My footsteps echoed throughout the alley as I sprinted for my life. My pace quickened, and my heart raced as fear took over me. Tears started streaming down my face and blurring my vision as I started to realize running was of no use. I should have listened, shouldn’t have thought this was a joke. To me, this seemed a dream, but the pain was real. I felt trapped, and that no matter how hard I tried to get away, no matter how much I was protected, I was never safe. The fulminating footsteps behind me grew louder and louder, and I dared not glance back. As I turned the corner and realized I had hit a dead end, my heart stopped, and I knew so had my life…

------------------------





Sunlight poured through a bedroom as Poetic slowly opened her eyes. “Ehh, what a terrible dream…” she thought to herself, as she picked herself up out of bed. The girl drearily looked over her shoulder and at the clock. “D***it! I slept in again!” she said. Poetic quickly jumped out of bed, and fell over from the sudden rush of blood to her head. “Ouch…” the girl said as she rubbed her head. After getting up, she quickly slipped into some slippers, and ran down the hallway to the head of the stairs. “Morning!” her dad called from the bottom of the stairs just as she reached the top of the stairs. “Morning…” she responded with a bleak smile, still dazed from being woken late. Poetic drearily stomped down the stairs, and sat down at the kitchen table. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes. “Pancakes sound good?” her dad asked as he set down a fresh batch of homemade pancakes. Poetic looked up, and smiled. “Thanks.” the girl replied glumly. “Something the matter?” her dad asked curiously. “No, not at all. Just a little tired.” she responded. “Want to go back to bed? I can always drive you to school…” offered the dad. She shook her head. “It’s fine, I’d rather ride the bus since I’m already awake.” she sighed. “Coffee then?” the dad asked feeling bad for his daughter. Poetic shook her head once again. “Suit yourself.” shrugged the girl’s dad. Poetic then proceeded to grabbing a green glass plate from the middle of the table, and served herself some of the pancakes that were next to her. She drove her fork right into the soft, fluffy pastry, and brought it to her mouth. “So… good…” she thought to herself as she chewed. “Good?” her dad asked as he made coffee for himself. “Very.” said the teenage girl getting a little more awake as she continued to eat the ethereal pancakes. “Well then, let’s see what’s happening in the world…” her dad said as he sat down at the table in a chair across from her and opened the newspaper. Still mesmerized by the food, Poetic started to think about the school play she was in, and how hard it was going to be to attend play rehearsal on top of all the school work she had. “It can’t be that hard…” she encouraged herself, “It’ll be easy.”




After a few more minutes of deep contemplation, Poetic snapped back into reality and looked at the back of the newspaper her dad was reading. “New Parking Complex Issued To Be Built” read one of the articles. “Why doesn’t anything ever interesting ever happen in this town?” the girl wondered to herself as she continued eating. Her dad flipped the page, and she read the next article that was on the back. “Jailbreak in Summit County” read the article. “That’s not far from here…” she thought to herself while leaning in to get a better view. “Hey dad, look at the article on the back.” the girl told her dad sounding a bit more interested. “Hmm, alright… Says here a jailbreak happened two days ago. Probably nothing major and nothing to worry about.” her dad reassured with a smile. “Here it says the police have captured about everyone that escaped…” he said. “Come on though, if they’re going to break out of jail, at least do it right…” the man gawked. Poetic and her dad broke out laughing for a few moments until she looked at the clock on the microwave. “D***, d***, d***!!” she cursed. The girl quickly scrambled up the stairs to get ready for school. After running up the stairs, and down the hallway, she swiftly jumped in the shower, brushed her teeth, and got dressed.




Once she finished getting ready in record time, she glanced at the clock once again in her room. “Two minutes until the bus comes…” she thought to herself. Poetic grabbed her backpack, swung it over her shoulder, and ran down the stairs. “Woops, almost forget.” the girl said under her breath as she got to the bottom of the stairs. She went over to the kitchen table, and picked up her plate. Poetic started walking over to the sink, though, from still being exhausted, she tripped and the green plate shattered on the floor. “Really??!” she moaned while rolling her eyes. “I got it, don’t worry about it. But, hurry… The bus will be here soon.” her dad said to her reassuringly. “Thanks again, dad… I owe you one.” Poetic told her dad. The brunette started walking towards the door when the phone rang right as she turned the door handle… She hesitated. Her dad stopped picking up the broken glass and walked briskly towards the phone. “Get going!” the dad said while shooing her out the door. Right as he picked up the phone, Poetic closed the door behind her and ran to the bus that was waiting for her in front of her house.




Poetic boarded the bus panting from running so fast. She scanned the bus and looked for an open seat. After slowly and cautiously walking down the aisle, she found a seat right by one of her best friends, Kro. “Ehh, you don’t look good today…” Kro told her as she sat down next to him. “Thanks… That’s what all girls want to hear.” said Poetic as she glared at him. “Sorry, but it’s true.” The boy said apologetically. Once Poetic sat down next to him, the bus roared back to life, and she began her descent towards school. “So, did you hear about the jailbreak that happened not far from here?” Kro asked her. “Yeah, but my dad told it’s nothing to worry about though since the cops almost already captured all of the escapees.” Poetic responded cheerfully. “Oh, that’s good to hear. I guess…” Kro replied, sounding a bit bored all of the sudden. “Ugh, my bad…” Poetic thought to herself, “He probably didn’t want to hear that.” She could tell he wanted this town to be a bit more dramatic and exciting…




After that, Kro and Poetic started talking about the school play, and before they knew it, the bus stopped abruptly at the school and they walked off the bus. “So, you signed up for the play too, right?” Poetic asked as they started walking towards the entrance to the High School. “You know it.” Kro replied reassuringly. “Thank god… I thought I was going to be the only one! So you’re coming to the rehearsal after school?” she asked hopingly. “Yeah, you’re going too?” asked Kro. “Mhmm! Can you maybe give me a ride home though? I don’t want to bother my dad today; I’ve caused a lot of trouble for him already.” she added. ”What did you do this time?” Kro asked as they walked up the steps towards the doors of the school. “Nothing really, I’ve just kind of asked a lot of him already this morning.” replied Poetic. The boy laughed, “Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem.” he replied still laughing.




