SHORT STORY

                                                        ESCAPED 

Escaped – Part 1

I stood frozen where I was. I watched his gleaming amber eyes assessing me. His nostrils flared and a snarl ripped through his throat. He took one step backwards, ready to pounce. I turned back but tripped.

“Ouch,” I exclaimed.

I was expecting to fall head first into the ground but instead I hit my back over something hard. I blinked. I was certain that I was in the forest just now but where had this box come from? Then it hit me, I had just been dreaming and I realized that I must have fallen over from my bed because it wasn’t a box but the underside of the bed I was seeing.

“Oh! What a relief. So I wasn’t going to be gored to death by a lion after all. Silly me, I always take things so seriously and my imagination makes me get carried away,” I babbled on to myself.

“AMY!!” I heard my mom, Clara, calling.

This was my cue to hurry down before my mom came barging up. I didn’t want to explain to her why I was sweating bullets and lying under the bed. I rolled over and sat upright.

“Whoa!! Head rush,” I gasped and fell back immediately.

Slowly, I sat up again. I was still a little dizzy because of the sudden blood flow to my head. I brushed vigorously and got dressed in a hurry. I was really excited about going to the safari today. After everything, I looked around to see if I had left anything behind. It was a good thing that I had already packed last night else I would’ve been late today. I took my backpack and then thundered down the staircase.

“Hey mom, Morning dad, Sup Joe?” I greeted everyone as I flitted towards the table.

“Good to see you made it out of bed early Amy,” my dad, Phil, answered without looking up from the newspaper.

I wondered if all grown ups were the same. Wonder what was so exciting about the news. Who cared if someone lost a dog or some athlete fractured his leg. The only part I read was the cartoon and that too if I didn’t have any other work. I was about to sit down for breakfast when I noticed my brother grinning diabolically.

“Ugh… What is it this time Joe? I don’t have any patience for your stupid pranks today okay.” I grumbled.

“You’ll soon find out sis. C ya.” he answered and went into the hall.

How could someone so small be so hugely annoying? I looked around to check for any booby traps. I checked under the table and chair to see if he put any mousetraps. Everything looked fine so I looked above me to see if anything was there. Nothing there too so I sat down to finally eat. My cereal was already waiting for me so I pulled it towards me and began to eat. I put the first spoonful in my mouth.

“Yuk. What IS this stuff??” I shouted after spitting it out.

My brother started laughing aloud and then I understood. I wasn’t eating milk and cereal. Instead, I was having fevicol with my cereal. I darted to the wash basin and was rinsing my mouth when I heard my brother running upstairs. Clever boy, he probably knew that my wrath was going to come over him. I was checking my mouth to make sure I had thoroughly cleaned it.

“You just wait. I’m going to get you,” I shouted after Joe.

“Oh just let him be. Why do you want to spoil your mood now? Come, eat this,” my mom said.

As if my mood was not already spoilt. She always supported my brother. Why should the younger ones always be treated specially? Life was always so unfair. I grumbled back to the table to have my cereal. I was going to make Joe pay for this. I started eating my cereal quietly while I kept planning my revenge inside my head. I figured there was no way to have my revenge today as mom would me accompanying us and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to her precious ‘Jojo’. I finished my cereal and then went upstairs to get my trekking boots. They were always kept neatly in my shoe rack as they were my most favourite pair and they had accompanied me in all my exciting adventures. I finally got up and checked my reflection in my full length mirror.

“Wow! I do look pretty smart,” I exclaimed.

The denim jacket and jeans looked beautiful and they were complementing my lovely boots. I brushed my high pony again and then ran downstairs after grabbing my binoculars from my so called study table which was used by me only to read novels or play games on my laptop.

“Okay mom, I’m all set,” I told when I landed on the last step.

“That’s good. Now why don’t you go check our picnic basket Amy?” my mom asked.

“Sure thing mom. I’m on it,” I hurried into the kitchen.

I found the basket on the counter and checked if the plates, forks, et cetera were all there. And last I saw if there were enough sandwiches for all. Laughing at myself, I carried the basket and placed it in the car which we had hired specially for the purpose of the safari. The booth space was completely filled. Now that all our stuff was in place, I went in to see what was causing the delay.

“Did you check in the shoe rack?” my mom asked someone.

“Oh just wear another pair of socks now. We’re getting late here,” my dad said getting irritated.

“But those were my lucky pair,” Joe complained.

I scowled. So Joe was the hold up here. Apparently, he wasn’t finding his stupid pair of socks and was refusing to wear another pair. I sighed and went to help my mom find them for him.

I was day-dreaming about the safari on the sofa when I felt something brush against my legs, and I jumped up suddenly just to see that they were Joe’s so-called ‘Lucky Pair’ of socks.

“Hmmpf!!” I grunted and threw them to Joe.

“Hey, watch it sis,” he cried as the socks landed on his face.

“Oh, wow. Thanks,” he said when realization hit him.

“Oh finally,” my mom started. “Now we all can leave at last. Oh my, look at the time. We’ll be late if we don hurry up. Come on, you two.”

Mom walked away and both of us scuttled after her. I smacked Joe as we neared the door.

“Oww,” he screamed as I ran to get into the car.

Joe entered the car and was scowling at me since he couldn’t do anything with mom there. Everyone settled into the car and dad started away towards the national park. A few minutes passed, all anger forgotten, Joe and I started to sing songs when mom and dad joined in.

……..to be continued

SOURCE BY-FAREENA MARIA 

PUBLISHED BY-OURHELLO.COM