Escaped
Chapter 1
It was a dark Saturday morning; the sun was hiding, as if it were too scared to come out. The moon wasn’t there either; it had something better to do on a day like this. Rain covered the city, as if it were washing away all happiness. Little Bella sat by her window, and stared out. Her long, black hair falling down her shoulders, like a water fall. Her skin was as pale as the snow that never falls. Every day was like this, in Wall city. There was never snow, and hardly any sunlight. She wanted to play outside, but her father forced her to stay up in the attic, which was her room. Don’t get the wrong idea, her father loved her more than anything in the entire world, and he didn’t want to lose her. Bella wasn’t a normal child; she saw things nobody else could see. She drew pictures of the city being wrecked by tornadoes, hurricanes, and sure enough, the next day it would happen. At first, they thought her drawings created the disasters. Then, they realized, the drawings predicted them. The people who figured that out were the scientists. They live below Bella; her house was turned into a laboratory, as soon as her mother died. When her mother was around, even though it was raining outside, Bella felt as if sunshine was everywhere. Her mother’s name was Julie Jacobs. She used to tell Bella, “Bella, here in Wall city, we don’t cry, we are strong and beautiful, and we don’t cry.” Bella used to nod her head and smile when she thought about it, but now, she can’t help but cry. Every day, Bella gets examined, Mommy made that fun too. She would have Bella play hide and go seek when they wanted to test her intelligence level. Now they just give her all kinds of math tests. She has passed every single kind of test they have given her. One time they asked her to draw a map of the city, she drew a perfect one, and she has only been within 5 yards of her house.
Wall City is named after its HUGE walls that surround it. They built it because Bella once drew an army of men with big guns, and trucks, they were coming towards wall city. Those men killed her mother; she was painting the outside of the wall, the day that they came. When they got there, she wasn’t scared of them. But they saw the wall and knew there was no way to get through. The only exits are only big enough for one small car to fit through. And the road that comes off of it is also surrounded by a wall (this wall has an entrance big enough for one person, but it is kept locked with a metal door). The road leads to another city surrounded by a wall, this pattern continues in a circle. Hardly anyone travels to other cities. The roads are very long, and people in Wall City like to be in the same city as Bella so they know when to take cover from disasters.
As you can imagine, Bella longs to see sunlight, and other children. More than anything she longs to see her mother. She wants to hear her mother say, “Bella, where on earth did you get those big stormy eyes!?!” Bella knew she never would, but she wanted it so bad. Could she at least leave her house? One day she asked her father that, and boy, did she mess up.
“Daddy, one day, not today, but one day. Will you take me to see sunlight? I want to see it so badly, I want to laugh and play with some other kids. Can I? I promise I will be good.” She asked.
“Absolutely not!” He screamed, wondering why she would even ask, “You are much too delicate, you have to stay here.”
She ran up to her room, fighting tears. She knew she was smarter than daddy, and she knew she could escape easily, but she never could. “One day, I’ll leave, I won’t tell daddy and I won’t look back.” She thought to herself. She loved her father too much, and she couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye.
Today though, looking out that window, she knew it was time, she had a plan. She was going to run down stairs, and ask her favorite scientist to make her a sandwich. That was one scientist distracted. Then she would go to the main lab, to show the three test scientists some new drawings (she just made these ones up). Then she would sneak past the lazy scientist who was always asleep, and quietly go out the door. She decided that she was going to put on some makeup, of her mother’s, and flip up the hood of her jacket, hiding her black hair. Maybe people wouldn’t recognize her then. The hard part would be getting past the people who guard the doors to the road. She has her father’s ID to get through, but they would know who she was the minute they saw her. They would never let her get out. She had to get over the wall, or through without them noticing. She decided to figure it out once she got out of the house. She went through with her plan, and got out of the house. She realized that she couldn’t get out of the city by herself. She needed help from someone. She knew who she could turn to, the boy who lived down the street. The only other kid she had ever seen. He looked at her like her mother did, like he cared for her. He was 12 now almost exactly 4 years older than her. His name is Thomas, or Tommy. “He will help me, he’s like a big brother to me, maybe he’ll be outside with his friends, I can’t knock on the door, or his mom will see me. Ugh, if only I could be sure that he was outside! Ooh, that’s it I’ll draw a picture of his house, and whatever it looks like in my mind, that’s really what it looks like!” She thought. She got down onto her hands and knees and drew a picture of his house, and sure enough he was outside with a few of his friends. Bella raced down the street and took a right towards his house. He saw her, and started to run towards her. They met, after what seemed like years to Bella.
