Chapter Text
She had never done anything so daring in her life. But the trimmed branches looked thick and strong enough to hold her slight frame. She pushed the sash window up completely and stepped out onto the ledge. She then realised she was only wearing her slippers and not outdoor shoes with grips on the soles. She rationalsied that it wasn’t wet or slippery, so she would be fine. She was only going to test out the branch anyway, to see if it could hold her weight.
A thick branch was merely inches from the stone sill, and there was a branch chest height that she could use for balance. This looks easy, she thought. Much easier than the rope climbing frames at the village park, that even brave toddlers could manage. She grasped the branch near her chest and wiggled it. It was sturdy and she put both hands on it. Next, she put her slippered foot on to the branch below. She was careful not to put her whole weight on it, at first testing it so see if it was brittle. No, just like the branch above, it was healthy, thick and full of sap. It didn’t even move as she tried to press it down.
She paused before committing. Was she doing the right thing? She could fall to her death if she wasn’t careful. But didn’t kids in movies do this all the time? And anyways, she was as miserable as death anyway. There were lots of branches below her that she could grab onto. Even if she fell and hurt herself, broke an arm or something similar, her family might even show that they cared. Maximilian had never broken a limb in her life so had no idea of the pain such injuries caused. She knew the sting of a slap to the face. She even knew the sting of the birch her father would beat her with. The memory of it, of her father beating her for embarrassing him in public because of her “differences”, steeled her determination. She did not think of what she would do – how she would re-enter the house – if she even made it to the ground. The smell of the fresh air and the thought of roaming free in the dark woods intoxicated her. She only wanted to escape her room, her situation, and the loneliness that was her constant companion.
Tentatively, she placed her foot as securely as she could on the branch and lifted her other foot from the window ledge. She stood like this for a moment on the branch, like a posing ballerina. The branch barely moved, she could definitely do this.
She inched across the branch now, with her full weight on it, gaining confidence with every shuffled step. She reached the massive trunk and looked down to see how she could descend. There were easily reachable branches below and plenty of hand holds near the trunk. She hugged the trunk and took a step down. Then another, then another. She became consumed with the task at hand.
She had managed to descend to just above the ground floor with such ease she could hardly believe it. At that moment a flurry of possibilities began to enter her head. She could do this every night. She could go out adventuring in the grounds, in the dark with no one to see or stop her. She could build camps and feed animals. She could have a secret life where no one scolded her.
She hadn’t thought of critters.
Suddenly she heard a scampering and something crossed her vision, disorienting her. It was then that she remembered that there were bugs and snakes and God knows what in the trees. She turned her head and felt a wispy substance cling to her face. A spiders web! She shrieked and instinctively tried to brush it away, and in the adrenaline rush lost her footing too. She dropped onto the branch below bottom first and heard a loud CRACK. She fell backwards like a gymnast on the asymmetric bars and, as she seemed to come full circle, desperately grasped for purchase on something – anything! There was nothing there however, and now, she felt herself falling forward. She had no time to think. All she could do was squeeze her knees around the lifesaving branch to save herself from falling all the way down. She did this instinctively and miraculously came to a stop. She hadn’t fallen. For all her internal bravado about only breaking an arm, she was very glad about it.
Then she realised her predicament. She was stuck, upside down, in a tree 20 feet above the ground, just outside the window of her fathers den. She desperately tried to reach up to the branch her legs were wrapped around but, her arms not being fully grown and her core strength at a minimum, she found it impossible. The thought of her crying for help filled her with shame and despair. How could she have been so foolish!?
As the blood began to pool in her head, and the presentiment of the coming humiliation of everyone in the house coming out to “save” her from her foolishness began to sink in she heard an unfamiliar voice from the darkness…
“Need a little help up there?”