The Wish Game

Attempt To Escape

One day, about a month after I came to the capital city, I got an opportunity to escape. The day was April 7, 1998, and that day the guards were relatively lax. It was probably psychological; no one would have thought that someone would try to escape after a month of remaining in the luxury of the city.

Early in the morning, it was before sunrise. I woke up by a strange sound and found myself alone in my room. Surprisingly, the guards were not there. I got up from my bed and silently trod towards the door.

I opened the door, expecting the guards to be standing there and lecturing me to get back to sleep. But to my surprise, there was just one sleeping guy. I giggled and was about to turn back when a thought struck my mind, ‘I can use this opportunity to get back home. I am sure that my parents must’ve made that decision under some pressure.’

With that hope, I came out of the room and tip-toed to the main gate of the mansion. Most of the guards were asleep while some walked around the house. I went to a bush and hid behind it waiting for the guards to look away.

Within minutes, I found the opening I was looking for. The guards weren’t at the main gate and the watchtower near the house was manned only by a sleeping guard. I quietly snuck out of the main gate and tried to mingle in the little crowd outside.

I grabbed a piece of cloth lying on a boundary wall and began to walk with the crowd. I knew I had to hurry and at least get out of the city before they found out that I was missing. I kept on walking and by dawn, I was out of the city borders completely unnoticed.

I took a deep breath as I attained my freedom and sat by a riverbank to ponder over the next course of action. My intuition said that I should go to an unknown city and start anew, but I wanted to go back home, at least to get my answers.

Feeling deeply conflicted, I lay on the grass and wondered, ‘Should I go home; I don’t feel like it?’ I almost got lost in my chain of thoughts when a voice snapped me out, “If you stay out here, you’ll catch a cold.”

I turned around to see an old lady carrying a bundle of clothes on her back. “Are you talking to me?” I asked the old lady, who gave a benevolent smile and said, “Come with me, my house is nearby.”

I couldn’t help but follow her without any question. She led me to a little hut that wasn’t in a very good state. She offered me a seat on a wooden chair and put the clothes in a*****e. “You don’t seem to be from nearby. Who are you?” She asked me, offering some water.

I took the glass of water but hesitated to tell her about me, if she knew that I was among the selected participants, she'd immediately inform the authorities and I'd lose my chance. But after showing such kindness, I was reluctant to lie to her as well.

“I…I…am…” I could hardly speak with all the confusion in my mind. “Let me guess, you’re one of the selected. Aren’t you?” I went into full defensive mode, “How’d you know?” My eyes looked here-and-there for any weapon when she said, “That reaction told me.”

“What?” I was distracted for a moment. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell the authorities about you but you’ll have to leave as soon as possible because by now they’ll know that you’ve escaped.” The sudden string of statements made me even more confused.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked but she said instead, “You should get dressed up in proper clothes.” She showed me the bathroom of the shanty and I looked at my get-up, consisting of my night-gown and the cloth I picked.

I took a quick shower and got dressed in a set of clothes that seemed almost a perfect fit for me. She gave me a small dagger and some money, “You know how to use that? This much money should be enough to get you to anywhere you want. Now go!!!”

“But why are you helping me?” I asked and she replied, “You’ll know that later.” She showed me an elaborate route to a place where I could get a cart to get to my village. I got into a cart and told the driver to take me to my village.

The lady saw me off and waved as the cart began to move. I put on a scarf mask in order to hide my face and identity.