Escape

I slowly open my eyes. I rub my eyes with the backs of my hands. It’s dark here, but my eyes adjusted to the darkness a long time ago. I slowly sit up, I am lying on the floor that is my bed. The floor is very hard and not comfortable at all. The floor has a light pink stained carpet on it. There is no furniture here. And it smells bad down here it smells like there’s a lot of mold down here. But I have a little bathroom that has a toilet, sink, and shower. But the water is cold all the time. I’d love a hot shower right now. But that’s just a dream. You’re probably wondering where here is. I am in a basement I have been trapped in this basement for three years now. You probably don’t even remember who I am, so let me refresh your memory. My name is Hannah Michaels I was fifteen years old when I was abducted from my home in the middle of the night on June 6, 2013. I was abducted by friends of my family. My abductor's names were Wendy Richter and Joe Richter. They lived down the street from us. They seemed like really nice people. But they weren’t. They were monsters. Joe Richter kidnapped me from my home in the middle of the night on June 6, 2013. He took me to his and Wendy’s house and they put me in the basement. And I have been here for three years. I don’t know why they took me, they were really good friends with my family. I have never been able to figure it out. And they won’t tell me. No surprise there, why would they tell me. But that’s how I ended up being stuck in this basement. Just in case you were wondering I have tried to escape many times but none of my attempts to escape ever worked. And I had given up, but I’m going to give it one last shot, and I hope it works. I’m really scared. The other times that I attempted to escape Joe caught me and he punished me. He hurt me. But I’m not going to let him or Wendy stop me this time. I am going home. Joe and Wendy are having a party this weekend and they’re having a whole bunch of friends over. And they’re letting me go to the party. They don’t worry about anyone recognizing me. I look completely different now. I don’t look like that little innocent girl that they took a long time ago. I am skinny but not too skinny, I can’t weigh myself but I think I probably weigh about 120 or something like that. They feed me pretty well because they don’t want me to look sickly in front of their friends. But if I do something bad they usually punish me by starving me. Joe says that bad girls don’t deserve food. They treat me like a little kid and I’m eighteen years old now. I can get a shower as much as I want, so I make sure I stay pretty clean. I can even brush my teeth they gave me a toothbrush and toothpaste. They got me some clothes to wear too. They made me color my hair, my hair was whitish blonde. But now my hair is dark brown. I like my hair being brown but I miss my blonde hair. Everyone always told me that with my blonde hair and blue eyes I looked like my mom. And I loved that. I miss my mom so much. I miss my whole family. I love them all so much. I’m going to see them soon. I know I am. Because I have a plan and this time it’s going to work. The party is Saturday, and I already have my plan in mind. The week is gone in no time and it's Saturday. I’m so excited, I get up early. Joe and Wendy got me one of those little clocks for my sixteenth birthday. I like to get up and start my day early. The party is at seven this evening. That feels like forever. But it gets here faster than I thought. At six I start getting ready. I go over to my little pile of clothes and I pick out a white long-sleeved dress with big blue flowers on it and a pair of white sandals. I get a quick shower and then I put on my dress, the dress goes all the way down to my feet, then I put on my sandals. Then I brush my hair and I put on a little silver chain necklace with a little silver butterfly on it that I managed to hide from my captors. But I’m not afraid to wear it tonight. My mom got me that necklace for my fourteenth birthday. And I love it. I leave my hair down. I don’t have any makeup to put on because Joe doesn’t believe in girls wearing makeup. I walk up the ten steps that lead up to the door of my prison. Just as I get to the door Joe opens it and he looks at me and smiles. “There’s my beautiful girl,” he said as he hugged me. I smile and act like I’m happy to see him. “Hi,” I said. “You look so beautiful,” he said. “Thank you,” I said. I walk out of the entrance of the basement and then Joe closes the basement door, then we walk into the living room, the living room is very big. I like the living room. This is a nice house. But it would be even nicer if two monsters didn’t live it. My eyes instantly go to the front door, I stare at it. I can’t wait to go outside and see the real world again, instead of being trapped in hell. I hate it here. Wendy and Joe keep trying to make me like it here. But I don’t. I hate it. I can’t wait to go home. I stop staring at the door when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see who it is. It’s