“Bella,” He whispered, “What are you doing? You need to go back to your dad now.” He said.
“No,” she said, as she threw her arms around him, “I want you to take me outside, to a new city.”
“Bella, you know I would get in so much trouble for that, no matter how much I love you, and want to help you, I can’t” He said.
“Please Tommy, I can’t do it alone, and I have no one else, I don’t even know anyone else.” She cried, or at least it seemed as if she were, you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was tears or rain that floated down her cheeks. “I know you want to leave to; you can bring anyone you want, as long as they will stay with us the whole time.”
He really did want to leave, he hated here just as much as Bella, maybe more. His step mom ignored him, and his father left years ago. He wanted to go more than anything, but he couldn’t just leave, he has friends, a girlfriend, and plenty of people that would miss him. “That’s just it,” he thought, “the person who would miss me the most if we were apart, is standing right here, with her arms, wrapped tight around me. I can’t just let her go by herself, she is so little, and perfect. If she left on her own, she wouldn’t stand a chance, I have to go, to protect her.” As he thought this, he remembered being the first person, other than her mom, to see her. He had named her, literally. He named her Bella Jane Jones. Julie had named him, and she told him, when she was pregnant, that he had the honors to name her. He thought about it for eight and a half months, and figured, that since belle meant beautiful, he would name her Bella. He was only four, but he picked the perfect name, for a perfect girl. He knew, in his heart, she was truly his sister. He couldn’t leave her, not today, not tomorrow, or any day.
“Ok,” He told her, “I will help you, but I need you to bring one other person. Is that ok?”
“It depends, anyone, but Jessica, she is not allowed to come,” Bella said, just making sure he understood her hatred.
Jessica is Tommy’s girlfriend, Bella hasn’t even met her, but she has always been very jealous whenever he talks about her.
“Ok,” he laughed, as if he really didn’t like her, “I meant my little brother Jack, you have never met him, but he is about your age. He doesn’t really have any friends, he’s a loner.”
“Yeah, that’s cool, but we got to grab him fast and get out of here, they probably know that I’m missing by now!” She said, realizing how long they had been there.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll text him.” He said as he typed on his phone at lightning speed.
His brother ran outside the front door, with a backpack and some cheez-its. When he saw Bella his eyes widened and he flipped his hair. Jack looked exactly like Tommy, just smaller. His blue eyes complimented his fair skin, and his blonde hair swept gracefully across his forehead. Bella hadn’t realized how cute he was. After all, she hadn’t ever met any other kids, other than Tommy.
When they got to the gates, Bella hid, while Jack and Tommy distracted the two guards that were on shift. There was an assortment of colorful buttons, and both Jack and Tommy were clueless about all the buttons. Of course, Tommy pushed the big red one, which opened the gates. They grabbed Bella and ran out. The two boys looked at each other in fright when they realized that there is no way they could outrun those guards. The road had o be at least 2 ½ miles long. A smile grew across Bella’s face, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her dads car keys. She pressed the button and about 5 cars beeped. They all looked over the cars.
“The red one!” said Tommy.
“The blue one!” Jack yelled.
“No, that one!” Bella said as she pointed to a black mustang with her name painted in hot pink.
