Chapter 6: The Emergency Exit
"Mom! Open the door!" Toby cried, rushing to the wooden panels and pounding on them with his fists.
"I'm right here, babies, I've got you!" Elena yelled back, slamming her shoulder against the door. The old wooden frame groaned, but the lock held firm. She turned to inspect the room. The windows were their only way out, but they were on the second floor, overlooking a concrete patio below. "Toby, help me pull these mattresses over to the window. We're going to have to drop down."
Working frantically together, Elena and the children dragged the heavy twin mattress across the room and shoved it through the open casement window, letting it crash onto the lawn below to serve as a makeshift landing pad.
"Toby, you're going first. Drop straight down onto the middle of the mattress. Don't look down," Elena instructed, hoisting her son onto the windowsill.
Toby swallowed hard, his hands trembling as he gripped the frame, then let go. He dropped through the air with a brief gasp, landing heavily on the mattress and bouncing off onto the soft grass, unhurt. "I'm okay! Lily, come on!" he shouted up.
Elena lifted Lily next, guiding her carefully out the window. "Drop into your brother's arms, sweetie. Mommy is right behind you." Lily squeezed her eyes shut and let go, dropping safely into Toby's waiting arms below.
Just as Elena swung her own legs over the sill, the bedroom door behind her splintered with a loud crash. Clara had returned with a heavy crowbar from the garage. She jammed it into the doorframe and forced it open, her face twisted in absolute fury.
"You think you can just throw away everything I've built?" Clara hissed, marching across the room toward the window with the crowbar raised.
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Elena didn't hesitate. She pushed off the sill, dropping the twelve feet to the lawn below, landing awkwardly on her ankle with a sharp cry of pain. She rolled onto the grass, clutching her ankle, but adrenaline kept her moving. "Run!" she screamed to the children. "To the neighbor's house, now!"
Toby grabbed Lily’s hand, and the two children sprinted across the backyard toward the open gate, disappearing down the suburban sidewalk as Clara leaned out the second-story window, watching them escape with a dark, unreadable expression.
