I slowly peeled back the covers of my bed and gingerly placed a trembling foot on the floor. It was past Midnight and the house had finally settled down. My brother and sister had long since said g'night and gone to their separate rooms, my parents had turned out their lights. The only sound was my dad's eery snore drifting down the hallway.Placing both feet on the floor I slowly curled into a standing position and tiptoed around my bed, towards the window. My body was coursing with adrenaline and excitement. I had inconspicuously left the blinds open before going to bed (pretty clever, I thought), so that I wouldn't wake anyone by pulling them up. Sweat beaded on my forehead and a knot of apprehension sat like a rock in my stomach. When the floor creaked a minuscule amount I froze, waiting to hear my parents getting out of bed to check on me... But nothing happened.
Breathing again, I reached forward to the latch on the window and slowly, quietly pulled it up. Every noise I made sounded as loud as a foghorn. What was I doing this for? Was this a stupid idea after all? Probably, but I couldn't give up now.
I began to slowly push the window open, feeling the cool summer breeze on my face. Outside the trees cast eery shadows on the backyard and crickets sang at the top of their lungs.... shoot. Fear filled my stomach as I realized all the noise the darn crickets were making. Taking one last look at my bedroom I pulled myself over my window ledge and onto the not-so-firm ledge of roof. My legs wobbled with fear and excitement as I stared triumphantly around at my surroundings. Suddenly I heard a "snap!" behind me. Turning my head I realized I had just made a deadly mistake... I had pushed the window closed.
I realized I was locked outside, in my pajamas, wearing only socks, on a school night. Dread filled my stomach as I looked down on the silent, shadowy backyard. Not only that, I was high on the roof. The second floor to be exact. I became dizzy as I realized that I had not planned ahead enough to figure out a way down from the roof... and I was scared of heights. I made a mental note not to try this stunt again.
What should I do? What should I do? I inched along the four-inch ledge on the roof until I came to a slope leading up to my brother's room. Should I go up there and knock? No, of course not. He would tattle immediately. Should I sit here until morning? Definitely not. I had no idea how I would be able to explain my predicament. I mean, the whole reason I'd come up here was to have an adventure. Writers need to have experiences to write about, so I needed to create my own. I mean, how many books have you read where the main character has to sneak out of their house? Lots. I mean, in basically every romance novel the girl sneaks out to meet some boy.
I edged over to the ledge of the roof and peered down at the ground beneath me. I could just barely make out a bush in the darkness. Could I, just maybe, land softly enough if I jumped on it? I thought back to all the times my brother and sister had told me I was an idiot. Maybe they were right.... oh well, best not to think of that. I took a deep breath and leapt off the roof. For a minute I was flying... flying... flying..... oof! I landed with a splintering crash that seemed loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. My ankle twisted awkwardly, my arms and face became scratched and tangled in the branches, but hey.... I was alive! I crashed through the branches and emerged from the bush, just in time to trip over a gnarled root and crash to the ground. I lay there panting, aching, and holding a strong grudge against gravity.
I lay on the ground for a minute, my brown hair tangled with leaves, my striped yellow pajamas covered in dirt, and my body covered in scratches and bruises. I could see the ledge above me that I had jumped off of, and above that, a full yellow moon. Stars twinkled above, as if laughing at me and I was half tempted to stick my tongue out at their merriness.
Clawing at the ground and pushing myself to my stocking feet I looked around. The trees cast dark, scary shadows. Odd creaks and croaks echoed in the back round and suddenly... I heard a growl. I was freaked out, I almost screamed. In the darkness behind a fence was my neighbor's dog- a big, black friendly mutt... who obviously didn't recognize me. His growl switched into a cacophony of loud barking. He sounded absolutely hysterical, if dogs could. I decided that now, more than any, would be a good time to make a run for it. I ran from the backyard, narrowly missing colliding with a tree, and raced into the front yard, leaving the neighbor's dog yelping far behind me. I decided there was no way I could get back inside without being noticed, unless I started a fire and caused a Chinese Fire Drill. I'd asked for an adventure, so I guess this is what I got. I mean, what did I expect? Did I think I could just climb out the window, go on a little stroll (in my stocking feet, mind you), and then climb back into my room and go back to sleep (and be fully rested for the test at school tomorrow)? I guess my planning- ahead needed some work.
I wandered through the dark-and-foreign front yard and stared longingly at the locked door, before meandering to a nearby pine tree and curling up under its long, hanging branches. A-student by day, adventurous writer by night... that's me. What would the kids at school say? Nothing, probably, because most likely I'd be dead and killed by my parents before I could go to school.
I drifted in and out of sleep on the hard, pine-cone covered earth as the crickets and birds sang at the top of their lungs. At times I wanted to strangle them. Why do birds sing so loud anyway? The sun was starting to rise when I suddenly came-to and remembered that 'oh yah', I was still locked outside in my pajamas. I just prayed my mom wouldn't open my room door to find the bed empty. What would she do? Call the cops?
Suddenly I heard the familiar rumble of the garage door opening. I couldn't believe my ears. Why was the garage door opening at 5:30 in the morning? Was it a miracle? I peered out from the long, bushy pine branches to see my mom slowly trudging out into the driveway, pushing our large black trash can ahead of her. Could it be? Could it really be? It was Tuesday- trash day! This was my chance. As soon as my mom had passed on her way to the end of the driveway I ducked out from under the branches and sprinted as fast as I could into the garage. I didn't even look back. My breathing was hard, adrenaline pumping through me, and I realized that somehow my luck had held. My mom hadn't seen me. I quietly opened the door to the house and tiptoed inside and down the hall. Everyone else was still asleep. Cautiously climbing up the stairs two-by-two (and avoiding the creaky ones), I ducked into my bedroom and let out a sigh of relief. It was almost time to go to school anyways, so I opened my closet and grabbed my clothes for the day.
When I headed downstairs at six a.m. for breakfast my mom looked like nothing had happened. All she said was a simple,
"You look like you've had a hard night." and grabbed me a box of cereal.
When my sister came down a few minutes after me she gave me a strange look and pulled a leaf out of my hair. None of them seemed to notice my bruised, swollen ankle or the scratches across my face and arms that I had tried so hard to cover up.
To this day they have never found out about my little nighttime adventure, and I'm hoping you won't tell them either. After all, every writer needs her share of experiences, and I just went to find mine on my own.
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