Autumn had spent way too many days locked in this room. She hadn’t spoken to anyone but the man outside her door and the maid that brought her meals. She was terrified and worried and she needed a way out. 

She began to cry hoping to garner some kind of sympathy. 

The man rushed into her room worried, “What’s going on?”

Autumn continued crying, gasping for air as she tried to speak.

“I’m”

“Just”

“Scared,”

She forced through her tears. 

“I miss my father, i haven’t seen him in so long”

“I want my daddy, please” she looked at him with her tear filled eyes. 

He picked her up and placed her down on her bed, running his fingers through her hair. 

“Everything is going to be fine,” he whispered, calming her down. 

After he finally left her room thinking he had fallen asleep, Autumn opened her eyes and made her way to the window. She gauged the jump out of the window and it was something she could do. Autumn stayed up all night plotting her escape. 

The boys at the school she attended showed her how to climb trees and once she got out of here, she knew they wouldn’t believe her and would be thoroughly impressed. 

Autumn smiled to herself as she waited till morning. 

Once morning came she stayed calm and received her breakfast. Then put her plan into action. She crawled out of the window and began running. Hiding and crawling through bushes until she saw the oak tree whose branches leaned over the fence. 

Autumn managed to reach the tree and began climbing, her white dress getting in the way of her feet, and her curls drenched in sweat and covering her face. 

“What are you doing up there?” she heard a boy shout. 

She looked down but couldn’t clearly see where the agitating voice was coming from. 

“What are you doing?” “Get down!” he kept yelling after her. 

Sean knew it was the girl from the garden, and he was filled with anxiety. What if she fell and got hurt, or died? 

He ran off to get help. 

Thankful for the silence Autumn kept climbing, then she felt a hand grab her leg and tug on her. 

She started screaming and kicking but the person grabbing her was too strong. Before she knew it the man had brought her down to the ground as she screamed and cried. 

She saw the boy from the corner of her eye and got even angrier. She had been betrayed more times than she could count, her father, her step mother, the man and  now the stupid boy. She hated him, she hated him so much! 

Before she could compare him to what she hated more she was thrown into a vehicle. 

Sean watched as the girl was brought down from the tree and dragged into the gardener's white van. She looked at him with audacious contempt and tears fell from her eyes and stained her beautiful white dress. Her auburn hair was messy as she screamed for her mother. For a brief moment he questioned if he had done the right thing. He looked away with guilt as the van peeled off drowning her screams, knowing he would never see her again. 

Someone threw a bag over her head but something felt familiar. 

She recognized the smell; it was her father’s van, was she finally going home? Could she finally look forward to better days? 

“Daddy” Autumn called out, “Did you come to get me, are we finally going home?”

Silence 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to run and climb the tree but they wouldn’t let me leave”

“Daddy?” 

More silence 

Autumn knew she wasn’t going home as she cried all the way up to Lake Clayton.