Mum and dad were quite sad. But we all knew it would not be for long. I could hear the sadness in my parents' voices and hugs. I turned away right after they left so they wouldn't see my tears. But I got a grip and waved and smiled after the train had departed. I hugged my bag closely. My bag that was almost like my collections of electric cable pieces. It just has some tiny bits and pieces in it that mean something. Not a proper collection but just little meaningful things. There's still room for much more though...
Back at Lady Davenport's we were led to a dark cold room where we were to stay. There were matresses on the floor. I decided it was only for a little while and I would easily get through some tough times as so far in life I had been so lucky. In a short time I'd see my parents again and all would be forgotten.
But I admit deep down I was very glad that two other girls were with me. The next day we realized that we were supposed to work for Lady Davenport, cleaning houses and she would get paid for our work. That wasn't what she had decided with our parents. During cleaning I did what I usually do. In my head I was a famous woman on T.V., showing people how to properly clean live on air. So I did every step especially well and commented in my head. Lady Davenport soon complained that I worked too slow though, so I commented in my head how to do it if it has to be cleaned as fast as possible. Soon we talked about how to escape before falling asleep. The great adventure. But even if we managed, how would our parents find us again? But in the end the others were right, we could worry about that after we got away...
Noortje seemed the most clear headed girl and I trusted her judgment right away. So we let her work out the plan, which was to take only the bare necessities (I took my bag and my nice dress that my parents had seen me last and my comfy clothes. And of course the scarf I knitted with the help of mum from some leftover yarns of hers), hid them under the cleaning things in our buckets and waited for Noortje's sign. She had figured out that Lady Davenport always naps at around the same time and had a good feeling for time. I never had any idea what time it was and had never owned a watch so I wasn't a lot of help. So in my head I was that girl waiting for a sign to escape while pretending to show others how to clean fast and nice...
The sign came, I played the role of the girl who runs away, escapes from the evil stepmother, not like in Grimm's tales where the poor heroine always waits to get rescued. I didn't want to be rescued by a prince anyway but find my parents again!
We ran forever, I felt so alive and so scared. But I would never admit to the scared part of course. Then we finally stopped and breathed...
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