It was my eighteenth birthday and instead of celebrating, I killed a man.
I have to get out of here. This place is turning me into someone I don’t recognize and that scares me more than the memory of what I just did.
I look down at the knife and spin it between my fingers. Usually, when I can’t sleep, I draw but I’m only just now realizing how long it’s been. I’d give anything to be able to lose myself in my art. It used to be an escape, somewhere I could go to remember my parents and daydream about Slade, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe now it’s just a way to try and pretend the real world doesn’t exist.
What am I going to do? If I stay here any longer, I know I’ll be next on the hit list. Lucien can’t resist that kind of money. Combined with what he already has, it will launch him into billionaire status and a man like Lucien with that kind of power is a man I don’t want to know.
Having me stick around is just another obstacle for him to jump over to get what he wants, but unfortunately for him, he’s going to have to wait until everything is finalized. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since saying ‘I do.’ Not to mention, the world doesn’t even know he’s dead yet, but I’m sure they will have their suspicions. There are probably laws in place to prevent this kind of shit, but I don’t know. People would claim it was a scam and any judge would agree with them. It’s never going to happen and when it doesn’t, Lucien will find a way to blame it on me
I have to get out of here, but how?
I’m well and truly locked in here, but if I was in Blake’s room, I’d be able to jump out of the window and at least fall into the grass below. Out of my window is an entertaining system that would surely see my death in the form of a wicked electrocution if I were to jump. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I wonder if death is the easy option, but now that I know Slade is alive, there’s nothing I want more than to be in his arms.
The knife continues spinning between my fingers when I look down at it. How could I be so stupid? The solution is right in front of my face. I’ve run before. I can do it again.
Flying from my window is instant death, but Blake’s window is my way out and if I can’t go through the door to get there, then I’ll make my own fucking door.
I spin around on the floor and glance up at the massive wall before me. Blake’s bedroom is on the other side of this wall and I don’t care what it takes to get through it, I’m doing it.
Lucien and Maria are both in bed, right over the other end of the house and after a day like today, I’m sure they’ll be sleeping like the living dead. But despite that, I won’t be making a damn noise.
I fly to my feet, my will to fight even stronger than the moment I saw Slade’s face. I’m going home and I’m going home tonight. Nothing will stop me. I don’t even care if I have to run the whole way there. I’ll be returning to Aston Creek to Shaylee’s loving smile, Daniella’s warm hugs, Damian’s sarcastic comments, and Nessa’s snappy attitude. I’ll be heading straight for the hospital to check on Blake while Slade stands by my side, promising to never let me out of his sight again.
Fuck, I can just imagine it. I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my life.
Without wasting another second, I press the tip of my trusty knife against the drywall and shove it in. It’s not exactly the easiest thing to do. It takes a lot of strength to break through this shit. I’d just stab it straight through if I wasn’t so terrified of making a sound, but I am and I won’t risk it.
If Lucien catches me trying to break out of here, I’m done for. Too much is at stake and now that I’ve seen that vision in my head of my friends and family, I’ll be stopping at nothing to get it. I don’t care what I have to do to get there, as long as I get there in the end. To me, that’s all that matters.
With the knife protruding from the wall, I push it down, trying to slice right through it, but it’s a challenge. My hands turn red, but I’m not giving up. I want this too bad.
I somehow manage to get it to the bottom before giving it a hard tug and releasing it from the wall. I spend the next ten minutes trying to make another one and then finally, I start to get somewhere.
I cut out a hole just big enough for me to squeeze through and am thankful that I’ve found a piece of wall that doesn’t have a thick piece of wood through it. I start working on the other side, scrunching up my face at the smell of the old insulation inside the walls.
Half an hour later, I step through the wall into Blake’s room, knowing he’ll get a kick out of this. I glance around. I love this room, but now’s not the time for a trip down memory lane.
I go straight for the window, tucking the knife into my pocket. I slide the window open, cringing at the chilly bite in the air as I step up onto the ledge.
I have one shot at this.
My heart races as I look down. It’s now or never.
That resolve pulses through my veins and clenching my eyes, I jump, landing in the grass with a hard thud. My ankle twists under the pressure and I fall to my knees, cringing with the pain as I cradle my ankle.
Tear spring to my eyes, making me feel like a weak bitch.
What am I doing sitting in the manicured grass crying about a sore ankle? I’m out. I need to run before they realize I’m gone. I need to put as much distance between me and this place as possible.
With that thought, I get to my feet and run, doing my best to ignore the pain. Hell, I was so fucking focused on getting out of there that I didn’t even bother with shoes or a hoodie. My feet are going to get scratched up within seconds but what are a few scratches when your life is on the line?
I don’t stop. Not when I get to the main gate, not when I pass Luce’s home, and not when I reach the outskirts of town.
I can’t risk staying here. My head is telling me to turn back and go to Luce’s place to where I can have a warm shower and sleep in a bed that hopefully smells like Slade, but my gut is telling me to keep running.
Luce’s home is going to be the first place Lucien looks and as much as I don’t want to bring that down on her, I have no choice. She’ll understand and after tearing her place apart, he’ll realize that she doesn’t know where I am. He’ll leave her alone and if he doesn’t, she has her father who will take care of her.
As for me, I’m just going to keep running until I can’t physically keep moving. I have to.
Hours pass by the time I reach an old gas station at least ten miles out of town. It looks like the kind of place junkies come to get their fix but I honestly couldn’t give a shit. An armed man could come at me right now and I’d probably tell him to go and get fucked. I’ve faced worse than this shit. Hell, I could handle a place like this in my sleep.
I drop down onto the pavement and look at my feet. They’ve been aching since I first passed Luce’s house. I rub my hand over them to find them all cut up and bloodied. I didn’t realize how bad they were getting. My only focus was to keep going, but now with the sun over the horizon, the damage is clear.
I don’t think I can physically keep going like this.
I need help.
I spy a payphone across the road and my eyes instantly well with tears of happiness. My head falls into my hands and I sit there for at least ten minutes crying while desperately trying to find the energy to get up off the dirty ground and search for some damn coins to make the stupid thing work.