Jailbreak

The cold, sterile hallway just outside of my confinement center wall made it possible to hear every footstep, growing louder as they neared me, fading as the person receded into the distance marching to whatever task they were assigned. It was impossible to know how long I’d been here. Minutes felt like days. Hours felt like months. All I knew was that it was time. What was that quote from The Shawshank Redemption - “get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’”? It was now or never. I’d spent the last several months learning the patterns and rhythms of this facility, and I’d discovered that it was possible to make an escape, undetected. It was, however, highly improbable. The odds of being discovered were astronomically high and the consequences ranged from merely being returned to captivity or, well…one simply had to come to terms with the risk being worth the reward. My mind was made up.

The door to my cell was never locked, interestingly enough. The reality was I could walk out at any time, but that didn’t make me any less of a captive. They knew that I couldn’t just leave, and that made them reckless with this one very simple security measure. There were others here, too, held in similar circumstances as myself. If my plan was to work - if I could make my way to freedom - there would be new protocols put in place. The others would feel those consequences. That thought had kept me from trying to escape before, that my freedom would lead to their pain, but as the days and months wore on, I’d shoved those thoughts aside. Surely, they had tried and failed at exactly what I’m attempting now. Did they consider how their success would affect me? I strongly doubted it. It was every man for himself in here despite the words I’d heard time and time again as the guards and wardens walked past my cage.

Sunlight flooded through the one small window behind me. It seemed as though it had been weeks of gray skies. The warmth on my skin was all the encouragement that I needed. It was now or never. I listened for the sound of two sets of footsteps coming down the hallway. This pair always made their way along the corridor at the same time every day, always together. After them there would be two more, but this time in singles, a few minutes apart. Then it would be time. They all needed to see me - to know I was still here. Their complacency must remain intact for my plan to succeed.

The faint sound of four feet making their way towards me finally could be heard. The steps grew louder, keeping pace with the increasing pounding of my heart as I knew the time had come. Louder, louder, my pulse began to increase. I had to bring it down. This cannot be done if I can’t control my nerves. I felt my hands begin to shake a little with the increased adrenaline. Sweat began to form ever so slightly beneath my arms. I had to get control. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then another. Then another. I cleared my mind of what was about to take place. I didn’t need to go over the plan any further. I knew it well. I just needed to move with calm deliberation. Another deep breath. I felt my heart rate begin to slow. Another deep breath. My hands steadied. Then the plodding footsteps came to a stop just beyond my door.

“Hello in there,” came the much too delighted voice of the middling drone on patrol. He was happy to be here. Happy to be in the slightest position of power over me. Had a few things gone differently, maybe it would be me out there and him in here. I like to think that I’m better than him, though. I’d help with someone’s escape plan if I was alerted to it, not rat it out. Or at the very least, I’d look the other way, but not him. No, he derives meaning from this tiny amount of authority. I won’t give him the satisfaction of getting even a hint of what I’m about to do.

“Hello, sir,” I reply back, attempting to soften the terseness that I want to convey. The woman who patrols with him never acknowledges me. I can tell she believes he should be more dismissive of me, that he should use whatever mediocre power he has to diminish my existence even further.

“Nice to see the sun shining again, isn’t it?”

“It is. Hopefully, you’ll get to enjoy it fully soon.” I know I will, I continued to myself.

“Perhaps, but my shift does run pretty late into the day, so maybe another time.” The woman sighed with impatience. “Well, I should carry on. See you on the next pass.”

“Yes. On the next pass. Good day, sir.” Their footsteps fade into the cavernous recesses of the facility to my right as I await the next set of footsteps. The waiting seemed to be the worst part of my plan so far. It gave my heart too much time to become anxious, so I tried to occupy my mind with thoughts of how the woman would berate the man if my actions were ever discovered, particularly if it became known that mere minutes after they’d passed I’d made my move. A smile drifted across my face at the thought of it. She clearly had some type of authority over him, but I knew for certain it wasn’t in rank. Perhaps it was in that same way that many women had authority over many men throughout all of time. The issues that my leaving will cause him, the erosion of his pathetic authority, brought a great joy to me that steeled my nerves for my next encounter.

