The Escape

When I woke the next morning and opened my eyes, I realized something had changed. I could see in the darkness. Everything looked a little lighter even though no light was present.

“Do you like it?”

I jumped, looking around for the sound. It took a few seconds for my sleep addled mind to awaken enough to realize I recognized that voice.

“Sapphire!” I thought happily. “You are real! I thought I had heard you in my sleep.”

“Your dreams Evangeline.” Sapphire said softly, as if she was smiling.

“I forgot you had given me a name as well.” Now I felt a warm feeling in my chest, near my heart. It was happiness. “I like my name Sapphire, thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” She said happily. “So, the night vision, do you like it?”

I blinked a few times, trying to get use to the ability to suddenly see in my dark little world. I guess it was okay, I wouldn’t have to be so careful about where I stepped. I decided I liked it. “Yes, Sapphire, thank you.”

“I’m glad! Now down to business. How often does that hatch open?” She sounded serious; she was planning our escape.

“I’m not sure? Usually every eight sleeps.” I moved towards the area along the wall that I used to relieve myself, pulling my hair over my shoulder so it wouldn’t be in the way. I could feel Sapphire’s sadness again and thought it was odd. This was a function my body had always done. When I was finished, I used the old cloth pieces I had torn from the cloth I grew out of and cleaned out when the water got to dirty to drink

I then made my way to where I kept my food and drinking water, the furthest from the hole that I just came from. I sat down and dropped my face into the bucket, gulping up the water to sate my dry throat. Next was food, and I was happy to be able to see it. The soft one that normally filled me up the most, and I always ate first because it started tasting funny the fastest, was longer than the others, and rounded at the ends. I took a bite out of it and savored it. This food wasn’t my favorite, but it sustained me the best.

“That’s bread Evangeline.” Came Sapphires soft voice in my mind.

“Bread. I like it, I think it fits its name.”

“Evangeline, why do you never speak aloud?”

“What do you mean?” I took another bite of my bread and started looking at the other food with my new night vision. Some foods were found, others flat.

“I mean use your mouth and make sound?”

“What would be the reason too?” Sometimes I didn’t understand the reasoning behind the things Sapphire said. Why would I need to use my mouth and make sound when she could hear me just fine?

“For when you get out of here. You may see other people and need to communicate Evangeline. Go ahead, give it a try.” Sapphire said encouragingly. I didn’t want to let her down, but I wasn’t sure this was something I could do.

“Okay….” I mumbled hesitantly.

*Cough cough* “He-ll-o.” My voice sounded scratchy, but I think I did it.

“Very good Evangeline!” Sapphire shouted excitedly in my mind.

“I didn’t like it, it hurt my throat.” I dunked my head into the water again, the cool liquid eased the scratchy feeling in my throat. I picked my bread back up, tearing off a piece with my teeth and chewing it slowly. “So what is the plan, Sapphire?”

“When that hatch opens again, we will jump through it.” Sapphire’s tone was full determination.

“How? It’s at least as tall as three of me stacked one on top of another. I can’t jump that.”

“You may not be able to, but in my wolf form, we can.”

From then on, every minute was filled with me learning. Sapphire taught me about people, both the humankind and the werewolf kind. Sapphire said I was the werewolf kind, and she was my wolf spirit. After my third sleep since Sapphire came to me, she decided I would learn to shift.

The first shift was the hardest. Sapphire took over and forced my body to shift from human form to wolf form. My little world was full of the sound of bones breaking and reshaping. It would have been full of my screams as well, but Sapphire had me tie cloth around my mouth, a gag she had said. Because if the people keeping me down here heard, then they would come to check what was happening before we were ready and end all chances of escape.

When Sapphire had first mentioned escape, I had only agreed because she seemed so happy at the thought of getting out of here. I did not understand her insistence. I was okay here. I was fed, and I was comfortable. This was all I had ever known. What would out there be like? Would I like it? What if it didn’t like me?

But soon she had me convinced to get out. She told me of trees and grass and rivers. The sky, the sun and the moon and the stars. No matter what time it was or where you were ‘out there’ there was always a form of light.

I was most excited about what she called ‘the beach’. Water as far as you could see, that moved and crashed on the ground that was called a shore. She said creatures lived in the water and they were beautiful. The sun was apparently hot, but the breeze from the water kept you comfortable, and the sand was warm and pleasant on your toes.

By my sixth sleep after getting Sapphire, I had shifted twelve times from my human form to Sapphire’s wolf form. Each time I had shifted I gave Sapphire control, and she would ‘train’ as she put it. Stretching her legs and back. Running around the room we were in and even jumping from floor to ceiling, touching the roof with her snout gently just to make sure she measured accurately that she could in fact jump out the door when it was next opened.

