It's funny to think that the place that was once home to me is now the only place that I'm desperate to escape. What used to be a house with doors and windows is now a cage.

I feel like I'm claustrophobic. Although my old house is fairly big, the fact that I'm trapped is making it seem like I'm in the tiniest space imaginable.

I haven't given up hope just yet, though I don't have the slightest clue of what I should do. Should I hide or should I leave?

The best chance I have right now of escaping is by observing my surroundings, so I make my way to all of the rooms upstairs, to see where everyone is. There is one officer at the front door, one in the back, and two that are by each side. Dang it.

I stop and think for a minute, before I go downstairs. This should be the last place that I'd want to go, but if my timing is right, I should be able to get out without anyone seeing me.

My plan is to hide behind the front door and when—My train of thought is interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Shoot.

I guess I'll have to go with Plan B. What that is, I don't quite know, but I quickly open the door to the basement as Officer McEwan steps inside. I try to go down the stairs as quietly as possible, but they creak under my weight.

"Emerald, I need you to come here right now!" Another officer shouts.

I don't think that they know where I am, for I hear one of them say that they are going upstairs. I could make a run back upstairs and attempt to run out of the front door, but I'd rather not risk it all when there's another way out.

The basement window seems like my best option at the moment. I can't reach it however, so I stack up a few boxes and climb onto them. I look out of the window. There are still two police officers that are roaming around the perimeter of the house. I need to create some type of diversion to get them both to one side of the house so that I can slip out of the window without being noticed.

I'm looking around for anything that could be of use to create a distraction, when I see a box of fireworks.

My birthday is in the summer, and every year my family and I used to go down to a little cottage by the sea shore to celebrate. We'd always have fun on the beach during the day, and in the evening we used to set off fireworks.

The last year that we were supposed to go down to the cottage, my parents ended up getting in a huge fight about something stupid, and my father had taken the fireworks like he had my mother's belongings, and he had shoved them off to the side, never to be looked at again.

I grab the box, and head over to the other side of the basement, where there's another window. I open it up. Now all I need is something to light the fireworks with. I know that there's a lighter in my father's room, that he uses when he smokes, but there's no way that I can get to it with the other two officers upstairs.

I remember learning something about using batteries to start a fire in school, and I think I still know how to do it, but all I need are batteries, and there are some in the living room on the first floor.

I quickly make my way back up the stairs, and out into the hallway by the front door. I peek around the corner to make sure that the coast is clear before proceeding to the living room. I start frantically searching for the TV remote, which has a battery in it. After about thirty seconds of insanity, I finally find it under the couch. I take the battery out of it, and turn around to go back to the basement, when I hear the two officers coming back downstairs.

I make a run for it, but instead of going out the front door like I should have, I run back down into the basement. They're a few feet behind me, which gives me just the right amount of time to lock the basement door. I flee down the steps two at a time, and rush over to where the fireworks are by the window.

"Oh my god," I mutter to myself, remembering that I need some wire to start the fire.

I look around. The only wires that I can see are running electricity to the light bulb on the ceiling.

After turning the light off, I pull a chair over, and get up onto it. I can hear the men upstairs trying to get into the door, so I need to be pretty fast. I can't see any scissors, so I use my teeth to cut the wire. The light bulb falls out of the socket, and smashes into a million pieces on the floor.

Once I get a big enough piece of wire, I go back over to the window, and I get the battery from my back pocket. I clean off both ends of the battery, and touch the wire to each of the opposite ends. It starts to heat up, and in a couple of seconds, a small flame is created.

The door to the basement breaks open, and the two officers come bolting down the stairs. I light up the first firework, and aim it at them. A blazing ray of light spirals out of the container I am holding in my hands. It hits the roof and showers the two officers with sparks. I drop the firework on the ground, and it continues to shoot more fire out at them. I grab another firework, and then I crawl out of the window.

I never thought in a million years that I'd be attacking police officers with fireworks in my old basement, but then again life is pretty crazy, I think to myself as I start to run. The last officer outside spots me, and starts to run towards me. I can't have him finding out that I'm staying with Amy, otherwise it wouldn't only cause me problems, but her as well.

