Escape! Escape!
Escape! Escape! No.1
Contents
Chapter 1 Aunt Rebecca
Chapter 2 Escape
Chapter 3 Inside the big house
Chapter 4 In the gardens
Chapter 5 A mysterious face and an unusual lace
Chapter 6 A listen through the door and a great
big shock
Chapter 7 Following the men and running
Chapter 8 Spying again, running again and back
to the house again
Chapter 9 Missing men
Chapter 10 Missing paper
Chapter 11 Until next time
No.1 Escape!
Chapter 1
Aunt Rebecca
My name is Alice, I am nine years old
and this is my story, it all started when I ran away from home. I lived with my
Aunt Rebecca in a small, old cottage. The reason I ran away was because my Aunt
Rebecca was horrid, she told you off practically all the time, even when you
hadn’t really done anything! For example, if she told me to put the washing out
and I didn’t do it for another minute or two she would spank me with a wooden
spoon. She didn’t really care about me, but I did feel slightly sorry for her.
The only reason that she was as nasty as she was is because when she was
younger (twelve to be exact) she owned a dog. It was meant to be a family dog,
but really she was the one who fed it, walked it and had any liking for it at
all, so Aunt Rebecca thought of it as her own. The thing was that the dog lived
for a surprisingly long time; it died when she was twenty-nine. That was when
she became unkind. Here was a dog that she had loved and cared for for
seventeen years that had died. That’s why I felt
sorry for
her, I mean, she’d been living an un-happy life for thirty years, you can’t
exactly blame her for being rude and spiteful after that amount of time of being sad. But I simply felt that I
couldn’t put up with her awful telling off for any longer, so I ran away.
Chapter 2
Escape
It was the twenty-first of September
when I decided to run away, I made my plans to get away the next day so I
packed a small bag full of clothes, shoes, water and food. I waited until 1:30am the next morning and then made my escape. I reached under my
bed to get my bag and then crept out into the landing; I snuck down the creaky
stairs, trying not to make a noise. The key to the front door was inside a
little pouch under the rug, I found the key and opened the door, I ran outside
and left the key under the doormat. It was pouring with rain so I had to run
quickly to try and find a shelter. It was cold, so I wrapped a shawl from my
bag around myself. A big tree was standing near me, I slipped and slid over the
wet leaves and sat down under the big tree. I waited there and thought about
how I was going to survive once all my food had gone. “I know!” I said out
loud, “I need to find an old abandoned house somewhere that I can live in and
maybe find some old food there.” The next day,(after very little sleep) I set
off again, it was quite sunny compared to the day before! I kept walking until
I came to a tall, grassy hill, I decided to go to the top and see what was
there (if anything) so I grabbed a tuft of grass and hauled myself up a little
so I could get my balance. I kept doing this until I reached the top of the
hill.
Chapter 3
Inside the big house
At the top of the hill, well I find it hard to
put into words, but there was a gigantic, tumbledown, old, ivy-covered mansion!
It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was better than ever! This was
just what I needed; it looked abandoned so I decided to see if I could get in.
I went to the giant oak door and slowly turned the stiff handle, the door was
opening, I could get in! The first step I took was into a big hallway with lots
of famous paintings on the walls, they were very dusty so it was hard to make
out what they were of. The high ceilings were being held up by old, dirty, oak
beams and the paint was peeling off the walls. But I didn’t mind, it was better
than I’d hoped for if you were talking about sizing! Slowly, I walked through
the big hall and went through a wooden door it was the kitchen, I walked up to
a practically black fridge and looked inside to see if there was any food
there, apart from a cheese that looked like it had been there for years! I
tested the tap to see if it worked, but the handle was so rusty that I couldn’t
make it move. The next room I went into was a living room, there was a huge,
old rug covering the whole floor and a big inglenook fireplace was guarding a big
fire, “Good,” I thought. “I can collect firewood and start a fire if I get
cold, there’s a big tree nearby so I can get all the sticks from it!” I went
back into the hall and found a tall cream door under the stairs, I was
expecting it to be a cupboard but it lead to a dining room! I didn’t think I
would eat in there as the chairs were falling apart and the table was very
scratched so I moved on through a door that was in the wall, it lead to a bathroom,
“I won’t be having a bath here!” I thought, for the bath was chipped and the
toilet had no water in. “I hope that there’s another toilet somewhere that I
can actually use,” I thought. There
was another door in the wall which lead back into the hall, there was only one
other door which was made of pine. I pushed the handle down and the door
creaked opened, inside was what looked like a study. All the furniture was just
as old and dirty as the furniture in the other rooms. Next, I went up the big,
winding staircase, the wooden stairs creaked beneath my feet and I was slightly
worried that one might give-way. They didn’t though, so I got to the top safely.
