through my hair a second time and then glanced towards the clock again.
Crap!
Kayla would be waiting for me by now.
I turned to my dresser and grabbed my shoulder bag and tube of strawberry lip balm. With my index finger, I glossed some of the delicious tasting balm over my lips and stashed it inside my bag for later use. I also grabbed my knife and put that inside the bag too—better safe than sorry.
I looked over at my window, my ever favourable escape point, and started to shake my head in a self-depreciating manner. Cold night or not, I shouldn’t have closed the window after climbing back down from the rooftop earlier. It was a rookie mistake, and one I hadn’t made in quite some time. The problem was that the window was just so damn noisy. It always had been, but I didn’t have much choice but to use it.
I couldn’t go out the front door, regardless of the angle of approach or my stealthy abilities—I always set off the sensor light. Plus, it operated on a one hundred watt globe. The light would always stream in through the living room windows like Fourth of July fireworks and straight through to Susan and George’s bedroom, so my only chance of successfully escaping still weighed heavily on the first option.
The window.
The window of course was more than fine for escaping, but getting back in again was an entirely different matter. I was going to have to enter via the laundry window when I got back.
I had tried climbing the guttering system outside my window once to see if I could get back into the house that way. It was a disaster. Not only was I wounded from the fall, if only for a moment, but the plastic piping dislodged itself from the main gutters, ripping away from the side of the house and taking some of the older timber boards with it. Needless to say my parents were not pleased, and that was putting it mildly.
The glass panes of my window creaked noisily as I opened them again slowly. I cringed and glanced nervously towards the door, waiting with the very real expectation that I was about to be busted.
A couple of seconds passed silently before I realised that I had been holding my breath. I exhaled nosily and sucked in some fresh air, keeping my watchful eyes on the back of my bedroom door.
Phew! So far, so good.
My ears pricked again as I listened for any trace of movement in the house. It seemed that all was quiet in the Manory household tonight.
Satisfied, I swung my bag over my head, straightened the strap on my shoulder and then climbed up onto the painted timber sill of my second story window. Then I braced myself for what was coming.
This was the painful part, because regardless of the miraculous effects of my self-healing ability, I wasn’t immune to initial breakages, cuts, and abrasions. And every time I jumped from this window, something inevitably went snap .
I clasped my fingers around the window frame and stepped into a position to jump from the opening. Afraid of chickening out, I started counting steadily towards three. I started at one, got to two, and then started breaking it down in eighths, quarters, and then halves.
I’d gotten to two and three quarters when the door behind me opened so quickly that it even bounced on the rubber stopper before swinging back.
Ahh, crap.
‘Elena, what are you doing?’
I smirked. What else could I be doing—bird watching?
I turned my head around slowly and grinned sheepishly at the silhouette of my brother, Lucas. He was standing in my bedroom doorway with his arms folded in front of his chest, eyeing me suspiciously.
God, he looked just like George when he stood there like that, trying to look all authoritarian and threatening. ‘Nothing,’ I replied innocently. ‘I was just opening the window for some fresh air.’ His eyes narrowed into slits before he threw his hands up into the air in exasperation and started towards me. I jumped back onto my bedroom floor.
‘I know you’re trying to sneak out again, Elena. Don’t
Crap!
Kayla would be waiting for me by now.
I turned to my dresser and grabbed my shoulder bag and tube of strawberry lip balm. With my index finger, I glossed some of the delicious tasting balm over my lips and stashed it inside my bag for later use. I also grabbed my knife and put that inside the bag too—better safe than sorry.
I looked over at my window, my ever favourable escape point, and started to shake my head in a self-depreciating manner. Cold night or not, I shouldn’t have closed the window after climbing back down from the rooftop earlier. It was a rookie mistake, and one I hadn’t made in quite some time. The problem was that the window was just so damn noisy. It always had been, but I didn’t have much choice but to use it.
I couldn’t go out the front door, regardless of the angle of approach or my stealthy abilities—I always set off the sensor light. Plus, it operated on a one hundred watt globe. The light would always stream in through the living room windows like Fourth of July fireworks and straight through to Susan and George’s bedroom, so my only chance of successfully escaping still weighed heavily on the first option.
The window.
The window of course was more than fine for escaping, but getting back in again was an entirely different matter. I was going to have to enter via the laundry window when I got back.
I had tried climbing the guttering system outside my window once to see if I could get back into the house that way. It was a disaster. Not only was I wounded from the fall, if only for a moment, but the plastic piping dislodged itself from the main gutters, ripping away from the side of the house and taking some of the older timber boards with it. Needless to say my parents were not pleased, and that was putting it mildly.
The glass panes of my window creaked noisily as I opened them again slowly. I cringed and glanced nervously towards the door, waiting with the very real expectation that I was about to be busted.
A couple of seconds passed silently before I realised that I had been holding my breath. I exhaled nosily and sucked in some fresh air, keeping my watchful eyes on the back of my bedroom door.
Phew! So far, so good.
My ears pricked again as I listened for any trace of movement in the house. It seemed that all was quiet in the Manory household tonight.
Satisfied, I swung my bag over my head, straightened the strap on my shoulder and then climbed up onto the painted timber sill of my second story window. Then I braced myself for what was coming.
This was the painful part, because regardless of the miraculous effects of my self-healing ability, I wasn’t immune to initial breakages, cuts, and abrasions. And every time I jumped from this window, something inevitably went snap .
I clasped my fingers around the window frame and stepped into a position to jump from the opening. Afraid of chickening out, I started counting steadily towards three. I started at one, got to two, and then started breaking it down in eighths, quarters, and then halves.
I’d gotten to two and three quarters when the door behind me opened so quickly that it even bounced on the rubber stopper before swinging back.
Ahh, crap.
‘Elena, what are you doing?’
I smirked. What else could I be doing—bird watching?
I turned my head around slowly and grinned sheepishly at the silhouette of my brother, Lucas. He was standing in my bedroom doorway with his arms folded in front of his chest, eyeing me suspiciously.
God, he looked just like George when he stood there like that, trying to look all authoritarian and threatening. ‘Nothing,’ I replied innocently. ‘I was just opening the window for some fresh air.’ His eyes narrowed into slits before he threw his hands up into the air in exasperation and started towards me. I jumped back onto my bedroom floor.
‘I know you’re trying to sneak out again, Elena. Don’t
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