sudden boom of his voice.

"Just a scam caller." He says, immediately going back to work at the sink. I look up to meet his eyes as he says this and there is a change in his face. He turns his back and resumes his work,

He hums along to the radio while he works and I busy myself with filling my glass with juice, eyeing him carefully, waiting for him to say anything at all. Should I ask?... Will he just confront me about it?... Does he even know?

"Did you sleep well?" He asks without looking back at me, being the first to break the silence.

I peek over at him, trying to read his body language to see if he is showing any signs of anger or disappointment. He carefully dries a bowl and places it into the cupboard to his left.

"Yeah, great..." I reply quietly, clearing my throat. "I slept great."

"That's good. I always sleep better when there is someone else in the house. Don't like the big empty house to myself." He hums along to the song a bit, allowing us to fall into silence for a few long moments.

"...How did you sleep?" I ask politely to keep things conversational and light.

He sighs a bit, his shoulders raising slightly in a half-hearted shrug. "Not great, to be honest."

We lapse into silence again when I don't know how to follow up to that comment. He doesn't offer an explanation, either.

"Did you have fun last night?" He asks after a bit, his back still turned to me, scrubbing away at the pan in the sink. I reach for a piece of toast from the plate and set it in front of me, trying to look busy with the butter in case he looked back even though hunger is the last thing on my mind.

"Yeah, lots." I reply with some degree of forced enthusiasm. "I liked the movie a lot."

He sets down his cleaning supplies and turns, leaning against the edge of the sink to stare at me intently. His eyes narrow ever so slightly. "I'll bet..." He muses. The way he is staring at me feels like he knows something I don't and I suddenly feel uneasy.

My nerves get the best of me and I start to ramble to make up for the awkward silence. "I haven't seen many movies, so I suppose I don't have much of a standard or anything, but I really liked that one. I thought it was neat, a bit weird, but-"

"I thought you would like it," he hums thoughtfully, "it's a classic. The old tale of the girl thrust into a strange world where she has to learn new things about herself and make new friends to make it..." He falls into thoughtful silence for a moment.

"It reminds me a lot of you, actually."

"Really?" I cough, surprised. "How's that?"

"I imagine that you were in a similar situation at the orphanage, right? Making friends and just trying to make it to your emerald city?" He eyes me carefully as he speaks, and I feel like he can see through me in that moment. He fixes his eyes on my face intently, watching me very carefully.

"Sure... I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, I can see the similarity." I say, trying to entertain his theory even though I can't really see where he is going with it.

He nods slowly, burying his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants, looking down at the tile floor for a long time. "Though... I suppose you are actually very different from Dorothy."

He reaches over and turns off the little radio and the house falls into silence. He keeps his eyes on the floor as he finishes his thought. "Because unlike you, Dorothy did not sleep around with all the friends she made."

My heart freezes in my chest and I rip my gaze from the bread I had been half-heartedly buttering to his face. His eyes are still cast downward, his expression indifferent.

"W-What?" I breathe, unsure if I had heard him right.

"I imagine..." He muses, pulling something from the pocket of his khakis, rolling it around in his palm. "That you had a great deal of fun last night... Just perhaps you had more fun with them than you did with me."

He doesn't look at me, just keeps his attention on the object in his hand that I cannot see.

"Deuteronomy 22:21... Are you familiar with it?"

I stare at him, frozen. It is all I can manage to merely nod ever so slightly. Where the Hell is he going with this? Why does he think this is even appropriate to discuss, how does he even know where I went...

"Then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the whore in her father's house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you." He speaks clearly, the words well-rehearsed.

"My wife painted up many of these years ago," He says casually, rolling the little painted stone that had gone missing from my window last night around in his hand. "She painted all her favorite verses on them, so that she'd never forget and stray from the truth and the laws of being a good wife and mother."

A long silence followed before he spoke again.

"Tell me, did you do all that I fear? Did you stray from these words?"

"What do you-"

"Did you sleep with that boy?!" He yells suddenly, shaking the stone in his fist, rattling me. I stare at him wide-eyed. He'd never raised his voice at me, but now his bellow has shaken me and left me stunned in my seat.

"Allow me to be more frank, more on-level with you kids an how you speak and sin... Did you fuck that boy?" He asks with a sneer and a slightly flirtatious lilt to his tone. He lowers his head to look at me from under his lashes and bushy grey brow.

I can't even form a response to him to properly express the level of mind-fuckery he has presented me with. What the actual fuck is he on about??

