Page 26 of Escape

It was too silent. Too dark. My chest constricted as my head spun with the lack of senses. I needed something. Anything. I swung my arms around, hitting them against the glass just to feel something. Just to get my head to stop spinning. The sound of my fists beating against it brought my ears back to life and I could breathe again, just barely.

I craved the smooth voice over the intercom to soothe me. To remind me that I wasn’t alone, but it didn’t come. Feeling desperate, I dropped to my knees in the dark.

A gentle whirring noise snapped my head up. I was sure I was sitting in the middle of the glass box…so why did I suddenly feel the cool press of glass against my back?

It was getting closer. Pressing harder. The whirring getting louder. My brain took what felt like hours to process what was going on around me, or maybe it just refused to believe it.

Because there was no fucking way.

The table where the phone sat screeched as it scraped across the floor, pressing into my shins. I twisted to the side, shot to my feet, stretched my hands out to my sides and confirmed my worst fear.

The walls were closing in around me.

“Please!” I pleaded, screaming so loud my throat felt raw. “Please, I’m sorry! I was confused…I was…I was going to answer it, I swear! I didn’t have enough time!”

Tears fell from my cheeks as I beat my fists on the glass again. Behind me, the edge of the table dug into my back. My bones ached at the impact as the space I was confined to grew smaller and smaller. I flattened myself against the wall in front of me, trying to shrink myself down and grasp onto any amount of hope I could before being crushed alive.

“You’ve accepted who you are, but if you can’t come out of the closet, you will live in the dark forever. And, eventually, the truth will suffocate you.” Kel’s voice boomed over the whir of the walls, the screeching of the table and the slamming of my heart.

“I promise!” I screamed, a new desperation embedded in my words. “I will answer this time! I’ll say everything…anything you want…just…please, please, please, please make it stop! Please! I don’t want to die, please!”

The whirring sound stopped and the lights illuminated the room. My stomach dropped as I looked around me and realized just how close I was to being smashed.

Seconds later, the walls retreated to their normal position, my damp skin stinging as it slowly peeled from the glass I was pressed into.

The phone rang again. Not able to get even a second to recover, I snatched it up before the first ring finished.

My stomach felt like I’d just been plunged down the drop of a roller coaster when my mother’s voice came from the receiver. I stuttered to speak, unsure of how to start, when I realized what she was actually saying.

“Leave a message after the…*beep*.”

“Hi, Mom,” I cleared my throat, smoothing out the script on the tabletop. “It’s me, Jasmine. I, um…wanted to finally tell you who I am. Jared…he,” I choked, the image of my husband’s lifeless eyes stared back at me from behind my lids. “He, um, he’s leaving me. Already left. He’s gone. And me…Well, I am moving away. I need a fresh start away from everything. I’m safe, I promise.”

I startled for a moment, pulling the phone from my ear as a slight rustling sounded on the other end. When I didn’t hear my mother’s voice after a moment, I continued.

“And I’m a lesbian, Mom. I always have been. I don’t care if that upsets you or Daddy, it's who I am. I love you.”

The second I finished, the line switched over.

“I am so proud of you, baby girl.” Kel’s voice crackled over the line. “Finally breaking out of the box everyone else put you in.”

My belly was full of the uncertainty of what I’d just done. But it also felt like a weight lifted from my shoulders. My parents might be disappointed, but it was my life. I was done being a bystander in it. She was right, I’d let others trap me for too long.

“Kel…” I whispered, my voice still shaky from almost being smashed. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Ahhh,” she sighed, the smile clear in her voice. “I knew my smart girl would figure it out.”

My glare shifted to the principal’s office.

“What do you want from me?”

“That’s for you to figure out, baby. You’re almost there.”

Chapter 22

Jasmine

The line went dead before I could respond. In front of me, the seamless glass wall popped open like a door. Without another clue pointing me where to go, I stepped through. Passing the admin desk, I scooped up an old pen to use as a weapon and crept towards the principal’s office.