I heard the clicking of heels echoing in my ears, and I braced myself for another interrogation. This time, however, there was only a slight pause, and then hurried footsteps away down the hall. I heard a slight commotion and some raised voices, an uncommon occurrence that I hoped would resolve itself quickly. I strained to listen to determine if this new development would derail my escape before it had even truly begun.

“It’s not what you think, please, I just needed…”

“You needed what?” It was the man who had just stopped and spoke to me. He must’ve backtracked and surprised the poor guy who clearly had the same thoughts of freedom as me. Why did he choose to go now? The timing was way off for any chance of success. Pathetic fool. I cursed him under my breath because now they’d be on high alert - if they weren’t already. “Back in your cell. You don’t come out until we say you can come out. I thought that was clear, but please, tell me if I need to make it more so. Do you want me to do that?”

“N-n-n-no, sir, that, that won’t be necessary.”

“I’ll have to report this, you know? You brought this on yourself. Perhaps, the officers will have mercy, but it’s really out of my hands.”

The silence that followed must’ve been the poor soul’s sad acceptance of his fate. Finally, I heard everyone continue on their way, and I listened for the steps that would signal the beginning of my mission. I said a quick prayer that my outcome would not be the same as the one I’d just witnessed while the third patrol made its way to me.

“Hello in there,” came the petite voice of a woman nearing 60 years old if she was a day. She really couldn’t prevent anyone from leaving on her own, but that was just as true of the others who passed by here. Their abilities relied completely on their willingness to report to those who could act. Dodging detection by these tattletales was the only path to a successful jailbreak.

“Hello ma’am,” I replied back, hoping I concealed my utter disdain.

“Calling me ma’am is unnecessary but even more, it is unwanted. You make me feel old.”

“My apologies.”

“Nice to see the sun out again, isn’t it?” She examined me as she asked the question. It was not small talk. She was searching me.

“Yes, it is. It’s been a while. Hopefully, you’ll get out to enjoy it,” my heart rate began to rise slightly as I replied. Her eyes pierced into mine as I took slow deliberate breaths to calm myself. I can’t imagine I appeared nonchalant, but hopefully, at the very least I wasn’t giving away my intentions.

“Well, I have a long day here, so it’s hard to say,” she said at last. My heart beat began to return to normal. “See you on the next pass.”

“Yes. On the next pass. Good day ma’a…” I caught myself before the word fully formed. “Good day, Ms.” She smiled at that, turned, and began to slowly walk toward my right just as the others had. When I heard her steps turn the far corner and vanish, it was time for me to go.

I stepped out slowly, looking both ways. The coast was clear, so I hurried to my left, careful not to break into a run as the sound of my steps might give me away to someone I couldn’t see. Around the corner to my right there was a large desk and two chairs. I had discovered that this desk was only occupied two days a week. Today was not one of them, so I slipped behind it and waited. Now my heart was racing, but that was of no concern. If I was seen at this point, it was all over anyway. I only needed my nerves to stay intact enough to remember my plan, and if I’m being honest, the adrenaline would help my focus.

This next part was crucial. I peeked under the desk and waited. Soon eight sets of shoes appeared from the direction I needed to go. They would pass this desk and then break off in two separate directions as they always did. I had never seen them, but I could hear them from my cell. If they saw me behind this desk, I was done for. It was the biggest risk to my plan that I was aware of, but they always seemed so engaged in chatting with each other, that I felt like it was a risk worth taking.

I tried making myself as small as I could and steadied my breathing. One glance in the wrong direction by any of these eight sets of eyes could cost me everything. I closed my eyes and just listened. It sounded just like it always had. This group was all men. They were young, and constantly spoke over each other, trying to one up the last story, get a bigger laugh, be a bigger idiot. But their youth didn’t make them any less dangerous. In fact, it was probably the opposite. They had more to gain by exposing someone like me trying to escape. Thankfully, they seemed to be their normal, obnoxious selves today. They loudly caravanned past me, but then they stopped abruptly. That wasn’t normal.

“Did you hear that?” one of them asked no one in particular. The group continued to jabber on. “Wait, shh shh shh,” he said more forcefully. Panic began to form in my chest. I tried to make myself even smaller and more invisible underneath the desk as I held my breath desperately trying not to make even a whisper. When the whole group was fully compliant in listening intently, the questioner let out the longest, loudest, most foul flatulence directly at my hiding place. He erupted in laughter as the rest of the group had mixed reactions of laughter or complete disgust while I did my absolute best to not give myself away, a cough building in my chest as my eyes began to water.

