She was in a sort of trance. Oh! She had thought about running away so many times, more than she could count, but she had never had the courage to actually go for it. But after her recent argument with her parents which was the final straw, she thought about nothing but the fact that she must leave that prison before losing her chance forever.

She carried her belongings and escaped from her golden cage in the middle of the night with no destination in mind. The only thing that concerned her was to run away, maybe if she had stopped and thought about what she was doing or where she was heading, she would have fallen as a prey to her fears as usual. She dragged her luggage for hours which was very challenging especially for a girl who had not done anything for herself before. She was not built for hard labor instead she was pampered just the way a noble lady should be, not that she cared much for such or wanted it. She tried many times to spend time in the kitchen or with the maids to learn how to do different things as she found more life and compassion within the embrace of simplicity among people who cared about one another, enjoyed the simple joys of life and was content with whatever they had. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to enjoy such simple life as her mother always scolded her for such behavior. The words she heard every time she was caught were the same, “This kind of work is beneath your station. A lady of your standard should never do servants’ work.”

Marie started mumbling as her arms started to weaken and ached from the pressure of dragging that heavy weight, “If only she had let me do anything… If only she had not treated me like a glass goblet, so fragile and weak, I would have known how to carry my bags at least. I wouldn’t have been this useless now.” The ache increased with every step not just in her arms but her feet too. They were getting very weary. Was it the ache of the distance or the fear of the road? She toyed with that question as she moved forward… yes forward she must go. That was the only thing she knew for sure.

Another hour had passed, and she was well away from the manor, her father’s grounds and deep into the woods. The darkness made it much harder to continue as she could no longer see where she was going. The low branches scratched her arms and the higher ones were harder to avoid and ended up being hit by one or two of those harsh branches and scratched her forehead too. She finally gave into her pain and dropped the bag from her hand and slumped her weary body against a big (willow) tree. She decided to rest for a short while then carry on her way. She looked up but could not see much of the sky as the tall trees hid it well. She sighed and curled up beside that tree wondering if it was safe to stay in that part of the woods or not. She tried not to think about what the woods might have, but it was too late, the thought took over her mind and she could not dismiss it anymore. She thought about wild animals that the woods might have and worse. She hugged her knees close to her chest as the thought of thugs and highway men sank its sharp ugly teeth into her terrified mind.

Sometime must have passed since she fell into a very disturbed sleep. Every time she drifted into deeper sleep a frightful nightmare woke her up crying and gasping for breath. It was the most terrible night she had in her whole life so far. It was even worse than those nights in the stocks after an agonizing lashing from her father because of one thing or another.

Every time she woke up from her nightmares she would look around and try to stay awake to avoid such horrifying dreams but she then she would fall back to sleep and once again another nightmare would begin.