Chapter Fourteen - Part Two
1018 Words
Present
Ada crawled on her hands and knees and peeked around the edge of the counter into the rest of the shop.
There didn’t seem to be anyone else in there with her, but through the glass of the front she could see the back of a soldier standing post at the entrance of the shop.
She carefully looked around the rest of the shop without moving too much. When she was satisfied that she was sure she was alone inside, she carefully inched from behind the counter. Staying down low she crept over to a clothes rack. She quickly ducked behind it. When she was felt she was still undiscovered, she looked up at the clothes she was hiding behind.
Jackets.
She desperately needed a jacket.
She had quickly left the castle with only a few changes worth of clothes, what cash she had with her, her identification, and of course her phone. She had her identification and money in a small bag worn under clothes. Her clothes she had stuffed in a small book bag. Along her trek down the mountainside a strap on her book bag broke, and she was unable to hang onto it while also hanging on to the glider. It had plummeted into the forest where she could not recover it.
She had to destroy her phone when she made it into the town. When she realized he was using her phone to track her, she had removed its sim card and tossed the phone in a trash can. She put the sim card in her small concealed bag under her clothes. It probably was ruined by now. It was either water damaged from her sweat or broken from her tumbles across the roofs.
She was looking at having to continue her run into the night with only the clothes on her back.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she pondered the moral dilemma of stealing the jacket.
She looked around the shop and saw more items of clothing necessities that she needed. Especially since it’s apparent she will have to leave this country by means of stealth.
Her roving gaze caught sight of a stack of business cards on the very counter she hid behind. She stepped out, grabbed a card, and ducked back.
She turned the card over in her hand, coming to a decision.
She’ll take what she needs, then pay them back later, saving her precious little cash in case she needs it later in the night.
Once she had made a decision, she moved quickly and determinedly. She slunk carefully around the racks, discreetly pulling things off racks that she’ll need. Including another bookbag.
With her arms full she crept back to the back area into a bathroom. She dared not turn on a light, she propped the door open and let her eyes adjust to the bleak dimness.
She stripped off her damp dirty clothes. She quickly went to the bathroom, making sure she didn’t flush the toilet out of habit and risk alerting them. She washed up at the sink, she used dampened paper towels to wipe off her body. She patted herself as dry as she could with dry paper towels.
She bent down to her small pile of clothes and pulled out a pair of clean underwear and a simple sports bra. She then pulled out a pair of jeggings and a teeshirt. The clothes stuck a bit on her damp skin but once she was situated, she twisted and squatted in the new clothes. Satisfied with the comfort and fit, she stuffed the other clothes of the similar like and style in the book bag she grabbed.
She quickly pulled socks on her feet and stuffed her feet in her shoes. She redid tying up her hair, then pulled on the jacket.
Grasping the bag by the handle she walked over to the bathroom window. She hoped it opened and wasn’t a refurbished window that was solidly attached.
She exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw it had a lock on it, which meant it did open. With a little bit of exertion, she pushed to free the window from the position it was seized in. The window gave with a POP! And a crunch as rusted metal debris fell away from the window frame.
She froze, panicking that the noise from the window was heard.
She waited several minutes, then she was satisfied it went unnoticed. She peeked out of the window and down both sides of the building to see if there was anyone posted in her sightline.
When she saw no one, Ada hoisted the book bag on her shoulders, then scrambled to stand in the window jamb. Bracing herself she jumped down from the window. When she landed with a whump she stayed stock still, again waiting to see if she was heard and someone comes running. She heard muffled voices, but the sounds clearest to her were crickets and the rustle of the bushes. There was no tell-tale rhythmic thudding of footsteps.
Ada got up and quickly stepped forward to the hedge that lined the small gap besides the building. Carefully lifting and pushing up branches, she was able to move through the bush and she found herself on the other side of the hedge unencumbered.
She brushed her clothes off of twigs and leaves, checked her book bag and small concealed bag were still present and intact. She readjusted her book bag and took off quickly, slinking along in the hedge’s shadows.
While she was up on the rooftops, she saw the layout of the nearby area. She had made a ‘plan b’ escape pathway.
She could no longer travel through this country through conventional means. She had to go on foot through the countryside and slip across the border into another country, then get home from there.
It was the rural area she had observed earlier that she was now heading towards.
She just hoped she didn’t look like a tasty snack to whatever wildlife that may be lying in wait.
- Writer