At last, the group moved on, splitting into two groups of morons, as was the usual course of action. When the sound of both had sufficiently faded, I collapsed onto the floor and allowed myself the smallest of coughs to clear my lungs before peeking out to be certain I was alone. The next doorway I needed was down the hall, where the dangerous imbeciles had come from. Once I went through those doors, I was in foreign territory. I had no idea what the comings and goings would be like, so I’d have to maintain strict diligence of focus. Certain that no one could see me, I crept from my safe zone and stayed low and against the wall heading to the next door. I put my ear against it and listened. Silence. I cracked it open and slowly entered the next room. To my left was a bank of elevators, to my right a restroom, but the hallway was empty. I stepped into the open and was deciding on whether an elevator or the stairwell was riskier when I heard voices approaching the door at the far end. Without a thought, I leapt to my right and into the restroom. I pushed a stall door open, closed it quickly behind me, turned the lock, and climbed onto the toilet using my hands to balance against the walls of the stall.

Formulating a plan of what to do in the event that the group followed me into the restroom became unnecessary as I heard them pause outside of the door and briefly chat before moving away. I wasn’t sure where they had gone or even if all of them had left, but I had to keep moving. I had no choice.

I slipped out of the stall and poked my head out of the restroom. The hallway was once again empty. I decided to take the elevator down. There was an equal chance of an encounter with someone either way, but at least the elevator was faster. I needed luck for this to succeed at this point anyway, so I pushed the button. The cables and gears of the elevator working sounded as though they were beckoning the whole building to take notice of the fugitive awaiting the doors to open. It felt like days passed but finally the elevator arrived. I was prepared to flee to my restroom of refuge if someone was in the car, but fate shined on me and I stepped inside and pushed the fear of having nowhere to run deep inside as the doors closed in front of me. I had to get down four floors. If I could do that, I would be able to taste freedom.

To this point, my vanishing act seemed to have gone unnoticed. I heard no alarms. No one seemed to be chasing me. The doors opened on the ground floor, and I stepped tentatively out, checking both directions. The lobby that the lift exited to was empty aside from a few chairs and one low table. There was one guard station I had to get past, and then I simply needed to keep moving, far away from this place. The guard’s head was down, distracted by whatever was keeping him glued to his phone. He didn’t know me. I could simply walk past him, but even that seemed like a risk. It was not the time to get sloppy.

Hugging the wall I walked closer to the officer until I felt I had no choice but to crouch down. I still needed to move quickly in case anyone from the fourth floor found their way down here, but I’d have to do it from the ground. I laid flat and began to army crawl along the edge of the guard station’s massive marble desk. When I’d reached the other side, I edged close to the wall again and inched my way to a standing position and began to walk.

“Sir! Hey, mister! Hey!” Panic. The guard must’ve finished his tv show at the worst possible time. I glanced back to see him getting out of his seat and coming my way. “Sir! You have to come back! Sir! You can’t leave!” Bet. I erupted into a sprint down the long hallway with windows on both sides. If anyone from the fourth floor could see me, it was all over. “You have to sign out! You can’t just leave!” Sign out? No way. The guard was gaining on me - he was fast, not like one of those lazy guards you’d see on TV who’d rather eat a donut than do a pushup. He was going to catch me before I could get off the grounds. It was over. I blasted through the door to the outside world and took the steps down three at a time. I heard the guard right behind me, closing in fast, just as a car pulled up and screeched to a stop. The door flung open.

“Get in!” I didn’t stop to think - I jumped in and was closing the door as the car began to speed away. I glanced back to see the guard cursing and throwing his hands in the air before I turned to the driver.

“Perfect timing,” I grinned.

“I wasn’t sure if you could make it. You have your clubs?”

“Matt’s got ‘em. He said he’d meet us there.”

“So your boss let you go?”

“Ha - no - but it’s fine. No one knows I left, and by the time they find out, it won’t raise any suspicions. No way I was missing the first round of Spring.”

“I knew it! I told them you’d make it. You just won me $20.”

“Glad I could help you out. Buy me a beer at the turn. Now step on it, I want to putt a few before we have to tee off.”