Escape From Myn

ESCAPE FROM MYN

Prologue

What do you think of when you think of the future? Do you think of flying cars, robot, space travel and such? Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you but that isn’t how the future turned out. See, as time raced along, it sort of tripped over itself, landing some parts of the world in a medieval environment. However, there is one city, on the island of Neridell, which has more modern traits. Myn (pronounced “min”) has held on to engines, electricity and space age fashion. It is The City of Today. But this city has a secret. A deep, dark, slimy secret. No one has been known to leave Myn.

Nobody? Well, not QUITE nobody…

Phillipa looked up. She gasped. The sky was gone! In its place was a vast, greyish cloud, hanging over Myn like a wet blanket. Phillipa assured herself that the sky WAS there, just hidden by the cloud-thing. She glanced behind her, over the flat green waste of Myn Marshes, as if she could still see her home beyond it.

Brido- small mining town surrounded by green, grassy hills bathed in sunlight. The residents of Brido enjoyed life’s simple pleasures. But the pleasure had begun to run out, as had the money on Phillipa’s family farm. The taxes crept up and up, until the risk of being evicted from their own home reared its ugly head. Phillipa, a kind girl of 13, had offered to go to Myn and work as a cook. It was a tough decision, but family always came first for Phillipa.

One morning, a tall man came to the door. He cleared his throat and said, as if it was a community announcement:

“I am Blorg, steward to Lida, here to collect her new cook as arranged.”

Phillipa stepped forward. Blorg continued.

“However, a slight change of plans has been issued. Lida sent no payment, as she is buying a new pair of earrings instead.”

Before anyone could point out how unfair and ridiculous this was, Blorg had grabbed Phillipa, swept her into his automobile (a rare and frightening sight in little Brido) and sped over the horizon.

Many an hour later, Phillipa was staring at Myn. Myn, the majestic City of Today. Phillipa was having her doubts. She was surrounded by exotic food smells, smoke, dust, people in strange clothes and foul language. And worse yet, a wall. An enormous wall reached around the houses, sealing them off from the outside world. And the sky, as I mentioned before, was hidden.

“Pollution,” muttered Blorg. “From all them factories. I ain’t seen the…uh…sun, yes, the sun, in years.”

Phillipa gasped again. The City of Today was just a smoky bustling hub full of weird people who had never seen the sun? It was all too much.

As they drove on the suburbs gave way to bigger houses, some with towers and artificial green lawns.

Will I ever see real grass again? thought Phillipa drearily, as they pulled into a driveway.

A castle-like structure loomed above them. In front of Phillipa was a huge steel gate, below the words ‘Residence of Lida’. The gates slid open like automatic doors. Through them, Phillipa could see a tall, pale-skinned, blonde woman in ludicrous high heels.

“Blorg!” she barked, with her hands on her hips. “Late! I’m a business woman, remember? I have a schedule to keep! Hurry up with the cook now — I’m hungry!”

Oh dear, thought Phillipa, that has better not be Lida.

Lida glanced at Phillipa and snorted. “Well. To the kitchen, girl!” she snapped. “I want deep-fried turkey for lunch.”

“Deep…what?” Phillipa blinked.

“Deep fried!” shouted Lida. “Idiot! Cooked with a deep fryer!”

“Oh”, said Phillipa. “Very helpful.”

Lida suddenly smirked. “Girl, come here”, she said. Blorg chuckled. Phillipa’s heart did a flip.

“Go and touch that gate”, said Lida. Phillipa reached out, touched the gate, and then reeled back in pain. Lida laughed wickedly. “What a girl! Electric shock, yes. No-one but me and Blorg here can get through that gate. DNA-activated you know.”

Phillipa got up, shaking all over.

“So watch your manners”, spat Lida. “Cos you’re stuck here.”

Days passed. Phillipa eventually worked out how to use all of the complicated devices in the kitchen. All the time, she was amazed how little Lida ate, yet she always ordered large meals. Most of Phillipa’s work went straight into the bin. The City of Today was also the City of Waste.

