Weekly Writing Exercise: Escaping

What does the word escape mean to you? There’s the spa-like definition (Calgon, take me away…), fleeing danger, retreating into a world of fantasy or a television show or novel, breaking free from conventions or restraints, absconding from the law, dying, leaving behind the rat race…. Escape can be physical, of course, but it can also be mental or even spiritual. It can be the escape of a single person from a treacherous situation or the escape of an entire population.

This writing exercise has two parts. You can attempt either or both.

Create a story/poem/scene/etc. with the underlying theme of escaping, however you define it.
Decide what the word escape means to one of your characters. Is s/he trying to escape something? How?