Roman sat in his car and stared at the tall wall. Too tall to climb. Even if someone managed to get up there, they would be met by a hell of spikes and barbed wire trying to get across to the other side.
"Tonight we'll be free," he mumbled.
He closed his eyes for a moment and pictured Leafie with her long, wavy, ginger hair and her ocean blue eyes. She was a sight to behold. He opened his eyes again and sighed. Tonight was the night. She would finally escape her prison and be free, and they would be together.
He wrapped a hand around the rock he was carrying around his neck. It was flat and about 3 inches in diameter. It didn't weigh much due to how flat it was. There was a hole in it, and through that hole was a thick leather string making it into a necklace. He didn't know how she had gotten a hold of the leather string but he knew she found the rock as a child and kept it. It was the only thing she was ever allowed to pick for herself. Whatever she wore or had in her room was picked out by her parents. She never got to choose anything but they hadn't cared about some silly rock. The night they had first told each other that they loved each other, she had given him the necklace and said that no matter what happened, he would always have a part of her. He nodded to himself and put the necklace under his shirt so no one would see it and put the pieces together.
He grabbed the tray from the passenger seat and got out of the car. He walked up to the gate and unlocked it. How simple it was to go through that gate when you had the key. Leafie never had a key. She was never allowed to leave. She had been a prisoner for 37 long years. Not because she was promised to someone else or anything like that. Her father was an abusive son of a bitch who thought he owned his daughter, and her mother wasn't much better.
"I will protect you," he mumbled.
He walked towards the house and put on his best smile at the two guards outside. He held up the tray and tapped it with his fingers.
"Wait until you see what I got here," he said. "Come inside for a quick bite. I promise you won't regret it."
The two guards looked at each other and nodded. They weren't allowed to leave their post but no one would find out. Roman sometimes brought something he had baked, and it was always worth it to leave their post for two minutes to grab a snack and take it outside to eat.
"Get the others, please," he said.
The two guards quickly ran around gathering up the other guards. Everyone piled into the kitchen to see the tray of homemade brownies.
"Sweet!" One of them said.
"Help yourself," Roman said. "It's an old family recipe and I swear you've never had brownies this good before. I better get upstairs to guard the princess."
Leafie wasn't a princess but every guard called her that. The princess locked away in the tower seemed to be the most used joke. It wasn't a tower. It was a normal room on the first floor but she couldn't escape. Her window didn't open. Even if she made it outside, no guard would ever unlock the gate for her.
Ironically that was what had started it all. On a very hot Summer night last year, she had opened the door and looked beggingly at Roman. Her hair and nightgown were sticking to her from sweat. She needed air. He had decided to bring her downstairs and informed the other guards that he was taking her outside in the garden. Out there in the pale moonlight, they had shared their first kiss. It would have been romantic if it wasn't for the danger constantly lurking over them. If someone caught them, he would be doomed. He would not get to leave alive. Her father came with enough power to make him disappear without a trace. There was a reason everyone called her father the undertaker.
Next morning Roman had done the right thing and gone straight to Undertaker to tell him that she had been outside. It was best to be as honest as possible and only lie about certain details like kissing her under the stars, enjoying it, and wanting more. Roman had asked Undertaker to install aircondition so that he wouldn't have to bring her outside again. To his surprise when he returned for the next night shift, there was aircondition installed in her room. No more trips to the outside but that night she invited him into her room. It took many nights of talking, kissing and cuddling before they crossed the final line. They were in love but they knew they had to run away if they wanted to be together. And run away they would. He had planned it all while she was sitting in her room, like a princess locked away in the tower, waiting for him to save her.
He walked up the stairs and turned to her wing. It was sad that she had this wing all to herself. It looked like a dream to others but it was a nightmare to her. There were four rooms in this wing. Her bedroom, a bathroom, a walk-in closet, and a library full of books she hadn't picked out. She wasn't even allowed to decide what she wanted to read. He walked to her bedroom, opened the door, and slipped inside. She stood on the floor looking nervous as hell. He crossed the floor, grabbed her face, and kissed her.
"Tonight we escape," he whispered.
"If my father finds out," her bottom lip quivered.