"Were you out with that boy, Missy?" He asks again, slamming the small stone down on the countertop, his eyes narrowed in hurt and anger at me. He takes in a deep breath and his face suddenly smooths and he relaxed his posture. He gently pats the stone, burying his hands back in his pockets again.

I choose to ignore his question, presenting him with one of my own.

"How do you know that?... My nickname? The only way you could have known that is if you'd read the diary." I breathe, my mind racing, not even caring at this point about what secrets I might accidentally end up giving up.

"I was simply protecting my investment." He replies, cracking a smile like he'd just told a good joke. I feel sick.

"I hope you take comfort in knowing that I only did so to be sure you were being honest with me... And Missy, I was not exactly proud of what I read. It also brought me to the realization that you had in fact lied to me when I asked about your friend, that boy, Sam."

"Your friend Francine seems to have traveled an equally fated path. Is that what you want for yourself?"

I have no words for him, all I can do is stare at him slack-jawed with my heart pounding and my palms getting sweaty. Never before in my life had I ever been confronted quite like this, especially not by an adult. And certainly not in a way that I felt in danger of being physically harmed.

My silence remains as the minutes pass and he taps his fingertips on the countertop while he appears to be thinking. He takes a deep breath, perking up again.

"We'll finish this conversation later. I ran you a bath... You smell of him. You must feel quite dirty after the evening you've had, hm?

He meets my eyes and his gaze lingers long after I tore mine away.

"Thanks." I mutter, getting up from my chair and backing out the doorway, keeping an eye on him. He watched me go for a moment before turning his back to me again, turning back on his radio, and resuming his work.

I get into the living room and look down the hall to my bedroom, and just before it, the bathroom door is also open, the light on and steam rolling out the door. I look around the room, spotting the phone beside the couch. My mind is racing, my heart is pounding, and I am in complete shock. Had that actually just happened? What do I do now? Do I just run away, do I stay, do I call for help... If so, to whom?

I look behind me again and he is still busy and unbothered at the sink... There is a phone in my room I can use. But still... The problem lingers... Who do I call? This isn't exactly a life or death emergency. I could call Maude, but maybe she's in on it... I could call the orphanage, but maybe they would just demand to speak with him. I can't reach out to Sam directly... I am alone in the world.

I am on my own for now.

I creep down the hall to the bathroom door and peek inside. It is just as he said, the water pouring from the faucet into the rub, steam rolling off its surface. I frown and back away from the doorway, looking back up the hallway toward the kitchen. I won't be getting into that tub, I will be leaving.

I- I don't know how I'll do it... I'll just lay low until sundown I suppose, then I'll sneak back into the orphanage and flag down Sam and tell him everything. He'd leave with me now, right? Him and Nathan... We could go tonight, we could be over the Massachusetts border before midnight.

I go to my room and shut the door behind me, my heart pounding. I don't have many possessions to collect, it won't take me long.

I rush forward and drop to my knees at the foot of my bed, pulling out my suitcase, fumbling with the latch to pop it open. I push around the few items still inside, my uniform and some odd books, looking for the journal. Where the Hell is it?

I look around my bedroom, it's not here where I left it. It's not here at all... Claudius must have taken it, it'd be in their bedroom at the opposite end of the house, then.

I weigh the options in my mind, and come to the conclusion that I cannot leave it behind. It is all I have left of Fran, her last letter to me is inside. I have to get it back, but doing so means having to walk back past the kitchen doorway to get to his room.

Can I do it without being spotted?

I open my door and slink back down the hall, listening for the radio and the clinking of dishes in the sink. He's probably about done with it, I don't have long if I want to be in, out, and long gone before he notices.

I get to the edge of the kitchen doorway, holding my breath and peering around the corner. There he is, still where I had left him. I wait until he partially turns his body to put a bowl on the drying rack and I hurry past.

The door to Maude and Claudius' room is at the end of the hall. I push open the door and shut it behind me, scanning the room for the journal.

I move as quickly as I can without making noise or drawing attention. I go to the bedside tables and immediately start inspecting them. I rip open the drawers and browse the bookshelves, and when those places refuse to give it up, I run into the bathroom and dig through the cabinet underneath the sink.

"Where would I hide it if I were him?..." I mutter under my breath.

A thought crosses my mind and I stand up, turning to face the bedroom again. I hurry forward to the messed up side of the bed that looked recently slept in, it has to be his. I drop to my knees and wedge my fingers between the mattress and box spring, lifting it with all my strength until I can hold it with one hand and pat around in between with the other.

My fingertips graze something hard beneath and I snatch it, dropping the mattress to inspect my find. It's the journal!

