Racing for Freedom
1431 Words
Silva’s POV
We race through the bowels of Exton’s dorms. My sense of direction is totally gone at this point.
Gio moves like a homing pigeon, assuredly going around corners and through service hallways like he’s done it a million times. If he wasn’t holding onto my wrist, I’d have been lost instantly.
“How the hell do you know where you’re going??” I ask as he keeps pulling me through this maze.
Without turning around, Gio laughs.
“Me and Max—we learned about all this from some upper-classman our first year. He showed up to sneak out of campus. We’ve been exploring all these old passages for as long as we’ve been here.”
Yep. Sounds like something Gio would do.
We take a sharp left and once we are around the corner, I see a small service shaft that looks like it hasn’t been used in ages.
“Up we go,” he says, placing me in front of him.
“Wait a minute,” I reply, looking unsure at the passageway. “Is this a f*****g ramp? It’s so tiny! How are we supposed to climb up this?”
“You’ll fit, trust me. I’ve done this a million times. Place your feet on either side of the ramp, use them like braces. It’s not far, only one story to the ground level. I’ll be right behind you, but we gotta move quickly. They might get confused down here for a couple of seconds, but they’ll catch up soon.”
I turn back to face the coal chute and shake my head. I really don’t want to do this, but what choice do I really have?
“Okay, fine,” I mutter, as I start clawing my way up the chute, bracing myself just as Gio advised. It’s definitely not easy, but I’m making progress.
“You know,” he says from below, “if the circumstances were different, I’d comment on how good the view is from back here.”
I roll my eyes at his comment trying to focus on what’s ahead.
“Enjoy it while you can,” I say, jokingly. He really has awful timing with his flirting, but It’s making light of all of this and it gives me a little bit of hope that when we make it out of this, maybe things between Gio and I will get better.
As I continue up, we hear voices echoing in the distance behind us.
“Sil, we gotta move, and fast.” Gio commands and I double my efforts to climb the chute.
I have to admit, while this is both terrifying and exhilarating all at once, there’s a part of me that can’t help but think about how filthy I’m going to be after climbing through a goddamn coal shaft.
“Ugh, I’d kill for a shower right now.” I mumble to myself.
“We can discuss that later. Right now, I need you to focus.”
After a few more moments of climbing, I finally see daylight. But a small grate covering the opening causes me to frown. “Gio, there’s something blocking the opening.”
“It’s okay. Just give it a slight push,” he replies. “It’ll open.”
I pray that he’s right and press against the grate. Lo and behold, It opens! I tumble out into the snow, Gio following right behind me. To feel the sun against my skin is refreshing, and as I glance down at my outfit I groan. “f*****g hell… this was my favorite hoodie.”
“I think being alive right now is more important.” Gio states, shaking his head as I meet his eyes.
“Fair point,” I sigh standing to my feet. “Where to now?”
“Follow me.” We take off once again, running through the snow towards the car park. It’s mostly empty since everyone is gone, but at least it’s a place to hide even if there aren't any cars.
Once inside, I stop to take a breath as Gio frantically runs toward the only car that is still there. It’s a little Peugeot and looks like it hasn’t been driven since the 1970’s.
I am able to catch my breath and run after Gio. “That looks like a death trap.”
He laughs, opening the unlocked car door before turning to me. “Would you rather stay here with them?”
“Well, no…” I mutter as I approach him.
“Good. Then I suggest you get in so we can f*****g get out of here.”
He immediately starts pulling out the wiring under the dash, as I climb in. His fingers frantically work over the wiring making the car come to life with a soft purr that then sputters every few seconds.
“Whose car is this?”
Gio pauses and looks at me a second, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
“It’s Mr. Fraunfelder’s car.”
Mr. Fraundfelder…
With all of this chasing and almost being killed a few times, I almost forgot about him and what happened to the innocent man. He spent a lot of his life serving that school and everyone adored him. He was such a sweetheart to everyone. It’s devastating. He didn’t deserve to be thrown into all of this mess.
A deep sense of loss fills my stomach as it turns making me feel sick. There’s no time for me to mourn right now though. If I can’t focus on what’s going on, we both could get killed. Looking back, I try to keep an eye out for any of the men who may have caught up while he hotwires the car.
Suddenly, there’s a gunshot in our general direction
I look through the window again and see one of those thugs crawling out of the chute. A few more coming up the ramp of the parking garage. “Um, not to rush you Gio…but I think you hurry up.”
“Why? I’m almost done.”
“They’re coming right at us!”
I am grateful that Gio knows how to do this. Given our families history on things, I’m surprised that I don’t know how to do it. Though it could be something to do with how my father likes to treat me as a princess.
Shifting into gear, the car rushes forward as I watch through the window. Three men race towards us, the snow making everything look blurred as the world passes us by. Between the gunshots ringing out through the air, and Gio’s quick glances out the window amongst his swearing—I feel like time is gradually slowing down.
I always knew growing up in the world I’m in that things could be dangerous. But I never expected the things my father used to warn me about to be real.
“Sil…” Gio’s voice cut me out of the daze I fell in. “Sil, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine… are you?”
My eyes glance to the blood covering his shirt, watching as he cringes and keeps his eyes on the road refusing to look at me. “I’m—fine.”
“Gio—” I try to say but he quickly cuts me off.
“I said, I’m fine. I need to get you somewhere safe.”
“Don’t you mean, we need to? I’m not leaving without you.” I tell him, refusing to back down. “Now, we need to get out of the country. Italy, maybe?”
He glances at me briefly, a smile playing at his lips before he shakes his head. “All this time, I took you to be some prim and proper princess that’s been sheltered. You surprised me today though. There is more to you isn’t there?”
“Gio—” I repeat, but he’s in his own world for the moment.
“First things first, we have to get out of Geneva. There’s probably men all over the city, searching for us everywhere. We can’t slip up, can’t let them find us easily.
“Who are those men? Do they work for you, or maybe for your father?”
“No,” he says, tone even, voice calm, “they’re not with me. I have no idea who they are, but I promise you this—”
He kicks the car into a higher gear and we speed off away from school.
“—we’re going to find out.”
- Writer