"I won't let anything happen to you," he said. "I'll take a bullet for you if I have to."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she said.
He kissed her again to silence her. He was just as afraid as her but he wouldn't tell her. At least not now. Once they were away from here, he would tell her everything he was feeling in this moment.
"Let's see if they've all started running yet," he said.
"What did you do?" She asked.
He looked at her and twisted a naughty, sideways smile.
"Laxatives in brownines," he said.
"Roman!" She giggled lowly. "Don't make me laugh right now."
"I love you, Leafie" he said.
"I love you too," she said.
He opened the door and listened.
"Oh my god!" Someone whined.
He heard the guards run around trying to find a toilet for each of them to use. His plan had worked. He grabbed her hand and nodded.
"Let's go," he whispered.
The hurried down the stairs and out of the front door. They just needed to get across the courtyard, unlock the gate, and out in his car, and they would be free. Halfway across the courtyard, a loud voice stopped them.
"Where do you think you're going?" Undertaker yelled.
They both turned around to see her father calmly walk down the stairs with a gun in his hand.
"I let you into my home and you betrayed me!" Undertaker snarled.
"Don't hurt him, dad," Leafie said.
"Don't!" Roman hissed lowly.
"I won't let him hurt you," Leafie said.
Leafie took a step forward. Roman grabbed her arm and pushed her behind him. He knew Undertaker would pull the trigger no matter what so he needed to keep her safe.
"Can we at least talk about this?" Roman asked.
Roman took three steps forward, and Undertaker fired the gun and hit Roman in the chest. He fell to the ground and Leafie let out a scream before running to him and dropping to her knees.
"Roman!" Leafie cried while grabbing his arm. "Get up, Roman!"
"You ungrateful, little bitch!" Undertaker growled.
She looked up and saw her father walk towards her. She got up too and backed away from him. She knew eventually her back would hit the gate and there would be no return but she didn't know what else to do. He stepped over Roman's body and followed her step by step at a calm pace.
"Last week your mother couldn't sleep and decided to walk around. She came to your wing and Roman wasn't there. She was confused but decided to wait and see if you might have gone somewhere together. Imagine her surprise when Roman eventually came out of your room," he said.
"Dad, please!" She pleaded.
"I installed a listening device in your room and listened in on everything, and I do mean everything. You fucking disgust me, Leafie. When I heard you were planning to escape tonight, I decided to mess with you. I gave you enough room to think you could pull it off, but you never stood a chance. Roman was a dead man the moment he touched you the first time," he said.
"It's not fair. I'm an adult. I deserve to live my life the way I want to," she said.
"You belong to me!" He screamed.
Her eyes went huge and he smirked at her, thinking it was his screaming that scared her. He didn't see what was happening behind him. Roman stood up, pulled his own gun, and placed it in the back of Undertaker's head. The moment the gun hit his head, his eyes went as huge as his daughter's.
"She doesn't belong to anyone," Roman said.
Roman fired the gun and Undertaker sank to the ground. Leafie looked shocked for a second and then jumped into Roman's arms.
"I thought you were dead," she cried.
"So did I," he said.
He pulled up the stone necklace from his shirt where the bullet was stuck.
"I did say I would take a bullet for you," he rubbed his sore chest. "Yup, that's gonna leave a bruise."
"I'll take care of you," she said.
"You better," he chuckled. "Let's get out of here before the guards are done shitting out their intestines."
They hurried over to the gate and unlocked it. They got into his car and sped away as fast as they could.
"What happens now?" She asked.
"I got a yacht waiting with everything we need while we sail to Canada. It's going to take close to two weeks to get there but no one can touch us there," he said.
"And when we get there?" She asked.
"I got friends waiting there for us and a house ready for us to settle down in. Just the two of us unless you want a dog," he said.
"A dog sounds nice. One of those big, fluffy ones that will shed all over the house and drive us crazy when we have to vaccum almost everyday," she said.
"We're gonna love the shit out of that dog," he chuckled.
"Big time," she chuckled too.
She reached over and grabbed his hand.
"I love you, Roman," she said.
He brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on it.
"I love you too, Leafie," he said. "No one's ever gonna hurt you again. I promise."