I hug it to my chest, sighing in relief and getting back to my feet, hurrying to the door. I pull it open to find myself face to face with Claudius himself in the hallway.

"Well, hello, Missy... I see you're not taking that bath like I asked." He leans slightly to get a peek at what I had hidden behind my back.

"What'cha got there, hm?"

He reaches for it but I step back, staring at him coldly in silence.

I look him in the eyes, my hands shaking and my heart pounding so hard. He narrows his eyes at me, holding his hand out, fingers curling to beckon me closer to give him the book. I wouldn't.

I step forward hesitantly, beginning to raise my hand to pretend to give it to him, and then at the last moment, I broke into a sprint, raising my other arm to slam him back against the wall of the hallway as I rush past, taking him by surprise.

I scream as he reaches after me, his fingertips grazing my arm. I rip free and run as fast as I can.

I run through the living room and down the hall to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me and throwing all my weight against it. I slammed my shoulder against the wood while I dig in my pocket with my free hand for the key. The handle is jiggling and he's yelling at me while I am screaming back in terror.

"Open this fucking door, Michelle!"

I finally grab the key, fumbling with it to get it into the lock, turning it with all the force I can manage to override him aggressively turning the handle on the other side. With one final, hard shove, I slam the door shut again, closing off the gap he'd managed to make and I quickly turn the key.

I hold the key in place inside the lock, looking around my room for something to defend myself with. I look to the window, a feeling of hope rising in my chest until my eyes scanned down to the sill. The window is shut now, a padlock in place on its latch. He must have done that after I first came into the kitchen after he had left to answer the phone.

I could probably break the window, but how much time would that take me before he gets in anyway?

I scan in a panic before seeing the small corded phone on the other side of the vanity beside the door. I reach for it, straining to keep firm pressure against the door while grabbing the phone. I grab the cord and yank it toward me.

My hands are shaking so bad while I try to dial, I almost somehow messed up 911.

"Hello?! Hello?!" I yell into the phone, praying to God that someone has picked up. I have never used a phone in my life, did I even do it right?

"Hello, please, please please help me!" I yell into the phone while Claudius screams in the background.

"You better not be calling the cops!" Claudius bellows from the otherside of the door, pounding his fists against the wood. "You'll fucking regret it! I promise you, you will!"

"911, what's your emergency?"

Hearing those words on the phone was like hearing the voice of God himself in that moment, tears of joy begin to well in my eyes.

"Oh God, please help me," I beg, almost sobbing into the phone, praying that she could even understand what I had said. I strain against the door, my feet slipping across the carpet and my fingertips turning a deep red trying to hold the key in the lock. "My foster dad is trying to attack me!"

"Okay, miss, what is the address of your emergency?"

"Uh..." I look around in a panic, tears blurring my vision. I can't remember the exact address in my panic. "I don't know! I live in the Sunshine Court, uh... House 329..."

He slams against the door so hard it rattles under me.

"Miss, what is your name?"

"Michelle!" I sob, "My name is Michelle, please send help quickly, he's trying to break down my bedroom door, he's going to kill me-"

Suddenly, it is silent outside the door. I hold my breath, listening to his stomps retreating down the hall. I wipe my eyes and cheeks quickly to rid them of tears, trying to focus on what I need to do to stay alive and to escape.

"He left!" I say into the phone, my fingers still wrapped tight around the key in the lock, listening hard.

"Whatever you do, do not open that door until you hear sirens, Michelle, okay? I have them en route to you, stay on the phone with me, just hang on a little longer. Are you on the ground floor of your home?"

"Yes! I am... He's stopped beating on the door, it is quiet now..."

"Do you have access to a window that you could escape through if needed?"

"I do, but he padlocked it... I would have to break it to get out."

"Do you have a blunt object nearby to break the window, or to defend yourself with?"

"Um..." I turn, looking around the room. "Yes, I do..." I spot the wood chair by the window, it'd make a good projectile to send through the window.

I spin back around to face the door when I hear the stomps coming back down the hall.

"Oh no..." I whisper into the phone. "He's coming back... What do I do? Should I break the window and make a run for it now?..."

"Do you know if he is armed? Does he have a gun, or-"

Just then, a silver blade slices through the door, stopping two inches from my face. I stare at it wide-eyed until he grunted and ripped it back through, yelling like a madman as he wails on the door again. The axe blade crosses the line he previously cut and a few splinters and bits of paint break free from the door.

I scream in panic, stepping as far back as I can manage without letting go of the key. He slams against the door again.

"Open this door now!" He bellows.

"Michelle, what is happening? Are you okay?"

"He's breaking the door down with an axe!" I sob into the phone. "He's going to be in here any minute!"

