Chapter fourteen
Fallyn
Darkness, like an old friend, cloaked me in shadow and silence.
The small hours between night and morning were more still than I could have hoped, not even the creatures of the forest made sound.
Ash would be asleep by now, but it had predictably evaded me.
Fatigue strained my muscles, my bones, my very soul, but adrenaline shot through my veins, giving me room to ignore the exhaustion for the time being.
I wasn’t sure what was bleaker, the darkness surrounding me or the darkness swelling within me, but I decided it was time.
I got everything into position. I’d eaten the food he’d brought me to keep up my strength, I’d rested as much as I could, and now darkness invited me with a cool, whispered breeze outside the window above me.
Yanking the thinnest bedsheet from the mattress, I threw it over the lamp before allowing it to softly illuminate the room.
Barely enough to see by but straying eyes hopefully won’t be able to see me either.
I stacked the chair onto the mattress as before.
It was time. I was leaving. So why was I afraid?
Why did my muscles freeze with fear, stiffening my joints?
Making every movement take so much effort?
Opening the window, I relished the cool, pine scented night air that beckoned me home.
I swallowed thickly. This was going to be a tight squeeze, and still I was going to have to maneuver in such a way that I controlled my fall to the ground below, lest I kill myself accidentally.
There was a window ledge which meant this was going to be nearly impossible to do.
Nearly.
But I was motivated enough to try.
I glanced at the two bedsheets, my plan falling apart even as I finished tying them together.
The length of them would not be enough to see me even close to the ground, and would lend me no aid.
By the time I secured one well enough to the bed and to the other sheet, there was no advantage to be gained.
I grit my teeth against the rising tide of frustration, my plan fizzling out.
Fuck the plan. Time to improvise.
Bracing against the chair and fueled by desperation, I hauled my body up, sliding through the window.
It was a tight squeeze, my mid-section sticking once.
A precarious tug from me could have been a problem if I’d overshot it, sending me tumbling headfirst. But my careful, white-knuckled grasp on the ledge lent me control enough to ease my body out of the window.
I now found myself perched on the ledge, examining my best way down.
It was indeed a tall second-floor window, which now that I looked at the stark drop to what I could only hope was grass below, I hesitated.
Fear, loud and belligerent, refused to let go of its grasp, but all I could think of was the male from my nightmares.
If it wasn’t Ash, I’d eat my own head. Fear drove me forward.
Run Fallyn!
I could face this, rather than be killed by him. I’d rather die on my feet trying, than sitting here wasting while the blasted sisters that made up the Fates decided what they wanted from me. And if they chose the nightmare, I would refuse to make it easy for them.
Swallowing my fear in a massive lump, I eased further onto the ledge.
There was so little room to move that I paused, examining how I would do this.
I had to mitigate the fall as much as possible, so landing feet first was the only option.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, I forced the image of breaking both legs out of my mind.
Grasping the ledge, I would have to ensure I held on hard.
Slowly, I let my body fall, one inch at a time so I could catch any mistakes I made until I hung over the ledge.
My feet dangling haphazardly in the air while holding on for dear life in the darkness was a specific kind of horror I wouldn’t forget any time soon.
I love you. Run!
My father’s words echoing back to me on a memory of a breeze shattered my welling fear for the moment, giving me the strength to let go.