Plans of Escape

Title: Plans of Escape
Author: SilverInk
Writing: Randomness/ Continuation/To-be-continued story
Word Count: 817
This starts at the end of the encounter described in "The Overdue Check": Adrian, one of Mariah's old boyfriends, has just settled scores with her and left. Mariah is watching him leave from her bedroom window.

I guess I'm free then, Mariah thought, taming her hair into braids. No more of them. She finished packing her duffel bag with clothes and other necessities. Finally, she opened a antique jewel case that was secured behind the mirror.

Grandfather's zeinband. The one Mother rejected. She turned to a photo of her long-gone grandparents on the dresser. Don't worry, Grandpapa...I won't disappoint you the way Mother did. I'll restore the family honor...

Mariah took a long at the dull colored stones connect by a band in their centers--like a hair band with flat, round ornaments--and examined the curved symbols in the centers. Sye-niar. I still remember your prowess in the stadium...I still remember the way Grandfather launched you two little ones into the battle and dominated the court, every single match. I still remember. And I'm going to bring you back to your former glory. 

She left them in the rosewood case, put this case back into the secret vault behind the mirror and turned towards the heavily curtained corner she had been sitting in for too long. Books were piled all over the room, covered by hastily made book covers. Mariah sighed and began neatly stacking the books and straightening the book covers that boasted titles such as "Modern Fashion," "The Housewife's Guidebook to Survival" and "101 Things You Need to Know About Marriage," only to be interrupted by a loud woman calling her name and bursting through her door.

"Mariah!" Her mother repeated, exasperatedly. "I saw that young man walk out just now, you know. You rejected him too, I bet."

"Mother, I'm 19. I don't want to get married."

"But you must! Or soon there will be no one good left!"

“Need I marry?”

Her mother broke into a rage and fished out a remote from the pocket of her large dress. She spun a dial and hit a button. Long snakelike wires that were connected to a ceiling socket in the hidden corner slunk out and chased her down, the inconspicuous tethers on her feet keeping her from moving in this situation. The first few tendrils secured around her waist, wrists and knees and the remaining sludge dumped themselves around her, draping over her back and coiled down her arms and legs. A few even slunk down the two loose braids.

“Mother!” she cried, the wires obviously uncomfortable.

“You disobeyed me. You read all these books, but you have no intention of ever marrying. Why do you do this to me?” He mother spun the dial again and hit a button. A light shock trickled through the wires, making her twitch painfully. The thirty-some year old woman continued, “You know I am getting old. We need to find you a suitable husband as soon as possible. Then you can conceive for me a grandchild. Do you hear me?”

She turned the voltage up a notch and hit the button again. “Do you understand me, Mariah? You must marry. Or if you do not, you must produce a child. Otherwise your existence is meaningless. I do not care if you like anyone or not. It is not that hard to get pregnant.”

She hit the button again and Mariah cringed, biting back a scream. “You are useless! Pointless! Stupid! Disgrace” She jabbed the button with each exclamation and finally stormed out.

Still entangled in the electrocuting wires, Mariah crept to the corner and worked her way slowly and painfully up the wall, using the windowsill and pile of books as props. Finally, with much difficulty, she hit the high, hidden  switch that retracted the wires. As they slunk back into their socket, messing up and tearing off bits of hair and skin.

She crashed on the floor and knocked over a stack of books. A few of the book covers tore or fell off and revealed the true books underneath: “History of Zeinbanding,” “The Beginning Zeinbander’s Guide” and “Zeinband Maintinence”.

I have to get away, she thought, stowing the duffel in a hidden location and crawling into the adjoining bathroom. Vision still clearing from spots, she turned on the water in the bathtub and found her secret bottle of healing lotion. She poured a small quantity into the water and started to put it away but stopped. Instead she crawled back into her room and stored this bottle, as well as a few others like it, into the duffel. She finally returned to the bathroom and relaxed in the water, letting the healing lotion take effect, scheming how to escape.

Father would help me, wouldn’t he? He did save Atesia from being sold…

When the water had cooled and Mariah felt considerably refreshed, she climbed out the tub and dressed quickly. She would need a good excuse for her mother to grant her audience with her father. Staring out the window at the city below, and thought of an idea.


Artist's Note: Hi...Yea, this was totally random because I was sick of writing character background stories. Sorry for the late update.


Terms to define in case they were confusing:
~Zeinbanding is a sport involving hair-band like objects. Mariah's grandfather's zeinband parts were called Sye and Niar, so collectively the tool is called Sye-niar.
~Atesia is Mariah's horse.


This is not supposed to be considered a character background story because it's not her entire life thus far, only a small segment. And it starts when she's 19 anyways :P 


Yea. Totally random, I don't know if I'm actually continuing it... and since I'm having trouble with Tsiyone's part right now, I don't know when the next normal character background thread will continue...and because I have SAT/ College Essay stuff to deal with too :( :( 


EDIT: I added a bit of expository information at the beginning. Yea, she kinda is a prisoner >_< @ Minsat-- :D <3
~SilverInk