Finding A Way Home

Getting Out

When Phoenix awoke, she was not sure if her eyes were open or not because the room that she was in was very dark. She was still groggy from whatever the armed men had used to subdue her. She cleared her mind and tried to think. She knew that she had been kidnapped, along with the other girl, but why? And by whom? The men were probably after the ransom money that their parents would pay to get them back safely, she thought. Ha! Little did the kidnappers know, she was as poor as dirt and was only in Boston because of her own achievements and grit.

 Phoenix tried to stand up, but then she noticed that her hands were cuffed together on a steel chain leading to the concrete wall. She fell to the ground on her knees, her hands searching the locks for an opening that a key was supposed to go through. She felt the key hole and then she noticed that they had not stripped her of anything, although she could not find her bookbag. 

She smiled to herself, knowing that the kidnappers had forgotten to take away her weapon - a pen. Phoenix tugged the pen out of her pants' pocket carefully so as to minimize the damage to her wrists. She took the pen apart, and grabbed the part she was looking for - the cartridge - and shoved it in the key hole. After about five minutes of struggling, she heard the lock click and she pulled her hands away from the handcuffs.

"I'm free," she whispered, so as not to alarm the people who kept her captive, wherever they might be. She rubbed her wrists, glad there was only a minor sting coming from them.

As Phoenix stood up, she got a better view of the room. She had known that there were no windows, but now she could see a wooden door ten meters away. She tiptoed over to the door, and slowly and carefully pulled on the handle. The handle successfully turned, and she peered through the opening. She could see a hallway lit by electric light bulbs along the ceiling. Phoenix saw no men, so she pulled the door open enough for her to slip through. 

 The door squeaked noisily on its rusted hinges. Phoenix cringed, but heard no sound of anyone coming closer. She stepped out in the hallway. She saw another door down to the left side, but saw no sign of anyone, so she decided to take her chances and go into that room. The door was nicer and stronger than the door that was leading to her room. She cautiously opened the door.

In the light from the hallway lay the other girl that had been kidnapped. She was huddled in a ball with a very scared look on her face. Phoenix lost all reason and went into the room, noticing some things along the way. The girl seemed to be much older than her, which made Phoenix think that this girl was trying to hide her age when Phoenix first saw her walking down the street. She went over to the girl, and without saying anything, took the girls hands from behind her back. The girl's hand were cuffed, much like her hands were, to the wall. 

 Phoenix took out her pen cartridge from her pocket and stuck it in the key hole of the handcuffs. Picking the lock on these handcuffs seemed harder to Phoenix, even though her hands were free and she could see what she was doing. The other girl tried to get away at first, and she seemed like she was about to say something, so Phoenix put a finger to her lips and pointed towards the door. She had scarcely heard the lock of the handcuffs clicked and swung open, when they heard a slam of a door, and realized that they were stuck in the room together. Phoenix ran to the door, but the door was firmly locked.

Then, the other girl spoke up, her voice as cold as ice. "There is no way you will be able to open the door. It was meant for withholding the blast of bombs, so I doubt you will have any luck."