"Break out a window and get something to defend yourself, the officers are almost there!"

I dart across the room and the phone cord strains to keep up with me at that distance. "I'm going to put the phone down to break the window!"

I set it down on the bed and pick up the vanity chair, shifting its awkward weight in my arms to get it lifted high enough to get as much power as I can into my throw. chucking it forward with all the strength I can manage. The glass shatters, bits fall all over the floor, bed, and sill.

In that same instant, the last of the door gave away and he reached through the splintering gap to turn the key to let himself in. I rush the window, climbing up on the edge in the broken glass, wincing in pain as I lower myself onto my knees to get through the opening.

I hear his angered footsteps coming into the room behind me and I reach through to grab the exterior wall of the house to pull myself through. Before I could do that, I feel two hands wrap around my ankles tightly.

I kick at his hands, but in one swift movement, he ripped me from the window onto the floor. I land with a hard thud, bits of glass poking my back and the breath knocked out of me. I cough hard, trying to roll onto my side. He walks away from me toward the phone, picking it up and holding it to his ear, his voice monotone.

"I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you, there is no trouble here."

He hangs the phone back in its cradle and turns to me. He had left the axe leaning against the mattress. I look at it and lock eyes with him and immediately squirm toward it. He rushed forward, landing a kick square to my jaw.

I reel backward onto my back again in the glass, groaning and sobbing in pain and in fear. He grabs the axe and tosses it out the broken window onto the lawn. He pauses to give me a disapproving look, wagging his finger at me.

"Now, you see my concern? A well-rounded, well-behaved child should never behave like this... With such bitterness, secrecy, and such disrespect. Especially to the person who just gave you a second chance at life."

He kicks me again, this time the toe of his polished leather dress shoe connects with my hip. I cry out in pain and attempt to crawl backward from him. He allows me to do so, watching me pathetically scoot until I am halfheartedly leaned against the wall below the window, bleeding from tiny cuts all over me.

Fresh tears roll down my cheeks as I glare at him, spitting blood and trying to take a deep breath to compose myself. I need to concentrate now if I want to make it out of this.

"Now, I asked you to take a bath, which I lovingly ran for you out of the kindness of my heart, a gesture of good-will, which in your case was undeserved considering what you have done. Now, you are going to get up and go to that bathroom and appreciate what I have done for you."

I don't get up, I don't move... I don't even breathe. I keep my eyes locked on his wide and fearfully until his narrow and he stomps toward me.

I scream as he reaches for me, grabbing my arms and wrestling them to my chest. He leans in close while he towers over me, his face red, jaw clenched.

"Get up."

When I don't move still, he moves away from my face, grabbing onto my ankles, pulling hard yanking me free from my place slouched against the wall. I scream at him, kicking at his face, flailing as best as I can manage until out of nowhere a hard slap comes across my face. I am dazed momentarily, seeing stars and my ears ringing, my skin stinging where his hand had connected.

In my stunned state, I am unaware of him dragging me across the carpet, out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom.

I still try to fight, reaching and trying to grab onto any ledge or doorway I passed to prolong the inevitable. I just have to buy myself some more time, even if it is just a few seconds... Just enough to make it until the officers arrive.

I clung to the doorframe of the bathroom like it is a life raft in a dark ocean. I curl my fingers tightly around the wood trim, digging in my nails and fighting to keep my torso semi-locked around it. He pulled hard on my legs and it loosened my grip, but I did not falter.

I hang on tighter, squeezing my eyes shut and straining hard against the pain and his pulls. Soon enough, he gets tired of this and grabs my forearms, ripping my hands free from the frame. My fingertips burn and I howl in pain, rolling back onto my back again, squirming against him while he fought me, eyes bulging and bloodshot to try and restrain my hands.

"Get off of me!" I shout into his face, swatting at him with my one free hand. I made contact with his neck, digging my nails into his skin. He screams, grabbing both my arms and lifting me slightly off the ground to slam me back down again.

He scoops me up off the floor while I kick and scream, dragging me toward the tub. I resist, planting my hands on he edge, pushing myself away while he tries to drag me up over the edge. I suck in a deep breath to scream again, but my head is plunged under the water.

I held my breath, fighting and trying to push up against the edge of the tub to lift my head out of the water. He curls his fingers into a fist in my hair, firmly holding me down.

I thrash, kicking aimlessly, scratching at him, trying to reach his arm to pull it free. My heart pounds harder as I come to the cold realization that I cannot overpower him he is much stronger than I am. I don't stand a chance .

This is it, isn't it? This is how I fucking die.