Phillipa learnt lots about Lida’s life. She was the founder of Lida’s Shoes Co., the major shoe company in Myn. Posters were dotted all over the house, and Phillipa had once peeked into Lida’s bedroom. It would swallow her whole house whole! And here and there were bags of gold. She had so much, she left it lying around!

One day, Phillipa was cleaning up the leftovers of Lida’s dinner, crispy shrimp. Phillipa popped a prawn into her mouth, then nearly choked. Standing across the room was a man she’d never seen before! He had long tousled hair and his skin was as pale as snow.

“Are you going to eat all of those?” he asked.

Phillipa swallowed the prawn, not quite sure what to say. “I guess not. Who are you?”

The man smiled. “I am Nero, Lida’s old cook. Don’t look so surprised. Why do you think she needed you?” Nero chuckled, taking a prawn off the platter. “I escaped.”

“How?” asked Phillipa. “You can’t get out the gate!”

“Have you not heard of the pipe people?”

Phillipa shook her head.

“Ah, they are the rejects and runaways of Myn, living in the underground piping system. I am one of them. They helped me to escape.”

“I would love to escape”, sighed Phillipa. “I need to get home to Brido.”

“You don’t say”, said Nero. “What about the 929? The pipe that goes under the marshes? I think it comes up somewhere near Brido.”

Phillipa’s heart started racing. “You mean I could get home?”

“Aye”, said Nero. “It may not be easy, but it can be done. I was in your spot once — I’m happy to help.”

Phillipa reached out and hugged him. Nero gently pushed her away.

“I must go,” he said quietly. “Meet me back here at nightfall.”

As the sun set behind the wall of Myn, Phillipa said goodnight to Lida and Blorg and scurried off to the kitchen. There she waited, shivering with excitement and cold (since the sun was blocked out it always seemed like mid- autumn in Myn). As Lida shuffled off to bed in her fluffy, high heeled slippers (for crying out loud!), there was a creaking sound and a floor tile lifted, revealing Nero!

“Good girl,” he said. “Now let’s go!”

“Wait!” whispered Phillipa. “I just remembered!”

Phillipa ran silently down the hallway to Lida’s room. She looked inside at Lida, dozing in her emperor-sized bed. She continued to doze, unaware as Phillipa gently picked up a bag of gold coins. And another.

Phillipa tiptoed out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief. Her breath suddenly rushed back in, drying her mouth. Phillipa froze as the silhouette of a tall man drew nearer and nearer. Her heart did some more flips. She held her breath inside her dry mouth.

“Oy, you little bandit!” bellowed Blorg.

Phillipa’s fear gave her speed. She dived through Blorg’s lanky legs and dashed madly to the other end of the hall.

“Hurry!” cried Nero. Phillipa clambered into the hole, closing the lid on Lida and Blorg’s shouts.

Phillipa found herself in a large pipe. Its roof was almost as high as a small tree, but Phillipa still kept her head down in anxiety.

“Come on,” whispered Nero. The pipe was dark and damp, and the air was chilled. It was no wonder Nero was so pale. Water dripped down the walls, muddy fluid clung to Phillipa’s shoes. Nero led the way through the maze of tunnels, past rats, pools, and other pipe people.

After long hours, Nero found a ladder. He pushed open the metal lid and…SUNLIGHT! A beautiful dawn’s light filled Phillipa’s heart. She hurried up the ladder and found herself on her family’s farm! The tax collector’s cart was parked outside. Phillipa ran up to it as the Tax man climbed out.

“Sir! Sir!” she cried. The Tax man stared at her. Phillipa dropped the bags of gold into his hands. “Sir, will this be enough?”

His eyes bulged. “You could BUY the house and land for this!”

“Good,” smiled Phillipa. “Toodleoo.”

She turned back to look for Nero, but he and all signs of the secret pipe were gone.

“Thankyou,” she whispered. Then she ran up the path to tell her family an amazing story.

Epilogue

Nero decided to become a ‘servant saver’. He helped with the escape of Lida’s next four cooks, and one cleaner. Lida was so enraged at this that she closed her shoe factory. It turns out that it was one of the biggest pollutants in Myn. So, on clear days, sometimes you can even see the sun.