At the top of the big staircase was a door, I opened it and found a big
bedroom, “If I got rid of all the dust on this bed I could sleep here.” I
thought, there was a door in the corner of the room, I opened it and found
myself in another bedroom. There was a small cot in the room so I defiantly
knew I wouldn’t be sleeping there! After all, I had to think about where I
would sleep as I might sleep there for the rest of my life. The next room that
I went to was another bathroom! There was a bath with a tap that was just turn-able;
a small bit of water came out as I turned the tap. It wasn’t very much but it
was better than nothing. The toilet did have water in it and when I tested it,
it flushed perfectly. There was also a sink, that didn’t work.
Chapter 4
In the gardens
As I walked back down the wooden
stairs, I realised that I had forgotten to go outside and see what the garden
was like. So I went to the big, oak back door and turned the ring handle. I
instantly saw lots of grass and weeds in, what looked like it used to be a
flower bed. It was a big garden but didn’t look very good because everything
was either covered in weed, or long, thick grass. I was just about to go back
inside when I noticed a small gate covered in green moss. I walked over to the
gate, getting stung by a few nettles on the way, and turned the ring. Ahead all
I could see was a small patch of grass with lots of brambles surrounding it. I
walked around the small field, parting the brambles as I went trying not to get
too scratched. There was nothing there so I turned to walk back to the mansion,
or, as I would have liked to call it, my new home. I was just by the door when
I heard a rustle…
Chapter 5
A mysterious face and an unusual lace
I turned round, a face was peeping in at me
from behind a bush, it was a man’s face. That’s about all I saw, as the face
disappeared as soon as it saw that I had looked round. That was when the
thought struck me, “What if this house isn’t abandoned! What if there are
living here, or working here!” But then I dismissed that idea, the house was far too dusty and tumbledown to live or
work in. You’d either need to be desperate for a home (like me.) Or be working
on something secret so you’d need somewhere that no-one would ever guess where
you were. I tried to brush that idea from my head; I didn’t really like the
idea of living in a place where a complete stranger was working on the secret
of a bomb or something. Slowly, I crept round the corner where I had seen the
face to see if I could find it again. There was nothing there, so I went back
into the house, I went back upstairs and looked through the rooms to make sure
I hadn’t missed any rooms. I didn’t find a room, but I did find a shoelace, it
was in the doorway of the study. Brown and with some sort of weird pattern on
it is how I’d describe it. I decided to see if I could make out some of the
words on the paper that was on the old desk. The letters where far too small
and faded to make anything at all out though. So I gave that idea up, but as I
looked around the study a bit closer, I saw a magnifying glass. “Maybe can make
some of the writing out using this!” I thought, “But is it to smudged?” It
wasn’t, and this is what I saw through the magnifying glass.
Find
the secret and you will see,
The
evil things in this country,
Think
of puff and think of down,
The
population will be no crown.
