My name is Briar and I’m going to tell you how I got myself into this mess. It all started when Erika came running up to my room. We lived in a boarding school for kids who had been expelled from school. Erika and me were close friends. We were always together. So it wasn’t surprising, that when Erika went missing later that night that the first place the staff searched, was my room. I giggled childishly as they dragged out a draw in my wardrobe. They looked through each one swiftly as if she had somehow managed to squeeze into them. I felt the bed vibrate as Erika’s muffled giggle made me laugh even harder. She was under my bed, but the staff never searched there. They thought there was no way she could be under there
Earlier that evening we had lifted up the mattress and the wooden board underneath. There was just enough room so that she could lie there comfortably. It was only supposed to be a joke, to wind the staff up. So when Erika and me chatted away loudly, the staff instantly charged in like an army of soldiers ready to take out the enemy. When I told them I was talking to myself, Erika shrieked with laughter.
We watched my alarm clock as it turned midnight. Erika silently climbed out from underneath my bed. Time for more fun. We sprayed deodorant into the fire alarm. There were moans of complaint from the rooms next door as the piercing fire alarm woke up the other kids. We jumped out of my bedroom window and heard a loud “Oh my God” as the staff, searching Erika’s room below, saw me and Erika drop from the sky like a falcon, falling to capture it’s prey and land on the grass.
And here I am now. I’ve been on the run for about three months now. I lost Erika about a week ago and I was standing beside the front door to my home.
I thought about Erika. I thought about how she’d be feeling. Nobody ever ran away from Balnacraig. The school where I was once a prisoner. The school, which Erika had been returned to. Everybody knew the consequences of running away weren’t worth the weeks of freedom Erika and me had enjoyed. I knew that Erika would be suffering that punishment. Level 5. It was the worst thing that could happen to a child. All the freedom that Erika had enjoyed would now have been taken away. She would be followed to the toilet; all day long she would be stationed in her room with only the watchful eyes of her supervisor for company. Mr M. His name was Mr. Mathews. More commonly known as Mr. Mean. She would be incarcerated to her room with nothing to do other than watch the other kids and their freedom. Level 5. Only achievable by running away. Solitary confinement for seven days. She was now a prisoner of her own mistake.
I looked at my front door. If I walked through that door I would be back to Balnacraig before tomorrow morning. No. I wasn’t ready to give up my freedom just yet. I looked at my watch and as it turned midnight, I jumped over the gate and walked towards the train station.