Bella’s father bought that car for her when she was born. He always wanted her to be prepared, and this car was another way of preparing her. After they all looked at it, they hopped into it as fast as they could, an alarm soon went off. Bella was driving, and she was flooring it. They sped down the road, and eventually Tommy took the wheel while Bella drew pictures of the door up ahead. Soon she found herself drawing the three kid’s climbing over the wall. They left the car outside. The other cities didn’t have as much security as Wall City did, because they didn’t house Bella. The guards from Wall City aren’t permitted to get through to any other cities, because they know top secret information that cannot be shared.
A smile fell across Bella’s face, “Time for a new look.”
They all looked down at their dreary clothes. Colors were frowned upon in the City of Wall, because they could very well represent rebellion. And Wall City could do just fine without rebellion. Tommy pulled the emergency credit card, with $500 on it. Bella pulled out a blank check from her father; he gave it to her for her last birthday. She saved it for this trip especially. Jack pulled out $10 and 42 cents from is backpack. Bella put her hand up to her mouth and giggled. Jack looked at her, and she blushed.
“I can put as much money on this check that I want, but we can’t use that credit card, or they could track us down.” Bella said.
“Ha! My 10 bucks isn’t looking so bad, now, is it?” Jack laughed.
“No worries, this is a pre-paid credit card, they can’t track us down with this baby!!!” Tommy said, “Plus I stole like $70 dollars out of my mom’s purse.”
Bella couldn’t hear anything that Tommy was saying, her whole mind was focusing on Jack, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. The way he talks, the way his hair floods across his face.His ambition amazed her. She never even thought about boys, but now she can’t stop thinking about this certain boy.
“…So what do you guys want to do?” asked Tommy. Bella snapped out of her daze, she had completely blocked out everything Tommy said.
“First let’s grab some food, I’m starving,” Jack said as he stuffed the last Cheez-It into his mouth.
“We can’t waste all of our money, though. We have a lot,but not enough to keep us fed for that long. Come on, if we walk around a bit we might find a cheap restaurant." Bella suggested as she started to walk away.
"Wait! Bella! You can't walk around looking like...you!" Tommy said.
"Gee, thanks Tommy." Bella slumped.
"No, you are too recognizable, you have to bleach your hair," Jack said "Its the only way!"
"Alright, but only because its for our safety" Bella walked towards the little village.
Chapter 2
They started to notice that everything there was definitely was not modern, the people walking around were all wearing the strangest clothes. Girls in long, fancy dresses, and boys in suits. All the girls had their hair pinned up, and flat shoes. The trio walked into the village. A sign said, " Welcome to Klenta Village." "I don't think we are going to find any bleach here, it looks a little, not updated
"Well, lets go into that convenience store. Maybe they have something useful." Jack said. They walked into the store, and looked around. The outside of the store looked like a market, but the inside was so futuristic. The walls were steel, and the merchandise was beeping and lighting up, even talking. The clerk was a robot, and they started to think maybe they were wrong about Klenta Village. Bella went up to the clerk. "Hello, sir, is it possible for me to buy some bleach here?"
"No, ma'm its not. Bleach has been banned since 2000. They were so confused . How has this small village advanced so far in technology, but not in looks? "Well, is there anyway I can change the color of my hair?" Her eyes pleaded with the robot. He seemed to sense her needs. "Alright, I will get you bleach, but you didn't get it from me." He said. "
"Well, lets go into that convenience store. Maybe they have something useful." Jack said. They walked into the store, and looked around. The outside of the store looked like a market, but the inside was so futuristic. The walls were steel, and the merchandise was beeping and lighting up, even talking. The clerk was a robot, and they started to think maybe they were wrong about Klenta Village. Bella went up to the clerk. "Hello, sir, is it possible for me to buy some bleach here?"
"No, ma'm its not. Bleach has been banned since 2000. They were so confused . How has this small village advanced so far in technology, but not in looks? "Well, is there anyway I can change the color of my hair?" Her eyes pleaded with the robot. He seemed to sense her needs. "Alright, I will get you bleach, but you didn't get it from me." He said. "