Escape (Chronicles of Hart) (3 page)

CELLAR

Taking a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dim room, Grace calculated that she had overshot the main floor. She had luckily missed a run in with Walt, thanks to a locked door. Somehow she had made it to the unused basement of the church. A familiar cage sat in a far corner. It was where she had lived like an animal for the weeks while her windows were installed. Smiling at it she now realized that her own screams had probably instigated the ghost stories that had kept the town folk far away. A faint glow emitted down the stairwell from the light at the landing above. In the faint glimmer Grace could see the shape of the room extending before her. The ceiling hung low, showing the exposed beams and floorboards of the main floor drooping in places as the floor above slowly eroded away and would soon collapse into this disorder around her. Piles of broken church pews and podiums consumed the space. She quietly made her way through the room avoiding the rickety rubbish that had been stacked randomly throughout the space. She was cautious of her bare feet as she stepped forward, searching for a window, door, anything that might aid her in her escape to the outside world. She knew it would be unsafe for her to try the main floor at this point. Even if the door was unlocked that was where they would be waiting for her. No she thought, if she couldn’t get out then she would hide and hope they didn’t burn the church to the ground looking for her.

Grace stifled her breath as the guards paced overhead. As they returned to the main floor one set of footprints raced out the front door. They were probably searching the property in case she had exited while they were on the stairs. It was then that she realised someone else was in the room with her, breathing heavily from across a pile of rubbish.  She froze catching her breath as she looked back into the room and away from the floorboards above. Grace crept nearer to the source of the sound making sure to keep mounds of debris between her and the heavy breathing in case it was a guard she didn’t know about. Grace knew there was always one outside her door and another on the main floor. She had no idea whether or not the basement was guarded. It had been while she was locked down in the cage and she kicked herself at the thought that she had forgotten. She took extra precaution with her steps, afraid that she had overlooked a significant detail, one that could ruin her escape. As Grace peeked around a rotted out pew, a voice startled her.

“You don’t need to be so quiet, I know you are here,” It rasped, growing bolder. “Did you come back to beat me again, because I won`t tell you anything.” The voice paused to cough as Grace crept closer, stepping softly across the room, “Or have they told you to kill me yet, lock me up like they did the girl?” at this Grace stopped in wonder, he continued; “Hide me away from the world?” After a brief pause the voice became impatient “Well! Show yourself you useless criminal, stop wasting my time!”

“Shh...” Grace whispered. She found herself and stepped from behind the pew.
This must be the man from the yard
, she thought as she stopped short. She was wary of getting too close.  She grew concerned, realizing that he had known about the tower prison.
Who is he?
She wondered as she peered forward, willing her eyes to adjust enough to make out his features. He appeared as a dark shadow before her. He was still, save for the movement of his laboured breathing. He sounded as though he had asthma and the damp mould of the cellar was clearly a trigger.

As her eyes slowly focused, she began to make out more detail in the shape that loomed before her. The man appeared to be slightly older than Grace. He was tall with short dark hair. He stooped under the low ceiling of the cellar. He didn`t look to be very muscular, his slim awkward build seemed to explained how the guards took him in so easily. Why had he come here in so gallantly, throwing himself into danger? He couldn’t have expected to get past the guards. His mouth dropped in shock when he saw her and it appeared that he knew more about her situation than even the guards knew.  “Who are you?” Grace asked in a demanding whisper. She quickly realised that this was the first person she had talked to in ten years, unless you counted talking to yourself.

The man stared at Grace for a moment too long. A strange look passed across his face with what Grace was sure was a quick smile. The moment passed awkwardly as she stared back, he returned to a somber stare looking to the ground embarrassed. “Perhaps it would be best to talk in detail later,” he started mumbling at his feet ‘my name is Ethan,” he looked up expectant as she stared back at him with astonishment. “I came here to get you out.” The embarrassment was back on his face again as he shrugged awkwardly.

Grace stepped forward timidly checking him over. Could it really be? “Ethan? As in Ethan Evans?” she cautiously queried, looking him over with more attention to detail. The narrow features of his face were similar to that of the boy she once knew by that name. She furrowed her brow, concentrating on what she could remember of her old friends’ features.

“One in the same.” Ethan put forth, hanging his head in shame, “I am so sorry it took me this long….Grace…” he trailed off “…someone left me a note…it took me a while to figure it out...” he continued trailing off into a mumble, almost to himself.

Grace’s smile beamed across to Ethan. He looked up, caught in her beauty and couldn’t help but smile back. She timidly reached out to touch his face in disbelief. She had been alone for so long and a day before she tried to escape, here he was, tied in the basement after jumping the wall. She couldn’t help but laugh, he always was a fool. Quickly catching herself she looked up to the beam above her head. Covering her mouth, she paused for a moment listening and hoping she hadn’t just tipped the guards off.

Grace and Ethan had been childhood companions, their fathers had worked together. And at times, Ethan’s family had been more like a family than she could ever remember her father being. She had spent countless summer days and even school nights at the Evan’s estate. The Evan’s family butler had cared for Grace and Ethan while their fathers did business, usually out of town. She had missed him and felt a tremendous amount of guilt as she looked into his dark brown eyes.

She had watched his father die.

Ethan stood, bound to a post that likely supported the loose floorboards above. He was tied at the hands with what appeared to be a cheap necktie. She quickly weighed her options; trying to pass the guards on her own, not even knowing what was beyond the walls of the church, or taking Ethan with her for the small amount of help he may provide. It wasn’t a difficult choice considering the suicide mission he had embarked on to get here.

