6 Her Great Escape

When she was young, Sam remembered that going out alone with her mom was always an adventure. Anyone with eyes could see that she was an amazing lawyer – even better than her father.

The woman was inspiring.

The same couldn't be said about her driving skills – as she seemed inherently incapable of telling left from right or arriving from point A to point B without making a detour through all the other letters on the alphabet.

As a result, it didn't matter where or when they were going, the two of them would always end up somewhere else: a small square full of trees and greenery, a residential road where all the houses seemed to have come out of a garden magazine, an old and dry fountain they had never heard about...

And every time, when Sam was almost despairing from them ever finding their way home again, her mom would look at her and smile her beautiful smile, her deep green eyes shining before she said 'Don't worry Sammy, no-one will be lost forever. We just need to find another way'.

'Well, mom, I might just prove you wrong today', she though, feeling completely out of breath while skidding to the left on another courtyard and ignoring the dumbstruck expression of the servants she passed on her way. The da*n place was like a labyrinth!

There were arcs and doors and entryways and yards and everything seamed to fit together in a most annoying senseless way!

"Exit... Exit... Why isn't there any king of direction signs around here?" she mumbled to herself, dashing through the house without paying much attention where exactly she was going.

It all had been a bit of a mess. She didn't pay much attention when the girl with flawless white skin and a beautiful smile asked for the physician to be called. At first, there were simply too many informations running wild on her head, making her dizzy, so confrontations of any sort would have to wait.

Just then she though she had seen a dark shadow passing outside her window, its outlines barely visible through the light colored curtains. Blinking fast to clear her head, she turned to the other side and decided to stare at the beautifully carved desk on the room, equipped with an ink pot, brush and some flimsy paper she couldn't name.

That place was too weird. Her whole body ached. It all felt out of place, like the room was closing down over her head, crashing her under its weight until nothing was left... Just as she was about to panic, a wave washed over her body. Soothing, fresh, like the cooling waters of a river on the peak of summer.

It took her an entire minute to understand that, whatever it was, it was helping to clear her thoughts and filling her empty body with energy, till the rusty uncooperative muscles felt ready for a marathon.

She didn't even bother with trying to understand what had just happened as it finally downed on her: They were calling a doctor. They were saying she was some Ying Yue girl... Maybe she was still lost in some comma-induced fantasy land. Maybe she was crazy.

'Or maybe they just want you to think you are crazy' a small, ominous voice said on her head.

Sam felt cold all over, fear as she had never experienced gripping her insides in a tight fist. Defenseless, confused... None of it was good. She had watched enough movies for her imagination to run wild. There was always someone trying to interdict the heiress to steal all her money, or locking her up on an asylum so they could run the family business.

She didn't have much money, but she had her family's secret. And David had stolen it.

Disbelief, pain, and then blinding rage burned inside her stomach, turning her hands into fists. If that stupid weasel thought he'd simply lock her up somewhere and she'd go down without a fight... Oh-oh, someone was in for a very rude awakening!

With her head spinning quickly, trying to convey as much information as she could from the surroundings, she glanced cautiously at the girl. Jiang Qing Shan. She still sat at the edge of her bed, hands tightly clasped and eyes roaming the room with a nervous energy, never staying in a single place for more than two seconds.

Noticing the patient's attention on herself, the girl forced a small small, her beautiful features still marred with worry.

"Yue'er, everything will be alright" she assured her, even if the words felt more to herself "you had a huge fright and was in a comma for some time... I'm sure it is normal to feel a bit unsettled".

Sam had to force herself not to frown. David, that lazy backstabber, had finally outdone himself. The girl was good. If Sam didn't know any better, there was a real danger of her believing every word Qing Shan said. If that was even her name.

As far as she knew, it could be a secret code that meant "nock her down" or something.

"The Doctor will be here soon" the girl added after a brief pause, glancing once again at the door "I'm sure they are on their way...".

The painful thump of her heart at those words just increased Sam's sense of urgency. There was noway she would sit calmly like a good girl and wait for the crazy doctor from La La Land to show up. Never in a million years.

She had to get out of there. And fast. Before someone else arrived.

Having a sudden, wonderful insight, she blinked slowly and turned her gaze down, trying to look meek as a withering flower.

"Cough, cough", she tried a labored breath, hugging her middle as if she couldn't breath.

Qing Shan's panic stricken face felt a bit more real than she expected, almost resulting in a pang of guilt. 'Forget it' she reminded sternly, taking a hold of herself. It was all an act. A good one, yes, but it didn't make it any less fake.

"Yue'er... Yue... A Bi" she called, desperately trying to put Sam on a sitting position "Quick! Bring some hot water! Go!".

The other young girl, looking terrified to the bones, barely managed a shaky courtesy before running off of the room. 'One down, one to go'. Without much thought about what she was about to do, or the state her clothes possibly were in, Sam faked another fit of cough, wiggling a bit on the other girl's hold till her feet were both on the ground.

Just as Qing Shan was about to push her down again, Sam pretended to trip over her feet and fell down on her side, taking the other girl with her.

'Now!'

Without even thinking about the pain on her hip – or the fact that she wasn't wearing any shoes – Sam dashed from the room, ignoring Jiang Qing Shan's desperate calls for her to go back.

"No way" she said to herself with a raspy voice.

With all her energy focused on finding a way out of that place, she barely noticed the stunned servants or shocked maids on the way, just shrinking slightly every time a sharp stone bit on the sole of her feet.

"Out, out... Where are you... Where does it end... AH!" she exclaimed, almost crying in joy at the sight of the high, arched stone entrance of the Manor, guarded by two guards that seemed not the wiser about the commotion going on inside the place.

Breathing deeply the warm, earthly air, she chanced one last look at her back before going straight for the exit, leaving the two guards so confused that, when they understood what was happening, there was already no sign of the girl lost between the hundreds of people that crowded the streets.