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Chapter 1

The Escape Plan

Emery

Madness isthe day,practice, ti at the library But the simplicity of my schedule nearly drives me to insanity Too perfect Too much order Too much structure

Once I’m at home, that structure silences as insanity swirls aroundhteen years Every second of every hour of every day belongs to someone else

Then nighttime comes

Every evening when the ht, afterup fro daybreak, I dreahtmare, aof what’s to come in my future, of what I hope to achieve one day

Despite the terror the beginning of the drealy surrender to my drowsiness My eyelids drift shut, and my mind sinks into darkness as the noises and cries frohost acrossmadness over me like a heavy blanket

In the center of the narrow street, I walk the long line stretching down the asphalt, near where the forest welcomes the dirt There’s no one in front of me, no one behind No wind No noise except the flow of a river I don’t knohere the river is, have never been able to find it But I try Oh, do I try

Walking

Walking

Walking

Calculated uide, just like I was taught to do in real life

Taught

Taught

Taught…

To never…

Do…

Anything…

Under my own free will

To only exist on the line of the road, the map of my life my parents created for me

But where does the road even go? To the river?

That’s what I’ve started to wonder Started to question

Unlike in real life, I violate the rules and allow my feet to break free fro at first, but then Idown the street

I start to lose sight of thewith the stars

“No, come back!” I always cry with my hand stretched out to them “I can’t do this without you!”

Before I know it,away into the trees and following theme to follow it Don’t break the rules Follow the line to the end of the road, the end of your life

I run down that line, past the woods, the trees But the perfect line is guiding ht to the end of life

Perfect, so perfect, like everything else I’ve ever known

I abruptly stop in the middle of the road, beside the silhouettes of trees

What do I do? Keep going? Keep letting the line lead me? Stray?

Stray Such a foreign, forbidden word, one I desperately want to taste Live ive to have that

Even thoughend of the road I can hear the floater beckoning me to find the river To discover another route of life, one that twists and curves and creates its own path

Before I can stop myself, I lift my feet off the line, off the road, off the only path I’ve ever known, and drift into the darkness of the trees

That’s when I wake up, neverthe unknown path God, do I want to h

One day

Someday

Soon

When I open my eyes, I’m surrounded by my bedroom walls The cries I fell asleep to have shifted to incoherent chanting, a warning of what’s next Soon, ure

Most nights, I wonder if the visitor isup on me to make sure I stayed in my bed, that I haven’t soh, when the air doesn’t feel right,me question if it’s someone else, like one of my father’s friends

I usually call out from my bed, “Who are you? Tell me this time”

In ritual, the person simply stares back All I can do is lie helplessly in ht Then the ain as my mother strolls into the bedroom to wake me

“Time to wake up, Emery” She strides for theto unfasten the bars frolass and sets them aside Then she turns for my bed, leans over me, and unfastens the padded cuffs onin the temporary freedom

“You know, if you behave well, your father ht allow you to sleep without the cuffs,” she says, stepping away from my bed

I swing e and plantto do the best that I can”

“I know you have” She flips strands of her black hair off her shoulder “And I think, just as long as there isn’t another incident, you’ll be fine You just need to prove your sanity and trustworthiness to hiain”

Sanity?

Is that what I had before my eyes were opened?

Pressing lance out theat the ho around the lowly populated town of Ralingford, Wyo The small area is out in the middle of nowhere, away from civilization The citizens abide by their own unique rules: such as a town curfew of seven o’clock, s about tos only adults are allowed to attend, and my absolute least favorite, a split society People rarely leave, and if they do decide to escape the solitude, they never return I’ve always envied those people and have my own escape plan, which will hopefully lead to the dismemberment of this town

“E I just said?” My mother’s clipped tone draws my attention back to the room