“Don’t you dare touch him!”

“That’s down to you... or maybe you’d prefer we took out the building? Fires can happen so easily...”  He was flicking the lighter on and off. I couldn’t breathe. “How many kids do you think your friends could rescue in time? Four maybe five...”

“You bastard, you stinking...” I made a dive for the floor. I wanted that gun. I wanted to blow him into tiny little pieces.

“Sit down!” He pushed me back. His eyes were black, venomous pools of hate.

“How much money do you think they’ll get if we burn the place down — and we will? A hundred grand, if they’re lucky?  Our offer is beginning to sound really good, don’t you think?”

He pushed away from me, walked a few paces toward the door before he turned back.
“We’ll leave you to think it over.  A couple of hours should be enough.  Oh and so you don’t get your hopes up... your parents think you’re staying at the orphanage for the night. I even arranged for a nice lady friend to pick up your meds and your emergency feed pack. I wouldn’t want them to worry...yet.” 

They were gone – with a thud of the door my world caved in.
What the hell could I do?  Tears stung my cheeks, dripped between my fingers. I was such an idiot. Daniel had tried to warn me, but stupid stubborn me just had to have the last word, wouldn’t listen... I wanted to scream, bang my head against the stupid wall!!

So just give up? It would be easy enough to finish it right now...No more problems, no more pain...? The voice in my head was all too familiar.

“No,” I whispered... “I promised him. I won’t just give in. I can’t...”

But how...
It’s hopeless, stupid to even try...

“There has to be away and I’ll damned well find it!” I was talking to myself or maybe a rat, but either way, it was working.
It wasn’t hope exactly but I was back on my feet.  What if I could reach that window?

I pulled down the sleeves of the jumper over my hands, hoping the extra padding would protect them. The table was old and heavy and by the time I’d heaved it into position below the small opening, my hands were throbbing.

I pulled myself up onto the table. It wobbled a lot, but I managed to reach up, leaning against the wall for balance.  The window couldn’t have been opened for years.  It took far too long to push the rusted latch across. The metal hinges groaned in protest as I pushed it open a few inches.  In the silence, it sounded like a shout. I clung on, expecting the door to burst open.

I waited long anxious seconds but no one came. I pushed it wider, managed to get my head and shoulders through the gap.

Nothing stirred; there was hardly a sound except a few cars in the distance on the freeway. There were no lights on in any of the houses and anyway I couldn’t exactly shout. Paul and his cronies would be bound to hear me. 

It was a long way down, maybe thirty-forty feet to the ground.
But there was the rope...

The coil of rope lay on the floor where Derek had dropped it, but that was never going to be long enough. Heart racing, I checked out the cupboard on the wall. Another thick coil lay in the corner.  It took precious minutes to tie the ends together. I’d seen enough adventure films to know what happened if I didn’t do it right. 

Dragging the rope up onto the table, I wrapped an end around my wrist; let the rest dangle from the window.  My heart sank. It had to be twenty foot short at least and I’d need to tie it to something unless I wanted to plummet to the ground... It was useless.

How long had it been since they’d left me? Twenty minutes, an hour?  Sweat ran down my neck, soaking the back of my blouse.  My skin itched under the bandages...

“Bandages...! You idiot, Phoebe, you’re wearing your own rope!!” I must be swathed in yards of the stuff, I thought, although whether it would be strong enough I had no idea.

There was only one way to find out.

Mom always wrapped me in at least three layers of the thin bandages when I was planning to leave the house. What she thought I was going to do, I had never quite worked out, but right then, as foot after foot unwound, I could have kissed her.

I would have to twist lengths together I thought, but even so, there had to be another thirty foot of length. I was really going to do this!

Not daring to take off the final thin layer, I still felt strangely naked and cold. My hands would suffer the worst.  Holding onto a rope as I slid down was not going to be easy.  

I could do with something to hold on to... something to give me a grip.

Where the solution came from I’ve no idea, but I grabbed that old chair. I only had to knock it a couple of times against the floor for it to fall apart. I ran to the door and pressed my ear to the wood, listening for tell-tale footsteps...

Nothing – No one was coming.

Twisting the rope around the bits of the broken chair back, meant I would be able to hang on, stretch down with my feet, take some of my weight off my sore hands. I tied knots in-between the makeshift ladder rungs – just in case.

The rafter above the window was the perfect height to tie off the end.  Slowly, I let the rope drop through the opening, terrified it was going to rattle against the wall, send them running up to the attic.

It took long enough just to pull myself up onto the window ledge. I swung my legs over and stared down into shadowy yard below. The rope fell short... impossible to say how far away from the ground the end dangled, but it was far too late for second thoughts.

It was now or never.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair,” I murmured and wished with every fibre of my being that my prince charming was waiting at the bottom to catch me!

Edited by lindajonesAuthor

A/N Do you think Phoebe can escape? What do you think about her nature?

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