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Adrien knew Gabriel Agreste was a smart man. Kind? No. Caring? No. Loving? Definitely not. But smart, yes. His father knew Adrien would attempt to escape again, and exactly how he would do it. The thing is, when it comes to his own son, Gabriel is far from logical. He’s clouded by his own idea of Adrien, a person who hasn’t existed for so long. He isn’t complacent, or weak. He doesn’t seek his father’s approval like he used to. In truth, Adrien hates his father, hates him so much that it was mistaken for love.
But as he ran away, winding through the maze of brambles and thorns, of roots and branches that had become so familiar, his father sat by the fireplace, a smug grin on his face, waiting for Adrien to be dragged back home. That time would never come.
This escape attempt wasn’t his first. Actually, far from it. Adrien had practically memorized the looming canopies of the surrounding woods, every root and stone engraved in his mind.
He’d tried his luck at running away so many times that his sheets had been stapled to his mattress, in a vain attempt to keep him from climbing out the window. But Adrien could be stubborn if he needed to. Torn sheet after torn sheet was thrown into the dumpster, and were replaced by new ones the next day, as if nothing had ever happened.
But each stumbling step, each wonky turn, each failed escape brought Adrien closer and closer to the sweet taste of freedom.
As Adrien rounded the last bend of the treacherous woods, kicking up the dew-covered dirt at his feet as he went, he came face-to-face with something he thought he’d never see. His final obstacle.
The wall stood, as tall and imposing as ever, yet this was the only time where Adrien had paused, had stopped moving, in his entire escape. ‘Would mother want me to do this?’ He thought.
The more Adrien considered it, the more he spiraled. He knew how much he looked like his mother. From the green of his eyes and blonde of his hair, to the way he laughed and cried, he was a spitting image. Could he really take away his father’s last remnants of his mother? How much pain would Adrien cause?
He shook his head. ‘No. Father drove me here. He pushed me away and left me to suffer when mom passed. He hid from the world, and boarded me up in a cold, meaningless room. He can’t do that to me any longer.’
Adrien was finally set in his decision, whatever guilt he had of taking away the last bits of his mother either bottled up for later, or left in his old home, where his footsteps echoed a bit too much, where his breathing was just a bit too loud.
As Adrien scaled the wall, he looked back once, to see light from a window, his father’s silhouette dark and imposing. Adrien swore he’d never return, and so he left, just as the sun was rising, the morning air cool on his face.