“What on earth could that mean?” I
thought, “Whatever it is I don’t think I like it,” I didn’t really find
anything else so I started to wonder what the time was. “Oh no” I thought, “I
forgot to bring my watch.” Seeing as every single clock was about 60 years old
I had to judge what the time was by how light it was. So, that night I waited
until it was dark before I went to bed. I had brushed all the dust off it
beforehand so I didn’t sneeze as much as I would have. The mattress wasn’t
overly comfy but I did get to sleep fairly quickly. In the morning (or at least
when it was light) I lay thinking about the face from behind the bush. “The
shoelace must belong to the same person as the face does!” is what went through
my head. I got the shoelace from on top of the old chest of draws and examined
it a bit closer. It was long, brown and had a little mud at one of the ends. “I
wonder if the person has realised that they’ve lost their shoelace yet?” I
thought, at that moment I just thought that the person had just been having a
walk, seen the house and had a snoop round for fun. But no, I was completely wrong;
in fact it was the absolute opposite to what I thought…
Chapter 6
A listen through the door and a great
big shock
The next day at about nine o’clock am was the 29th of May (I
had been keeping track from since I left home.) I got out of bed and went
downstairs to find something to eat and drink out of my small bag. I began to
wonder what I would do when the food ran out. It didn’t matter about water as
the tap upstairs worked and there was always the toilet for emergencies… I came
to the conclusion that I would just have to eat what I had as slowly as
possible. I would decide what to do when the food ran out when I was low on
supply. I went outside to the garden for some fresh air and strangely, heard
the front door shut when I had come out of the back door. “The person must have
thought that I was out, or that I was just snooping that day when he saw me. Or
it could be that he realised he had lost his shoelace!” But then I remembered
about the old piece of paper that I had found. What if it had a link to the
person? What if the person was planning something? I knew at that moment that I
had to get to that piece of paper to keep for myself before the other person
did. What if it was too late? I rushed inside to the study door and then
stopped, there were voices, two men’s muffled voices coming from inside the
study. I crept as close as I could to the door to see if I could hear what they
were saying. I hoped that they wouldn’t be sleeping here as that would mean me
leaving! “So Bob,” said a low, man’s voice, “Yes Jim,” said, who I thought was
Bob,
“We need to find out what this old
piece of paper that my father left for me when he died means.” Replied Jim,
“Yes, now your father was pretty evil
wasn’t he, a bit like us.” Bob said, laughing at the last bit. “The funny thing
is,” started Jim, who then paused. “Is that the other day, I was round the bush
in the garden of this funny old place and I saw a young girl of about eight or
nine looking in the brambles.” I think that I must have gone red at this bit. “So
he was spying on me was he?”I thought. They both went silent for a while after
that until Bob said, “Also, I had a spare shoelace in my pocket which I must
have dropped somewhere in this wretched place.”
“That stupid girl probably took it,
we’ll have to watch out for her.” Jim replied. “Anyway, back to business, let’s
try and work out this letter.”
“I wish your father had made it a bit
easier to understand,” moaned Bob.
“I think that he wanted us to do
something for him, something bad perhaps?” Jim said.
“Yeah,” agreed Bob, “But I’ve got to
go in five minutes so make it quick!”
“Ok, so I think that it is defiantly
something to do with royalty, because it said about being crowned.” Said Jim,
“Possibly, or it could be something to do with going down something. Do you
agree?” Bob said,
“I really don’t know, but shall we
meet tomorrow, same time, same place?” Jim asked,
“Yes, we’ll stay for an hour to give
us more time.” Bob said,
“Ok then, more evil talk tomorrow,
bye,”
“Bye.”
I was shocked, and just in the nick
of time, ran back upstairs. Glad they were leaving but worried about what they
would do…
Chapter 6
Following the men and running!
The men came back the following
morning, but this time went into the lounge. I saw that they had their backs to
me; I crept into the room and snuck behind the sofa. “Well,” said Bob, “I had
the idea that instead of talking in this old, smelly place that we should talk
whilst walking outside.”
“Good idea,” agreed Jim, “But just
this once.” The men got up and walked to the door, once I heard the front door
shut, I went and opened it. I was quite annoyed that they had decided to walk
and talk as it meant that I had to follow them. I also had to try and remember
the way so I could get back. It was quite hard not to be seen as they would
keep turning around to check that no-one was following them. I was quite
annoyed when they said that they would go back to their homes because they had
really only said the same as yesterday. Maybe this and maybe that, I think blah
and blur, is about all they said. The men walked their own separate ways, but
at that moment, I took a step. Onto a twig! It broke beneath my feet, I
desperately tried to find a hiding place, but it was too late. The men spun
round and saw me, I ran, the men chased me! “So this is the little rascal that
picked up my shoelace,” I heard Bob say.
“She’s been following us!” Jim said,
I kept on running; I was heading for the mansion. I would lock the doors before
the men got there. I ran up the hill to the house and in through the door. I
turned the handle on the front door to lock it and did the same to the back
door. I was just in time as the men started to bang on the door! “OPEN UP!”
yelled Jim,
“AND STOP SPYING ON US!” Bob shouted.
Then Jim stopped shouting and asked,
“How much do you know?”
“Only that you two have been meeting
here,” I lied.
“Good,” Bob said, “But anymore spying
and you’re in for it!”
