-CHAPTER 9-
"I see you've already put a lot of thought into this then. But have you thought about the actual escape plan?" Keshet asked. He read me like a book. He knew better than I that I had no escape plan in mind.
"I- no." I stated honestly and guiltily.
"Well we'd better get to work on that, shall we?"
"Definitely." I said, surprised by his empathy.
"So, we have to get out of Red, but we're surrounded on all sides by a wooded area, which way are we going? There's really no 'good' option."
"Well, I'd assume we just take the eastern exit like 99a did, right?"
"Yes, but there will be plenty of guards there. So if we want to get to society, we go east, but if we want to get our heads blown off, we also go east.
"So what if we divert it a bit?"
"Exactly. We'll go north-east, then veer completely east once we're past the guards." Keshet smiled, "How about we scout the route out tomorrow?"
"No." I rejected, "The worst thing that could possibly happen is that we get caught before we even attempt our escape, and we don't even get a glimpse of freedom."
"But that'll mean that we don't have a clue what we're doing!"
"It'll be fine," I reaffirmed, "It's only 1 turn. We can do that, right?"
"I- I guess so." Keshet reluctantly agreed.
"So what day do you think we should go?" I inquired, "I'd like to go as soon as possible, so there's no way we can back out." Keshet rested his chin on his fist, like a person lost deep in thought.
"How about on Christmas?"
"Christmas?!" I exclaimed, "How am I supposed to leave when it's the happiest time of the year? I'll simply ruin my friend's and family's joy!"
Christmas is the only holiday that the guards really let us, "Celebrate," Of course, as long as there's no reference to religion.
There are these huge gatherings of people, and they make incredible food, and put up beautiful lights. I continued ranting, "It's going to be impossible to leave such a beautiful scenery of lights!"
"I know." Keshet answered, "But we have to leave then. On the night of Christmas, the guards will be so tired from regulating the parties that they'll practically let us just walk by."
My face grimaced, thinking about walking away from utopia, but I nodded. "Alright then." Keshet continued, "1:00 AM, night right after Christmas day, don't miss it!"
Keshet's confidence shocked me, but I nodded my head along with him.
"Let's do it. 8 days from now, we'll be long gone from here!"
"It's our dream!" Keshet pounded his fist in the air. I remembered my Father.
"This is why I give you this cloak, so that you remember this dream of mine."
I thought about it for a moment, and then pounded my fist as well, responding,
"Yes!" to Keshet.
"Let's meet here 3 days from now, okay?"
"You betcha."
3 days later,
5 days until Christmas.
Yet another midnight walk was in store for me. This time, I did not see a light on in the shack when I got there. However, I was not worried about Keshet's presence, because he was opening the door when I got there.
"Right on time!" I said.
"That's right," Keshet chuckled. Jokingly, he made me knock on the door to get in. Once inside, we sat down, and swapped to serious mode. "So, how has it been going? Any new revelations on how to perfectly escape?" I sighed,
"No… And it only seems to get harder to have normal conversation. Having to talk to people I've interacted with my whole life, knowing that I'll never see them again… It's nothing but cruel."
"And yet you continue to fight."
"Huh?"
"Your desire for freedom is stronger than your bond with those people."
"That's-"
"It wasn't really a competition though. I doubt there's a person on Earth who could shatter that desire."
"True, I am that devoted…" I muttered to myself.
"Anyways," Keshet changed topics, and pulled out a large black bag with two straps. "I got a backpack to carry my stuff. It's actually great."
"Yeah, it looks good on you."
"You should really get one for yourself, it's only about 5000 copps."
"5000?!"
Copps are the currency we use in Red. A copp, short for copper, isn't worth much on its own, but about 100 copps is worth about a loaf of bread.
"What, you haven't been saving?" Keshet asked genuinely. Deflated, I answered,
"I spent all my money on flowers…"
Keshet exhaled, very disappointed.
"I spent my money on this backpack, so we don't have any funds… But you definitely need one for the escape to work…"
The next morning
4 days 'till Christmas
We stepped up to Naomi's front door, and knocked. Thankfully, it was her that answered.
We explained that I needed to borrow some money.
"Money? Yeah, I could spare some. But what for?" I panicked, and thought of the explanation with the least explaining to do.
"It's… Um, it's for a Christmas present. That seemed to satisfy her, and she agreed to grab some of her leftover cash.
"Thank you so much," I said, bowing, "You don't know how grateful I am for this."
"Yeah, no problem."
"Okay, thank you," I said once more, retreating from her front door. Keshet and I began trekking our way to the market.
"How much did she give you?" Keshet asked. I counted the orange slips of paper.
"Um… Let me count again, she can't be that generous." So I counted again. Dumbfounded, I found the same result. "Se- seven-thousand copps."
"700? That's a little low…"
"No, 7,000."
"Wait, you're serious?"
"Yes…"
"Let's go! Naomi for the win!"
"I kind of feel bad though, practically taking all this money from her.
"Well… Just think of it like a going away gift."
I didn't feel any better about her generosity, but we were approaching the market, and Keshet was leading me to the backpacks.
At the stall, there were black bags, blue bags, red bags, all kinds of colors. But I went for the same black bag as Keshet.
"That will be 5000 copps." The shopkeeper said,
"Sure," I replied, handing him the 5000.
On the way back home, I stopped by Naomi's bedroom window, where I left the extra 2000 copps.
Keshet walked with me back to my house, where we said farewell.
I greeted Mother, and headed directly towards my bedroom. I dropped the backpack off on my bed. I groaned.
"What do I pack?"
Christmas day
10 hours until escape
I've always heard stories of a "white christmas," and it sounds magical. Unfortunately every year I open the front door to see Keshet dressed in normal clothes, with not a flake of snow in sight.
"Come on in." I said lazily.
"Thank you for having me."
I showed Keshet to my bedroom, where my backpack layed on the bed, barely filled with anything at all. I packed clothes, water, some snacks; necessities, but no luxuries. I had laid my purple cloak down next to the bag, alongside 99a's stopwatch.
I invited Keshet to sit down, and we talked for a couple of hours.
"What do you think is right outside the outskirts? Do you think there's a dragon waiting for us on the other side?" I asked,
"Probably no dragons… I hope…" Keshet responded.
After a while, it was reaching 4:00 PM. It was time. The hardest part of the journey this far.
Keshet and I jumped out of the window, and viewed the bustling street corners from afar.
"Go ahead." Keshet urged me, "Say goodbye."
I my eyes flicked across all of the joyous faces around, filled with glee. I knew each and every one of their names. I knew them, their brothers and sisters, their husband or wife, and where they lived. I knew who they all were, and I always had.
And that's why I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to any one of them.
I broke down, letting out all of my pent up emotions while on my knees.
"Damn it…" I whimpered to myself, "I would bring along every single one of you if I could… Not a single soul here deserves to be left behind. And yet I'm leaving all of them!"
Keshet stood in silence, patting me on the back, trying to comfort me in my new low state. But there was nothing he could do. I just needed to let out all of what was building up inside me.
We retreated back to the house for a while, but ultimately we had to turn into the night for our early bedtime. After all, we had to wake up and be fully alert at 1:00 AM.
So Keshet went home, and I tried to fall into a dream, but the Christmas parties were too loud, and I had trouble sleeping.