The Escape from the House of Shadows.
Valerie's heart beat like a drum as she crept through the narrow corridor of the brothel. The faint scent of sweat, cheap perfume, and despair clung to the cracked wallpaper like ghosts of the girls before her. Her bare feet padded silently across the worn floor, her breath catching at every creak and groan of the old wood.
Every step she took was a battle between hope and fear.
She had spent weeks planning this moment. Late nights pretending to sleep, listening to the guards' schedules, the creaking hinges of the back exits, the shifting routine of Catherine, the headmistress who ruled over the girls with a lash in her hand and a sneer on her lips.
But even with the perfect moment approaching, fear still clung at her throat.
She had tried to convince Lucy about the plan. She was the only sweet and frightened best friend she made during her stay in the brothel. And now that there's an opportunity to leave, she can't just leave her behind.
Earlier that day, Lucy had cried when Valerie explained the plan to her. But fear gripped her mind, she shook her head in disagreement, her lips trembling as she whispered, "No one escapes. They always find you."
Valerie held her hand, tears building up in her own eyes. "We have to try."
But Lucy backed away, as if Valerie's courage might get her killed too.
"I'm not brave like you," Lucy concluded.
Valerie felt sick to her stomach as those words hit her. She wasn't brave but she just had to try.
The first bell rang at 12 o'clock Midnight, Valerie tiptoed behind the girls who had slept off. She tapped Lucy and bid her farewell, both of them holding hands so tight.
She clutched the only possessions she had, a photograph of her grandmother, a tattered book her father used to read to her, and a necklace. Her mother's, to her waist as she made her way through the corridor curved toward the dorm exit.
Two more doors.
One more guard change.
She squats low near the peeling wall, observing the edge to the exit door, it was empty. Indeed a perfect timing, a leap of joy gladdened her mood.
She exhaled, moving slowly towards the door. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the knob.
Suddenly a floorboard creaked behind her. She froze in midair as footsteps approached.
Not the slow, lazy ones of a disinterested guard. These were sharp. Alert.
Catherine.
Valerie ducked into the shadows, pressing her back flat against the wall, her breath caught in her chest.
"Lazy brats," Catherine muttered, heels clicking as she moved past the hall.
Valerie waited silently for ten seconds, maybe twenty. Then, nothing.
Shehurried, grabbing the knob and slipping through the rusted exit, the metal handle burning cold in her grip.
Outside.
The air hit her like a slap—crisp, wet with midnight dew, and free.
She ran.
Down the alley and past the dumpsters, her thin nightgown whipped against her legs. The gravel tore at her soles, then the security light flicked on at the movement of her shadow.
Immediately, she dodged behind the bins at the edge of the industrial loading dock, her breath coming in shallow gasps.
She could still hear the footsteps echoing in her mind, the flashlights of the front guard roaming around in opposite directions. She had only one option left… the tiny Tunnel.
The brothel's alarms had started blaring minutes after she slipped through the old pantry door, crawling through the cracked vent she'd discovered weeks ago. Her hands were scraped, her knees bloodied from the crawl. At some point, she almost got stuck, but fear pushed her through.
Freedom was just on the other side of fear.
She tore her thin nightwear and wrapped it around her injured knees tightly, checked the watch she'd stolen from the guardhouse. Almost 3 a.m.
She had to keep moving. The docks wouldn't stay empty for long. Freedom wasn't a place, It was a choice.
And she was making it.
The rain soaked her bare feet as she ran, the gravel biting into her skin, each breath a broken sob. Valerie didn't know where she was anymore all she knew was that she had escaped.
Somehow
The sky was very dark except for the lighting, the streets were unfamiliar. Her body was trembling from the cold. She ran blindly past the street lights, her heart thudding louder than the thunder.
Then from nowhere, the brakes screeched.
A black SUV cut across her path. Before she could scream, a door flew open. Two men in black stepped out.
"No…please…don't take me back…please!" she cried, kicking as one grabbed her wrists.
She was too weak, too broken. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the inside of the car: leather seats, warm air, and a man's voice on the phone, calm and deep.
*********
Back in the brothel.
Catherine's voice tore through the stale morning air like a whip.
"Get up, you lazy rats! You think sleep is free here? Girls like you should be grateful to have a roof over your heads!"
Her heels creaked on the wooden floors of the dormitory as she marched through the rows of bunk beds, kicking one, slapping another girl's shoulder with a rolled-up paper. The girls scrambled like frightened mice, fear etched on their tired faces.
"Line up! Now!" she barked.
The sleepy-eyed girls formed a crooked line, heads down, hands trembling at their sides. Catherine stalked in front of them like a predator.
" Number Seventeen, where is she?" she snapped.
Silence filled the air as she glanced at her clipboard. "Valerie Sinclair?"
Still no response.
Catherine's eyes narrowed. She turned slowly, face darkening like a brewing storm.
"Lucy," she said, voice coated in venom. "You shared a bed with her, didn't you?"
Lucy flinched. "Y-yes, ma'am."
Catherine stepped closer, eyes boring into her. "Where is she?"
Lucy swallowed hard, her eyes darting to the ground. "I-I don't know."
The sound of Catherine's slap echoed like a gunshot on her face as she was smacked. Lucy staggered back, holding her cheek.
"Don't lie to me! Cause she's your friend, you both have shared a close bond ever since she arrived"
"I swear!" Lucy cried. "I don't know! She didn't tell me anything!"
Catherine grabbed Lucy by the collar of her nightgown and dragged her away from the line. "If you think I'm going to let you protect that brat and get away with it, think again. You'll learn what it means to be loyal to me."
In the distance, shouts erupted from the hallway. One of the guards ran in, breathless.
"She's gone," he said. "We've searched the basement and the kitchen. She's not here."
Catherine's grip on Lucy tightened. "You let her slip through your fingers!"
The air around them grew heavier. Tension crackled like fire about to catch. Catherine pushed Lucy to the floor, then stormed toward the front office.
Behind her, the other girls whispered in hushed terror.
"She actually did it," one murmured.
"She escaped," said another.
Lucy didn't cry. She touched her burning cheek and looked toward the window.
"She made it out," she whispered to herself. "Valerie's really gone."
It's 6 in the morning and the first sunrise has lit the sky but inside the brothel, fear has taken hold.
And the walls felt like they were beginning to burn.
Catherine stormed down the hallway like a beast unleashed, her rage poisoning every breath she took. Doors slammed open under her fists, frightened girls scattering out of her way like leaves in a windstorm.
In the front office, she threw the clipboard across the room. "I want every exit sealed. Search the tunnels. Search the sewer drains. Search the damn walls if you have to!"
The guards exchanged nervous glances. No one dared speak.
"She couldn't have gotten far," She mumbled within herself, pacing around. "Not with the cameras… not with the gates…"
But somewhere deep inside, the truth clawed at her gut. Valerie had been planning this. And she hadn't seen it coming.
That made her furious.
"She'll pay," Catherine snarled. "I'll make her wish she'd never crawled out of her mother's womb."
She turned to the control panel behind her desk and yanked open the drawer that housed surveillance footage. The screen flickered to life, and she rewound to just before dawn. Her eyes tightened as she saw Valerie's shadow flit through the hallway, cloaked in darkness, Calm, Conscious, not even looking back.
"She wasn't alone," Catherine hissed under her breath. "She planned this." Her jaw clenched.
"She had been planning this for a while, How come I didn't notice?" She mumbled to herself.
The thought of Valerie's escape made her go nuts as she slammed the drawer shut making the screen go black. The sound echoed through the office like a gunshot.