The two both walked into the school, and went to their lockers as they did every morning. First, they stopped at Kro’s. He fumbled with his locker a few times before finally getting it open. “D*** locker…” he said after it flung open for him. “You know… You should go talk to the front office, and get a new locker. This one is kind of old…” Poetic told him. “No way!” Kro snapped. “This locker number is my hockey number, I’d never give it up for something as silly as that…” Poetic sighed, “You and hockey… You sure do love it, don’t you?” she asked him. “Pshh, love it? I live for it... You just watch, when we’re older you’ll be seeing me on T.V. all the time.” Kro told her, slowly starting to daydream. Poetic snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. “In your dreams…” she laughed. Kro glared at her and mumbled something incomprehensible as he got his books out of his locker.




Once Kro collected everything he desired, they both walked to Poetic’s locker. Once getting to her locker, she put her stuff in it, grabbed the things she needed, and they both walked off to their first class; Biology. When they both walked into Biology, they sat at their group table which consisted of three people: Shazi, Kro, and herself. “Hey Shazi!” Poetic and Kro both said in unison as they sat down. “Hey.” Shazi greeted the two happily. Once they sat down, all 3 of them talked about pointless things until the bell, indicating that class had started rang throughout the school. The Biology teacher immediately hushed everyone and began class.




After Biology ended, Poetic went to the rest of her classes. The day passed unusually slow to her, but as she watched the minute hand hit ‘3:00’ on the school clock, she jumped out of her seat and ran to the auditorium as fast as she could for rehearsal. Reluctantly, she was the first one there, so she started practicing the lines she was given for her part the week before. As more and more people started appearing, she put her lines away, and greeted Kro as he walked in. “Hey! Ready for rehearsal?” she asked him sounding overly excited. “Hehe, sure.” he replied. The Drama teacher who was in charge of the production walked into the auditorium and called everyone to him. He explained how the rehearsal was going to work, and issued everyone to a job while waiting for their turn. The rehearsal flew by fast for Poetic, and before she knew it rehearsal was over, and outside it was already dark. She quickly flipped out her phone, and checked the time. “8:30” it read. “Wow…” she gasped after realizing how long she stayed after. “Hey, ready to go?” Kro asked her. “My parents are outside waiting if you still want a ride home.” he told her. “Oh, right!” Poetic remembered as she quickly gathered up her stuff. Both of them quickly ran outside of the school, and walked towards Kro’s parents’ car which was waiting right at the front of the school. It was freezing out, and Poetic wished she had brought a jacket. As she got in the car, it was extremely warm, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Though, her relaxation was cut off…




“Oh, shoot!” Kro bursted out loudly. “Is something the matter?” his parents asked shocked. “I forgot a book I need for homework in my locker, is it okay if I go and grab it?” the boy asked pleadingly. “Sure, but hurry, it’s late and we have dinner ready.” the parents told him. Kro nodded in agreement that he understood, and sprinted towards the school. Poetic waited, and waited in the car for what seemed like forever. She checked her phone again, and realized he had been gone for 10 minutes. “Where is he?” Kro’s mom asked worried. “Should I go in and ge-… Never mind, I see him.” Poetic said as she saw him open the main doors of the school. “What took you saw long?” everyone asked as he got back in. “N-nothing. My locker was just being annoying.” he explained to them.




After driving for about 30 minutes, and getting lost along the way, they finally pulled up to Poetic’s house. “Thanks again for bringing me home.” she told Kro’s parents as she got out of the car. Kro’s parents nodded as she gathered her stuff from the car. Once they drove away, the girl started walking up her driveway and noticed her house lights were off. “Hmm, that’s strange” she said as she walked to the front door. The brunette grabbed a gold key from under the door mat, and opened the front door. “Hello?” she called out as she walked inside and took her shoes off. It was pitch dark, and she squinted to find the light switch. After feeling along the wall for the switch, she finally found it, and flipped it. The house illuminated in light, and she walked in further. “Hello...? Dad…?” she called. No answer. “Hellooo…?” she yelled as she walked even further into the house. “Maybe he’s in the kitchen…” she thought to herself as she ran into the kitchen. “Oww! Son of a b****!” she said as she felt a searing pain in her foot. She looked down and noticed that the glass on the floor was still there… “That’s odd…” she thought to herself as she sat down on the floor and winced as she ripped a piece of glass from her foot. Blood gushed out as she pulled it from herself. After getting over the pain, she stood up and hobbled to the cabinet to get some gauze to dress the wound. As she reached for some, she noticed a red light beeping on the voicemail machine notifying her she had one unheard message. After tending her wound, she hit a button on the machine and listened to the message. At first, all she heard was static, but as the message continued she could make out someone breathing heavily and the sound of something or someone in severe torment. The message continued for about 10 more seconds, and then it suddenly ended. Her heart started to pound after she heard the message… “Dad?!!!” she yelled as she got down from the counter. “Dad?!” she called again as she started to look around the house, her eyes starting to get filled with tears as she became worried. “Dad?! Are you here? It’s me, Poetic!” she yelled, her voice getting cracked up. “DAD?!” she yelled one last time, tears starting to pour from her eyes, causing her mascara to run. Still, there was no answer…