I try to lose him by switching back and forth between everyone's front and back lawns, but whatever I do, the officer does.

I guess that my distraction wasn't too beneficial, for the other three officers are starting to gain on me.

I can't think of any place that I can hide, so I keep running, until I come to the edge of the woods. I don't know these woods that well, as I've only been through them a few times over the years, but I decide that if I want to lose the officers, I need to keep running.

The shade from the trees contrasts the sky, and my eyes adjust as I continue running. I can hear shouting behind me, and I fear that I won't be able to get rid of them.

I try to think of something else to take my mind off of what's going on right now, but nothing seems more important than the task at hand.

I continue running until my lungs ache, and my throat twinges. I spin around to check the whereabouts of the police officers, when I realize that the sun is setting.

How long have I been out here?

The gelid wind weaves its way around the trees, hitting everything in its path. The faint sound of crows cawing in the distance is one of the few things I am able to hear. I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.

You never really take into account how many sounds you hear in a day. Be it the sound of someone speaking, or the sound of your footsteps, every little sound influences you in some way. Of all the thousands and thousands of sounds we encounter each day, how come I can't hear anything I need to hear?

I hold my breath as I listen for a sound. Any sound that can indicate which way I need to go to get back home, but there is nothing to be heard.

I am lost.

The last glimpse of sunlight fades away, and the sky turns a dark shade of denim. If I don't get eaten alive by a bear, It's likely that I am going to die from hypothermia as I'm not dressed heavily enough to withstand this arctic weather.

If I walk in the right direction, I might be able to get back to Easy street by sunrise, however if I start walking in the wrong direction, I could either go deeper into the woods, or come out somewhere completely different, far away from home.

I was never taught any real survival skills for being lost in the woods other than to hug a tree and wait, but how can I possibly wait for someone to come rescue me if no one knows I'm out here? If I don't continue walking, someone will find my frozen corpse in spring!

Without any clear indication of which direction I should go, I walk over to the biggest tree I can find, and begin climbing it, hoping to see something from a higher altitude. To my dismay, after several minutes of climbing, nothing can be seen but endless rows of trees.

Once I return to the ground I shiver, and wrap my arms around my body, hoping to distribute my body heat better, but that just makes me even colder. I pick a direction on random, and start walking. I make a promise to myself that if I make it out alive, I will never venture out into the cold without warm clothing ever again.

On the bright side, at least I've lost my unwanted company! I chuckle, but it hurts my frozen face to laugh, so I walk with a stern expression.

After a while, I start to see things in the darkness. Faces looming behind trees, and glowing eyes start to appear when I stare at one spot for too long. I tell myself that it's just my imagination playing tricks on me, but my eyes tell me otherwise.

I've been too caught up trying to run away from the police that I realize I left the box of my mother's things upstairs in my old house. Just great. I don't even have the damned things that got me into this mess in the first place!

If only I had a cell phone that I could use to call someone for help. When my mother died I was only in third grade, way too young to own one, and my father never mentioned getting me one. I should've asked, but I knew that he would only get mad at me. Even if I had one now, I don't have anyone in my life that could help me. The police are after me, my friends wouldn't believe me, and Mrs.McKutch is too old to know what to do.

After many more hours of walking, my legs are weak, and all I want to do is sleep. I see a dim light about twenty metres in front of me. I rub my eyes to make sure that it's not just another hallucination.

I don't have the energy to sprint, so my pace turns into a weak jog. The light turns out to be a street light, but the light to which street I don't know yet.

I am relieved when I see the stop sign which has a familiar name on it. I am back on Easy street.

I'll have to go back for the box of items another time as I am just too drained to bother with them right now. Thankfully I am near the top of the street, and it's only a short walk to Amy's house.

I open the door quietly, and head up to my room, where Mrs. McKutch is sound asleep. She must've been waiting for me in my room, and fell asleep. I close my bedroom door, and grab a few extra blankets from the closet in the hallway before going downstairs and crashing on the couch.

I'm  asleep in a matter of seconds, something that rarely comes so easy to me.