She was sure we could do it. And I trusted her with everything I had.

When I woke up from my seventh sleep since Sapphire came to me, it was the eighth sleep since the last time they had sent me food and water. It was time for them to come. Time for us to escape. The entire day I was jumpy. Every time I moved; I thought the sound was them opening the hatch. I repeated the plan in my head over and over. First, we listened carefully, not moving to much so we would not exert to much energy but stretching periodically so we stayed lose. Second, when they opened the hatch, we would shield our eyes and immediately shift. Third, one fast loop around the room then bounce from one wall halfway up and sore through the hatch. After that, the plan was just, run. Run as far and as fast as we could for as long as we could.

Sapphire explained to me that she knew this would work, because we were special, and we had a destiny. She said that we were powerful. Young, but powerful, and the world needed us. When I asked her how she knew she said her mother, the Moon Goddess told her. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but Sapphire said she knew it meant we were getting out.

I had just finished stretching when I heard scraping above my head. Like something heavy moving.

“It’s time Evangeline.” Sapphire’s voice growled through my mind. She was ready for this. Eight days in the dark had made her go a little crazy, but she said having me there helped keep her grounded. The hatch in the ceiling was cracked open, a sliver of light flooding the small room. “Now Evangeline, shift now.”

I stepped forward and bent towards the ground as if to place my hands on the dirt floor, but before my hands made contact, they were replaced by paws. I was now in Sapphire’s form, and I could feel her stretching, preening her body for the jump she was about to make and the run beyond. The hatch was thrown open the rest of the way and Sapphire immediately took off around the room, going faster than we had ever practiced, she ran the circumference twice instead of once and then pushed off the floor towards the wall on the opposite side, she did a twist when she hit it and immediately turned directions shooting through the open hatch.

We landed on the ground hard, rolling a couple times before stopping. I watched through our eyes as two men who were on the ground were scrambling to get up. Both were large, much larger than me in human form, but no match for us in Sapphires large wolf body.

“They are wolves! We have to take them out fast!” Sapphire shouted in my head.

“The hatch! It’s open! Throw them in and slam it shut! That Boulder there goes over it, think we can push it?!” I was trying to think quickly, faster than I ever had in my life.

“Yes!” Sapphire shouted as she raced towards the men. She reached the first in half a second, her large muzzle latching onto his shoulder and throwing him towards the hatch, the man screamed in pain but was unable to fight off the large wolf. He didn’t land through the hatch as Sapphire had hoped, instead he landed right beside it, but he didn’t notice where he landed and when he moved to stand clutching his injured shoulder his foot slipped and he fell through. He hit the ground with a loud thud and from the lack of sound coming from him he was either knocked out or dead.

Sapphire’s head snapped around to the second guard just as he was beginning to shift, for some reason he was not as quick as us, Sapphire took off for him immediately by time she reached him a second later, he was almost fully shifted and swiped at us with one large paw. I found it odd that such a big man shifted into a wolf who was just slightly shorter than Sapphire but didn’t have time to focus on it now.

Sapphire latched on to his paw as it swiped for our head, her teeth dug in, and she started jerking him back towards the hatch. He wasn’t weak by any means, but we were strong, and we were fighting for our freedom and our life. The guard jerked forward, his teeth dripping saliva as they came barreling down towards our head. Sapphire jumped back and to the side moving to run behind him, before he could jerk around, we were on his back and our teeth were latched around his throat. Sapphire bit down harder, I cringed as I heard and felt his bones snapping in our mouth. Our sharp teeth pierced his skin, and I could taste his coppery blood on our tongue. This was not how I thought this would go. I never thought we would have to kill.

One more powerful flex of our jaw and his windpipe was crushed. He jerked and then fell. Sapphire jumped from his back before he hit the ground, dead. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck she dragged him the last few feet to the open hatch and pushed him in. As she closed the hatch door and moved the large rock on stop of the door, I had the sense it was not needed. They were both dead.

Looking around where we were I had to adjust to my surroundings. The hatch, my ceiling, was just a forest floor. The Boulder completely hid the trap door that led to my prison. Surrounding it were tall trees, I knew they were trees from Sapphire’s description of them. But the one thing I was not prepared for was how bright it was. Everything was lit up, when I looked above me, to the sky, as Sapphire had called it, I was blinded. I forcibly closed our eyes and shook my head trying to clear the bright dots I could see even with my eyes shut.

“Evangeline! Give me control! We must get out of here before more show up!” Sapphire sounded frantic. She was right, I was putting our entire escape in jeopardy. I gave her over control and slid to the back of our mind, away from the light, away from the bright colors, away from the things I did not know. Back to darkness.