Grace approached Ethan cautiously eyes lingering on his face, now rough with age. He was no longer the young boy she once confided in. He appeared worn, likely from the very events that had led to her predicament as well. Grace felt sympathy for Ethan. She wished she could tell him what had happened to his father but now was not the time, not while their safety hung in peril. She tenderly reached out to the binding neck-tie, smirking as she discovered that it was wound so simply around his wrists that he could have undone it himself, if he had only tried.

“What was the plan?” Grace inquired timidly as she checked Ethan over for cuts and bruises. Peering intently across the storage room, she waited for his reply.

“First we get you out
.” responded Ethan. He was quick to jump into action now that his arms were free. Stretching them out, he winced at the numbness. “Then we can worry about the rest,” dusting himself off he reached into his back pocket, retrieving a piece of well worn lined paper. “This” he continued, indicating the page “is a map of the cellars, there is a tunnel out.”

“Why didn’t you take it
in
?” asked Grace shaking her head at his stupidity while remembering the guard jumping him on the front step, “It would have saved you time, and gotten you past at least one of the guards,” she joked still whispering, careful of being overheard.

“Because, it only works one way, all the gates are locked from this side.” Ethan answered rolling his eyes. Grace had always underestimated him. He passed the crumpled page on to her. “Keep this, and look it over carefully. If we get separated, move on without me, I
will
catch up. Okay?”

"It's a deal
.” Responded Grace, looking the page over. She traced the lines in the dim light, looking for the cellar.

Grace located the cellar on the page, looking up to find the corresponding mark etched into a pillar not far from the one Ethan had been tied to. He continued to rummage through his pockets desperately, searching for whatever else he had left with him. Walking quietly towards the pillar as quickly as she could, she read the instructions carefully relying on the diagram to compensate for her poor reading skills. At each checkpoint there would be a mark and under it a lock. The code read:
one, seven, nine, three, five and two.
Grace repeated the numbers under her breath, memorizing them .She looked below the mark on the pillar, finding a dial tucked into the wooden post. It looked like a fancy upside down triangle, scrolled delicately to look like angels wings. She turned the dial to the number one and gave it a little push in. It gave way almost immediately, sinking a section of the floor into a ramp leading down. Piles of debris shifted loudly as they slid into the cavity. Clouds of dust billowed up smelling of rot and years of waste. Grace covered her ears at the blast of noise as the debris crashed into the bottom of the incline.

“We need to move fast.” Ethan warned, “The guards must have heard that.” Quickly shifting through the piles of falling boxes and chunks of wood, he disappeared into the ground.

Grace was quick to follow, carefully pulling the dial out and twisting it away from the one, before diving into the tunnel. The ramp slowly rose up behind her crunching to a halt as it caught on the crates and pews that had slid down. The sound was loud enough to be heard from the street, leaving a dull ringing in her ears. Grace began to run trying to put as much distance between her and the noisy opening as she could muster before the guards came and caught her. The dark was overwhelming and disorienting, the air damp and musty. It smelled of something that could only be described as old. Parts of the path were damp and muddy on her bare feet, others slick and hard as if sections were made of stone. The uneven terrain slowed her and she stumbled on blindly through the pitch and roll of the tunnels below the church basement, feeling as though she were running into purgatory willingly. To her, anything would be better than the hell above her.

Grace had been accustomed to dim lights, after all t
hose years in the tower her eyes were familiar with adjusting to the darkness around her. The tunnel however remained dark even to her. Grace found her hand a wall to run along and relying on touch and smell alone, she continued moving at a relatively fast pace through the tunnel. She breathed steadily as her feet paced along the tunnel. She pretended it was the route to the police station she had been practicing alone in the tower. Even unseeing, it felt nice to know that she could walk in a straight line for more than three paces before walking into a wall. She could feel the damp creeping up her pant legs with each puddle she stepped in as it seeped through the thin fabric, absorbing it up like a sponge. The walls were dripping and she had bumped her head on a low rock, leaving it throbbing mildly. She timed her footsteps with the pulsating pain to keep herself going. She was in a hurry to put a distance between her and the church.

Ethan waited for Grace to enter the tunnel. He watched her duck in as the ramp tried to return to the cellar floor. He covered his ears at the loud crunch of the rubble being pinched in the entrance as it tried to close over again. The tunnel grew dark. Noises sounded further in over the ring in his ears, probably animals, thought Ethan.

He waited a moment longer, thinking his eyes would adjust, “Grace,” he whispered hoping she could still hear after the deafening crunch of debris. “Stay close, I have a light,” he continued optimistic that she was listening to him somewhere in the dark. He couldn’t waste any time waiting around. Soon the guards would be rushing down and with the entrance still open slightly, they were sure to know where Grace and their captive had disappeared to.

Ethan reached into his pocket and removed a small flashlight that the guards had overlooked. The light from it was dim and quickly absorbed into the darkness of the long tunnel. It cast an eerie green cloud into the tunnels thick air. He looked around for a moment, searching for Grace in the light. “You already left, didn’t you...” he mumbled into the darkness, disappointed that she hadn’t waited for him. Looking forward, his light didn’t capture Grace anywhere ahead in the tunnel either. He began to move quickly, hoping to catch her. The path was difficult, his shoes caught in the mud making suctioning noises when he pulled them out. He tried moving faster to avoid sinking in, stumbling twice where the deep mud became stone slab raised slightly higher as the softer areas had sunken in over time.

Ethan was not a very athletic kid. He had never played any sports, so keeping a steady fast pace was tiring on him. If his life had not depended on his escape, he would have stopped for a break by now. Adrenaline was kicking in, giving him an edge as his senses became familiar with picking out obstacles within the tunnel. He hoped he would catch up to Grace soon. He worried that he might have passed her. Every couple of minutes he would whisper, “Grace?” to see if she was close enough to hear him.