“Alright,” I said, but I knew that I
would follow them again. As I heard the men walk away, I slouched down with
relief. But it wasn’t all over yet, as I found out the next day…
Chapter 7
Spying again, running again and back
to the house again
There was something flapping in the
wind on the ground outside, I could see it from my window. It must have been
about 7:00am. I went
outside and found that it was a piece of paper, I turned to scrunch it up, but
then I saw. It was the paper! The one that the men had been looking at! “It
must have blown out of Jim’s pocket!” I thought, I ran inside and started
reading it. “Hmm,” I thought, it was about all I could think. The paper made no sense at all, I folded it up and
went outside to try and find something sticky. In the end I got a little tree
sap that was dripping down an oak tree at the bottom of the big hill. I applied
a little to the paper and stuck it into the pocket of my, by now, very muddy
jeans so it wouldn’t blow away. The men came back again later, but this time,
stayed inside the garden. “That absolute brat of a girl must have taken the
piece of paper!” Bob almost shouted when he said this, “She must know more than
she said she did or she wouldn’t have taken the paper would she?” Jim said, his
face looking grim. Then I really did blow it! I took a step closer to see if I
could hear the men better and, fell! I must have tripped on something but
whatever it was made me fall slap bang over. The men spun round as if they had
seen a ghost, but I didn’t waste any time running. I jumped to my feet and
stumbled back through the house and down the hill. But Bob and Jim wouldn’t
easily give up either; they sprinted after me as fast as their legs would carry
them! I found myself running so far that I ended up in a village. There was a
market on so I managed to hide behind one of the stalls. People didn’t really
take any notice of me as it was busy and I just looked like one of the kids
playing hide and seek. A few seconds later the men appeared and started asking
people if they had seen a girl of about eight or nine. Most people just said
that there were lots of eight and nine year olds here. I sighed with relief as
someone said this; luckily the men had only seen the back of me or a glimpse of
my face before so they didn’t have a very good description of me. Finally, the
men gave up looking and went back out of the market. I followed them to see if
they went back to the house or not, they didn’t, so I did.
Chapter 8
Missing men
I was sure the men would come back
the next day, but they didn’t. So I waited for them the day after that, but
they didn’t come. Or the day after that or even that. “They must have found
another hiding place, without a nine year old girl there,” I thought. It was
funny (not literally) but the day I stopped waiting for Jim and Bob, a
newspaper was on the doorstep. “Oh no, the men must have reported a missing
girl to the newspapers! They must have delivered it to me!” I was wrong though,
as it had been left open on a page which read,
Missing men
Two men named Jim Tye and Bob
Patingson
Have been reported missing. The
strange thing is
though, is that it was someone called
Bob Tye
who reported this.
Now I was quite confused, and
worried. Why would someone report themselves missing? Why would they give their
real name to the newspapers? Why would they even put it in the newspapers in the first place? I now knew that it
must have been Bob and Jim that put it on the doorstep; why else would it be
left open on that particular page? Also newspapers aren’t usually delivered to
old, abandoned houses, are they? So many questions with so little answers, but
would I ever find the answers? “Time will tell,” I thought to myself, “Time
will tell…”
Chapter 9
Missing paper
I ripped that particular page out of
the newspaper and went upstairs to stick it in my jeans pocket with the paper
using the remaining sap. But the paper was gone! I was flabbergasted. I hadn’t
worn my jeans since I had put the paper in and the window hadn’t been left open
so it couldn’t have blown away! There was no hole in the pocket so it couldn’t
have fallen out, I checked anyway and it hadn’t. I hadn’t taken it away and
nobody else had been in the house. Or had they? That was the only other
solution, Jim and Bob had stolen it! I stood there staring at the pocket in my
jeans. I looked around to see if there were any foot-prints or anything, but
everything was normal. Exceedingly annoyed as I was, the main thing that
worried me was the missing men. I looked round the house to check for the
paper, I thought of it as a very slim chance that I would find it. I didn’t see
anything suspicious or find the paper. In a way it was disappointing, but I
wasn’t really expecting to find anything. Annoyed as I was, I couldn’t help but
feel cross with myself for not expecting that the men would steal it. I
couldn’t exactly do anything about it so all I did, was get on with life.
Chapter 11
Until next time
Really, all I needed to do then was
find out what the men were up to, and tell the police. I know what happened,
but you don’t yet. You can do though, by reading the next three books. Unless
you don’t want to find out what happens, I myself would suggest that you read
the next books one by one and find out the men’s secret and what the paper
means. The last words from me in this book are, until next time…
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