The Escape

Panic!

Absolute, utter uncontrollable panic was what she felt as she tried to pull herself forward even faster.

‘A few seconds more girl, and you’re surely going to make it…you’ll be free .. Hurry, for god’s sake, it’s now or never, you won’t get another opportunity like this again, give it your best shot!’; she tried to convince herself as if any more convincing was required.

Adjusting her backpack on her shoulder with one hand, the other hand holding onto her hat that she had tilted as far as she possibly could without going completely blind, she tried to conceal her face from ‘them’ with all her might.

She dragged herself forward as fast as she possibly could. Her delicate, light lavender, frilly maxi dress flew a yard behind her like the soundless fluttering of a beautiful butterfly, desperate to keep pace.

Oh my! What a vision she was…

Perhaps an angel in flight, or perhaps a delicate damsel, a vulnerable butterfly trying its best to survive the savage winds…

She gave it all she had as she tried to catch up with the train that had already started its run. The unknown passenger leaning on the open door of the moving train, himself hanging precariously half outside the train, watching her plight, extended a hand, offering her to take it and climb up with his help… her ‘saviour’

Unsure, she turned her gaze sideways, just to check on ‘them’ one last time. For a second, she wondered if they really had caught on to her identity, or was it just her imagination? Were they really behind her, around her, cameras flashing from odd angles, or was it just an illusion born out of her depressingly desolate past?

Not being an athletic person by nature, she had no idea that when you are close to the finish line in a race, you focus only on your target; you don’t look elsewhere, you cannot look at how far your runner-up is; if you do, you lose your position. You lose your goal.

One naïve little error was all it took… the passenger at the door still had his arm extended, she tried to turn her focus back to his hand, she let go of her hat and tried to grab at the extended hand of the unknown saviour. Her hat flew through the breeze against the train’s direction. A hint of a nervous smile was seen on her face by the several cameras that flashed from odd directions and angles, all in unison and quick succession, so as not to miss any of her famous expressions. The tabloids did not miss anything she ever did! They never did! Her face, sad or smiling, always sold!

Success! She let one foot leave the ground and land on the pedestal… she had done it! She had beaten all of ‘them’ at the game. This time, she had managed her escape…. or so she thought.

How wrong she turned out to be! One foot did indeed land on the pedestal, but it was too far out on the edge; As she let go of the ground and tried to pull herself onto the train, her foot on the pedestal slipped off it. The ‘saviour’ held onto her hand for another split second, just before she was snatched out of it sharply, heavily, instantly, as if by some supernatural force. For the next few seconds, she disappeared between the moving train and its track. Instantly, ‘their’ cameras started to flash, saving even the shocked ‘saviour’s’ horror-struck expression as he screamed in horror.

Momentarily, there was a disconcerting little bump or obstruction on the track, then the train moved on further smoothly, exposing the track bare… and on it, the remains of what had once been a light lavender dress, clinging to the dismembered remains of a delicate damsel, desperately trying to find freedom. Fooled that she had made it to a life free and fair, she now lay dead, besmeared in blood and soot, her face no longer protected by her hat, but fully exposed to ‘them’ as they rushed in…racing each other, each trying to be the first to capture her expression. “horrific!” one said to the other, as ’they exchanged glances as they closed in on her shooting from all angles,

“Pathetic, so sad! But man! This is surely going to sell, this will sell like never before!’ muttered another to himself as he hurriedly shared the gory images with his publication office.