Wendy. “You look beautiful Amber,” Wendy said. Amber is the name she came up with for me tonight. They call me all kinds of different names. But I just ignore them and still call myself Hannah. But I don’t say anything to them. If I did I would get in trouble, and probably lose my chance to try to escape. So I smile at Wendy and say thank you. Everything is already set up for the party. And people start arriving at the house. Wendy greets everybody and Joe is talking to a guy he’s friends with. I start walking around people keep saying hi to me, but they don’t act as they recognize me at all. I made sure I was good at the party. After the party Joe and Wendy started cleaning up the house, I helped clean too. Joe and Wendy let me stay out of the basement because I was good at the party. Now it was time to put my plan into action. While Wendy and Joe were finishing cleaning up a few things I snuck onto the kitchen, I walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and opened it and grabbed a metal pan, then walked back into the living room. I had the pan hidden behind my back. Wendy turned around and looked at me. “Are you okay honey?” she asked. “Yeah,” I said. Then she turned back around and she started cleaning again. Joe wasn’t in the living room he was in his and Wendy’s bedroom that was right across from the living room. I used this as my chance and I raised the pan and hit Wendy on the head with it. She fell to the floor I dropped the pan and I ran to the back door. “Joe she’s escaping.” I heard Wendy yell. “I’ll get her,” Joe said. I heard Joe coming. I quickly unlocked the door and opened it, I ran outside. I was running through the backyard, I made it to the road and I kept running, I looked back and I saw Joe behind me. “Get back here you little brat!” he yelled. I started running faster. I lost Joe for a minute and I used that moment to take my shoes off and I threw my shoes on the ground. Then I ran into the woods close to our neighborhood. I heard Joe again. I just kept running. My feet started hurting and I noticed that my feet were bleeding, but I didn’t stop. “Hannah!” Joe yelled. He never used my real name. “Get back here!” he yelled. I couldn’t see him I didn’t know where he was. But I didn’t stop. It started raining I loved feeling the rain on my skin. I didn’t hear Joe anymore, and I didn’t see him anywhere, so I finally stopped running, I was out of breath and my heart was pounding, and my feet were killing me. My dress was plastered to my body, I was soaked. I was about to start running again when I heard Joe. “Hannah I’m very disappointed in you,” he said. I just looked at him. “I thought I could trust you,” he said. “It’s time to stop doing this,” he said. “Now it’s time to come home,” he said. “I’m not going with you,” I said. “That is not my home,” I said. “I’m going back to my real home,” I said. He had a look of anger on his face and before I could do anything he lunged towards me and he tackled me to the ground. I was lying on my back on the ground and he was on top of me. He pulled a knife out of the pocket of his pants and he started trying to stab me with it. I fought him, I kicked him and I hit him. He managed to stab me in the arm right below my shoulder I screamed so loud. I hoped someone heard me. But if they did they didn’t come to help me. Joe put the knife to my neck I felt the cold metal and sharp edge of the knife against my skin. He was looking at me and he was smiling. I was crying. He was saying something but I wasn’t listening. I glanced over and I noticed that there was a good size rock laying on the ground right beside me. “I’m going to end this,” he said. “Nobody will ever know what happened to Hannah Michaels,” he said.” I’m going to make sure they never even find your body,” he said. “Your parents will never know what happened to you,” he said. “You little brat,” he said. “No,” I said. “I’m going to end this,” I said as I picked up the rock and hit him hard over the head with it. He fell to the ground I knocked him out when I hit him. I sat up and I looked over at him, his head was bleeding. But I didn’t care. I saw the knife lying on the ground beside me, I left the knife there and I got up and started running. My dress was torn and I was all wet and muddy. And my arm was bleeding but it wasn’t that bad. I kept running until I finally made it to my parent’s house. I stood in the middle of the road in the rain for a minute and I just stared at my house. I saw my mom standing at the kitchen window I assumed she was doing dishes. She was looking down at something then she looked up and she looked at me, our eyes locked for a moment. Then she ran away from the window and then my mom and dad ran out the front door. “Hannah!” my mom shouted. “Mom!” I shouted. They ran over to me and they both hugged me until I felt like I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t care. I was finally home.

My name is Hannah Michaels.

I was abducted on June 6, 2013.

I was held captive for three years.

But I survived.

I escaped.

And now I’m home.