Prologue
I took a deep
breath as I started out the window. Carefully placing my foot on the shingles,
I stepped out onto the slope. I held still, fully out of the window. Any slight
movement could send me tumbling down the ledge to my doom. Slowly edging my
feet forward, I made my way to the end of the roof.
Now comes
the tricky part, I thought. I stood up, leaning backwards to keep my balance.
Teetering on the edge, I jumped as far as I could.
I spent so
long in the air that I thought I'd missed. I opened my mouth to scream, but my
hands clasped firmly around a thick branch. Pausing momentarily to regain my
breath, I sidled along the branch until I reached the center of the tree.
"Uuuuuggghhh,"
the butler turned over in his bed. I held my breath, not daring to move. After
what seemed like hours, I finally heard his snoring resume. I let out a long
sigh of relief, and cautiously made my way down the tree. When I had reached
the bottom, I darted quickly across the lawn until I was in shadow once again.
After repeating this process, I found myself in front of the doghouse.
"Growlie," I
whispered. "Grooowl," he howled in reply. I gently pulled at the door, but it
didn't open. I pulled harder. It still wouldn't budge. " Darn, it's locked!" I
concluded.
"Who's
there?" I heard the voice of a security guard. "Show yourself!" Then came the
unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked. "This way! Someone's trying to break
into the doghouse!" More guns being cocked.
I bolted. I
could hear the heavy footsteps beating down on the ground, and they sounded
quite close. My heart pounded in my chest, and I heard the footsteps get
closer. A gun went off, and I actually felt the wind off of the bullet. I saw
the fence to the estate just ahead, but I had no idea how to get past it.
"We can
corner him at the fence!" one guard shouted. His voice sounded so nearby I was
surprised they hadn't caught me yet. The fence was only a few yards away now.
3...2...1... "Yaaaah!" I leapt over it with a cry, surprised at my own
strength. I had read about adrenaline at school, but this was the first time I
had experienced it firsthand.
"DAMN he's a
high jumper!" exclaimed a guard. I kept running.
"Should we go
after him, chief?"
"Nah, he's
gone now. If he comes back, we'll be ready."
I ran down
our ridiculously long driveway, exhilarated at my escape. I did it! I
thought. I ACTUALLY DID IT! NO MORE JESSIBELLE!
As soon as
that thought made its way into my mind, it hit me. I would be leaving Growlie
behind. I would be leaving….Jessibelle behind.
I hated to do
it. I really did. But I had no choice. Jessibelle and I had once been the
greatest of friends, always getting along in every way. Then our parents said,
"It is time to stop this 'frivolous' behavior, and become young ladies and
gentlemen." Being a young gentleman was dumb. You had to wear a suit and be
still all the time and you had to say please and thank you; you had to hold
your fork right and eat spaghetti right and even sit right; you had to talk
right and walk right and you could never play anything fun anymore! I talked to
Jessibelle about this and she said, "Being a young lady is fun. You get to wear
a pretty dress and you learn the proper way to do everything." She tried to
show me the "proper" way everything was done, even though I insisted that I
didn't want to. She just wouldn't give up. Yesterday, she came home with an
Oddish and paralyzed me just so she could keep me still. That was the
last straw...
Even though I didn't want to, I kept running. Only now with tears
streaming down my face.
