Runaway Train

The rain kept on running down the window. Aileen watched the raindrops on the glass racing against one another. She liked the rain. When it was raining the streets where almost empty and that allowed her to move faster. Randolph was not fast anymore, he was getting old and he was limping.

Just as she thought about him, Randolph came in the room. He walked up to her and spoke with his croaky voice: "You grow fast my little doll." Aileen looked at him angrily – she hated it when he called her liked that. In fact she hated him. He grew more unreckonabele since the day he killed her mother. Randolph held her chin and examined her. She tried to look him in the eyes with the angriest look she had – but he just laughed. "You have to eat little doll," he said, "you'll have to be fat when I sell ya." He let go of her, but she did not stop staring at him.

She remembered the last thing her mother said to her: "Run". Back then she was to slow – but now, since Randolph was slow, it would be easier to escape. But first she had to get out of this house – he had locked it quite well. Aileen knew her time was short, she had to work out a plan or she would be sold to someone, who was much more dangerous than Randolph. He was stupid – it was easy to trick him. But still she had to be careful...

Three days passed and Aileen still had no plan for her escape. She made up some ideas but all of them where useless. The problem was that she did not know the city very well. There was only the street she could see from her window. She was sure that she would not get far if she just tricked Randolph when he came home and then just run in any direction. She could run in circles or be found by other evil people like him. She failed already once, the second time sure would be the last time.

The next few days Aileen tried to talk to Randolph about the city, but she could not be too precise, so he would not find out about her plan. Every time she was about to find out something important, he told her that she was too curious and that, "Little dolls are not supposed to talk," and then he mostly hit her and left the house. One time she tried something different and asked: "Randolph? Please dear uncle Randolph, I am so bored all the time and – as I'm not supposed to talk, could you let me watch some TV please?" She expected to get hit again but instead Randolph just looked at her for a while – an awkwardly long while in her opinion – then smiled and said: "Well why not; at least you'll shut up for a moment. C'mon my little doll," he said as he walked over to the TV. She followed him and Randolph put on some child's program. Aileen sat and pretended to watch TV but actually she just waited until Randolph would leave the house again.

After about an hour he finally left. Aileen waited a few seconds until she was sure he would not come back to get something he forgot, and quickly switched to the news program. The newsreader was standing in front of a great window. Aileen tried to recognize any of the buildings – but failed. She waited for a report to come, where she could see pictures of her district. Almost ashamed of her happiness she realised that there were quite a lot of crimes in this area, what gave much to talk about in the news. So it came that she watched TV every day and as soon as Randolph had left, switched to the news program – always aware to switch back when he returned. At night she completed the map she had started to draw in her sketchbook, which Randolph gave to her when she was five.

As the days passed by, Aileen's map grew further and further. But she recognized that she would only have few days to complete it. Randolph grew more nervous every day and gave her more to eat than usually. She always obeyed, so he would not be worried about her to escape. She tried her best to learn her map by heart, because she could not know, if she had the chance to take it with her.

Finally the day came. Here last chance to escape. And as Randolph told her roughly to pack her things – she was determined not to fail. He haled her out of the door and she suddenly felt helpless under the great sky. It was almost white and much further away than she could remember when she was outside the last time. The street began to look less familiar every step they walked away. Aileen now was really nervous. What if she did not make it? What was if she failed? She had to push this thought away, so she would not panic. Trying to concentrate on her surroundings, to recognize anything she had seen on the news, she spent the rest of her time until they would arrive. Some parts seemed to ring a bell but Aileen could not arrange it to the map. After a quite long walk (mostly due to Randolph's slow pace) they arrived at an old warehouse. No wait! Aileen paused for a moment. "C'mon my little doll! Don't stop walking till I tell ya, do you?" As she did not react he tightened his grip around her arm and snubbed: "Did I tell you to stop?" Aileen awoke from her paralysis and answered: "No uncle Randolph. I am very sorry." That would be the last time she would have to call that detestably man uncle. He looked at her angrily, just as he wanted to hit her again, but seamed to decide otherwise. "Stop talking, stupid thing!" he said roughly, "We're running late," and then dragged her along.
Aileen smiled inwardly due she had a perfect plan. She remembered the warehouse in front of them. It was not old but there had been a fire just a few days before, what made it look like old from the distance. Aileen knew from the TV that the building had to be cleared and stud empty since the fire. What a coincidence that just there was a child trafficking about to take place, right? Luckily there was a train station nearby (another "coincidence"). Not for public traffic, just for cargo. Aileen's ticket to freedom or – if she did not manage to escape – to hell.