do. The door handle is absolutely fucked, and I can’t believe no one’s noticed. I guess because no one’s been closing themselves inside with me—they’ve just been coming through the open door.
I stop hammering and twist the handle. It won’t twist, telling me it’s locked, but as I give it a soft tug, the door opens up, revealing the hallway. The mechanism keeping the door closed seems to be broken as I realize that I can finally escape.
I look to the right and left, having no idea what time it is. The place seems quiet and rather dark, telling me there’s a high likelihood it’s nighttime.
I creep forward, deciding that I’ll just move quietly and quickly. Thankfully, these dumbasses hadn’t bothered covering my face as they led me inside, so I know the exact route to find my way out. With the door to the room firmly shut, I make my escape. Each step I take, I keep my eyes peeled and listen closely. I want to run. I’ve never wanted to run so badly in my life, but a simple mistake and I’ll be fucked, not to mention how much it hurts just to move at all.
A door slams, making me jump, and I hear voices, so I quickly look around me. There’s a closed door, so I rush over to it, praying there’s nothing inside it. I push the door open slowly, and when I see it’s a closet, I climb inside and shut the door.
“The boss isn’t happy about this whole police chief’s kid thing,” a voice I don’t recognize says.
“I’m getting the impression that the police chief doesn’t give a shit what happens to him,” a woman replies.
“I think it’s more that he doesn’t want to play by the boss’s rules. I mean, he did send that officer Shepherd shot to come break him out. Tony’s planning on opening these videos to the public, so I’m sure shit’ll start happening then.”
Yeah, my father won’t want to lose his image, but doesn’t Tony know he’ll be pitting the whole world against him? My father has to know that Tony’s the one doing this, but does he not care? Is Tony so determined to get his daughter back that he’ll ruin his career and risk imprisonment? All the while, my father’s doing nothing to get me back. Fuck… I swear he’s the one trying to kill me.
I wait until the voices disappear before pushing the door open and moving forward. I start past an open door and peek inside to where I see a window. It’s dark outside, so the night will give me cover to escape from the building.
I shut the door behind me and look through the window to see if I notice anyone outside. This could be it. This could be the route I need. Carefully, I push the window open and jimmy the screen. It sticks, but once I knock one corner out, the rest of it falls away. I keep it from hitting the ground, then painfully pull myself through the window and drop into the overgrown brush against the building.
It’s dark out here besides some lights in the distance, so I start moving and then hear footsteps.
I draw extremely still as I stand there and listen. Is there someone out here just wandering around in the dark?
My eyes slowly begin to adjust as I realize what it is a moment before it rushes me.
A dog.
Terror ignites inside me as it growls and barks. Convinced it’s going to kill me, I take off running and it quickly chases after me. He doesn’t seem interested in full-on attacking me, but he’s not going to let up on chasing after me as he barks loud enough to wake the entire building.
“Don’t kill, don’t kill me,” I say in a panic, but my voice gets washed away in his aggression.
This was my one chance. This was my only chance, but I won’t be able to break away from him like this.
And that’s the moment he’s snapped back, and I realize that he has a chain attached to him. Oh god. Oh, thank god. Now I just have to run and pray that no one sees me fleeing. The dog might’ve alerted them to my presence, but there is a lot of ground to cover if I can find a good spot.
Something obscures my vision in the dark, making me slow as I realize something’s not right. I put my hand out and it hits the chain