Page 10 of Keep Breathing

I was terrified and still a wreck. I had no idea how I would make any of it work, or if I was even capable with only the weak, shaky shell of me that remained, but I had to try. I had to end this. I was done with being weak and afraid. I couldn’t sit back and allow him to keep killing innocent people any longer.

I had to find a way to get away from Soloman and to work on tracking the fucker down. I had to use the clues and snippets of memory I had in my messed up head to work out who he was. If I could do that, if I could take solid evidence to the cops, they would catch him and I would be free. I could go home and all of those young girls lives that he stole would at least have some justice. I’d find a way or die trying. This couldn’t be my life. I was broken, but as long as I was breathing I refused to give up.

***

“Come on. Come on. Come on,” I uttered under my breath as I lay in bed later that night. I had no idea if Soloman had cameras or other surveillance equipment in my place so I had gone about my evening completely as normal that night, albeit with a tremble to my hands in fear at what I knew I was going to do.

Now it was after eleven. My apartment was in darkness and silent and I lay as stiff as a board, just waiting for the thunderstorm that had been forecast for any time now. I had been waiting all week for one and finally it had come.

The block that I lived on was old and dilapidated, pretty much ready for demolition, and every time there was heavy rain, or a thunderstorm, the power went out for hours at a time, throughout the entire block. It had happened several times since I lived there and I was hoping it would happen that night and facilitate my escape.

I didn’t know if it would work, but I was hoping that a blackout would mean that any surveillance equipment Soloman had on me, either in the apartment or outside on the street, would stop functioning. It would also mean the street lights were out, which would be my best chance at slipping away unseen. Was it a master plan? Unlikely, but it was all I had and I had to try. If I was going to make my plan work, I had to get away from Soloman first. I needed to do all I could to ensure he wasn’t tracking and keeping tabs on me.

Finally, just moments later the room was lit up by the first flash of lightening, then moments later, as the rolling thunder boomed, the lights outside my window flickered out, plunging me and the whole apartment into pitch darkness.

I stayed frozen, my heart pounding so hard I felt as though my entire body was rattling with each beat. This was it. Either I went now, or I gave up this whole plan.

Images of my parents, my brothers, Livy, and my nieces and nephews spurred me on though. I couldn’t live my life without any of them and I couldn’t live with knowing their lives were at risk. I had to at least try to end it all.

So I rolled silently from the bed and landed on my hands and knees. I was dressed in black leggings and a black hooded sweater, so I pulled the hood up to cover my blonde hair, then slipped on the sneakers I had left beside the bed.

I crawled across the room as silently as I could, not that I’d have heard a sound over my own heartbeat if I made any anyway. When I got to the apartment door I grabbed the backpack, which I had been slipping things into covertly all week, and put it on my back, securing the straps tightly. There wasn’t much inside. A few changes of clothes. Some snacks. Two bottles of water and some cash I had managed to save, plus my meagre wages, which I had been paid in cash that morning. I just hoped it would be enough to get me to where I needed to go.

I was breathing hard and fast as I slipped out of the apartment and ran as fast as I could down the stairs to the ground floor. I slipped out of the back door, past the stinking trash cans and down an alley most people would avoid if they had any sense.

My head was on a swivel as I tried to keep watch all around me, but the alley was pitch dark and I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Thankfully no one else seemed to be around, so I just hurried onwards and prayed Soloman wasn’t watching me the whole time on some high tech, night vision camera he had set up.

The headlights of an oncoming car had me freezing in place, utter terror rushing through me as I reached the next street over from my apartment, but I allowed myself to take a breath when it simply bypassed me.

“Keep it together!” I chastised myself as I shook my hands out at my sides to release the fists I had clenched them in. I couldn’t freeze. I couldn’t stop. I had a plan and I had to stick to it. I had a long way to go and I needed to get moving.

CHAPTER 5

EVIE

I knew I needed to stop. I had been driving nonstop for almost seven hours and I was exhausted. I was also almost out of gas.

It was my second day on the road and so far, so good. I hadn’t noticed anyone following me and I had been checking the rearview very frequently. The crappy car that I had paid four hundred bucks for, from some guy selling it on his driveway as I made my way out of Boston, was still chugging along pretty well considering the amount of rust I had noted on the bodywork. The heat didn’t work and nor did the radio but so far it was driving reliably. I hadn’t expected it to get me far out of Boston when I started it up and heard the clunking sound it made for the first few miles. It wasn’t like I knew anything about cars. I had only ever owned one - my Jeep which my parents had gifted me for my eighteenth birthday. I loved that car. I missed it so much, which I knew was silly, but it was just another part of the life I had been forced to leave behind. The life I was grieving for.

I pushed those thoughts back as I pulled off of the highway and into a tiny, old fashioned looking gas station. I was about halfway to my destination, and I still had around fifteen hours of driving to go, by my reckoning. I definitely needed gas, snacks, and caffeine.

I pulled slowly into the gas station and scanned the building. I wouldn’t use it if I saw any cameras around, but there were none. It was what I had done the day before too – refused to stop at any place that had surveillance cameras he could hack if he was looking for me. I had to stay off of the grid. I had no idea how he was tracking me but he definitely seemed to have some knowledge of the tech world and I knew my best chance was staying completely off of the radar.

Thankfully the route I was taking kept me off of the main highways, and took me past plenty of old style, mom and pop style stores and gas stations, just like the one I currently parked up in.

I took a moment once the engine was switched off, just to prepare myself for the interaction I knew I would have to face with whoever was working inside the store. I hated interacting with people – with anyone – and it usually caused a mini melt down, but I couldn’t afford to do that. I couldn’t afford any behavior that would have the store clerk remembering me. I needed to blend in and be completely forgettable.

When I was ready I stepped out of the car and tied back my blonde hair – the only thing that was vaguely noticeable about me. It was flat and lifeless nowadays, but it was the only thing that stood out about me. I wasn’t wearing any makeup and my exhausted face with heavy circles around my lifeless eyes was nothing to write home about. I was still in all black clothes, my hoody baggy and shapeless. I would be totally forgettable if I could just not freak out.

I filled the tank of the rusted blue Camry that had gotten me so much further than I ever expected, then made my way into the store, my remaining cash in my hand inside the middle pocket of my hooded sweater, and my backpack with everything I owned inside if it, hanging from my shoulder.

Thankfully, inside the store was empty and the young girl behind the counter was much more interested in the gossip magazine that she was reading ,to give me more than a cursory glance.

I made my way around the tiny space grabbing chips, cheap packs of cookies and two large bottles of water. I needed to keep the cash I had for gas and more supplies in the future if plan A didn’t work out, but I did allow myself the luxury of a caramel latte from the surprisingly modern coffee machine they had in the back of the store. I needed caffeine and it was the only luxury I had occasionally allowed myself since I got free.

At the counter the girl barely looked up as she processed my gas and purchases and I paid and got out of there uneventfully, much to my relief.

Still though, as I climbed back into the car and placed my backpack and purchases into the passenger seat beside me, I realised I was short of breath and my hands were shaking badly.

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