Just as Amanda thought, Leah fell asleep almost immediately. When she heard her gentle snoring, she got out of bed and crept over to the wardrobe. She opened the door, put her finger to her lips and held out her other hand to the younger girl sitting in the corner. Dona produced a small smile and willingly took the outstretched hand.
The heavy bedroom door opened with a low groan. Amanda looked back at Leah, and was pleased to see her still in dreamland. The girls looked both ways down the dimly lit hallway and found it empty. They started to walk, quickly but quietly. They were about to make the first turn when Dona gasped and pulled Amanda back. A few seconds later, a large man with a ponytail wearing a trench coat walked past. He was so close they could hear his heavy breathing, but he didn’t see the girls trembling in the shadows. Amanda recognized him as the unpleasant man she bumped into on her way to dinner.
Dona’s eyes were wide with fear. ‘This must be who she’s running from?’ Amanda thought with an uneasy feeling. When they could no longer hear footsteps, Amanda took hold of Dona’s trembling hand and pulled her towards what she thought was the way outside. Suddenly they heard heavy footsteps coming behind them.
‘Oh no, not that guy again!’
The two girls started to run – down hallways, up stairs, around corners, down stairs, more hallways – there seemed to be no end. No matter how fast they ran the footsteps got louder and closer. They spotted an open door, ran through it and found themselves in a dark room, lit with only one candle. The light flickered under a painting of a monk. Amanda moved closer to take a better look at the painting. The monk’s heavy, brown hood shrouded his face and he held something in his hands.
She narrowed her eyes to make out what he held. She jumped back. A skull! Was she having a nightmare? She looked over at Dona. Her beautiful face was crushed with fear. Amanda put her arm around her trembling young friend, as the dreaded footsteps went past the room.
They couldn’t get out of the spooky chamber fast enough. They ran the opposite way of the footsteps, along more corridors – each one promising a way out but only leading to another dark hallway. ‘This is what it must be like to be lost in a maze,’ thought Amanda. Then they heard footsteps again. This time two sets, one from each direction. They were trapped like bugs in a jar.
They stood in front of a partly open window. Amanda pushed it open as far as it would go. She looked at Dona, who nodded, and then pushed the young girl through the window onto a terracotta clay tiled roof. Dona then grabbed Amanda’s hand and pulled her through the small opening.
“There – over there – that’s them,” shouted a man’s voice.
Although the girls knew the man wouldn’t fit through the window, they still ran across the damp tiles. Amanda slipped, fell and rolled to the edge. Dona tried to stop her from rolling off but she slipped too. Amanda grabbed at the edge of the roof. Her fingers couldn’t fit around the thick clay tiles and she soon landed with a thud on the ground in the courtyard. Lucky it was not a long way down. Dona landed beside her.
“Are you okay?” whispered Amanda.
Dona nodded, “Si.”
Two round lights from a car shone by a nearby gate. Dona jumped up.
“My ride!” She ran towards the gate. She turned, flashed a big smile, and said, “Thank you. Gracias amiga,” before she disappeared through the gate.
Amanda stared after the red lights of the car as they faded into tiny dots in the dark, completely confused.