Page 26 of Come Back for Me
Kevin is a light sleeper. If he hears the car start, he’ll wake up, and my daughter and I will be dead. I’ll have to go completely on foot.
Hadley is going to slow me down a bit, but we’ll avoid walking on any main roads.
Please, God, if you were ever listening, I need you right now.
A snore tears through the silence, and it’s now or never.
I creep out of the bed, grab the dress I hid between the bed and the nightstand, and tug it over my head. When we were getting ready for bed, I stashed a bag in the tub and cracked the window in the bathroom so I could at least take a few things.
Once I’m inside the bathroom, I toss the bag outside and pray I can get out of the room without being heard. That’ll be half the battle.
Ever so slowly, I creep out of the room. He shifts, and I freeze, praying he won’t open his eyes.
Another second passes, and he doesn’t, so I keep going.
That’s all that keeps going through my mind. I have to keep moving.
Hadley’s door is ajar, which was my doing because it makes the most noise.
I softly shake her, and my voice is barely audible as I urge, “Hadley, baby, wake up for Momma.”
Her little eyes open, and she darts up. “Momma?”
“Shh,” I say quickly, needing her to be as quiet as possible. “We have to go, sweetheart. I need you to make no noise, can you do that?”
She nods, and I smile softly. “Okay, get dressed and grab your blanket and bear.”
Hadley moves slowly, and I rush to get a few things of hers for us to take. My heart is racing, only the sounds of our breathing filling the air. After a few seconds, I take her hand in mine.
“What about Daddy?” Her voice is low, but I can hear the ache.
“We have to go, baby. No matter what, we have to get out of here, and we can’t wake Daddy. Do you trust me?”
Hadley’s eyes fill with tears, but she bobs her head.
Here is, once again, where I feel like the worst mother in the world. No child should have to sneak out of their home in the middle of the night like this. A house should be a safe place that makes everything bad in the world disappear when you enter the door. Instead, it’s been a place of yelling and bruises. But no more.
Never again will he hurt me, and he’ll have to kill me to get to Hadley.
“Okay, we need to besuperquiet,” I whisper. “No matter what, we have to keep going once we’re out of the door, all right?”
Hadley wipes a tear and nods.
“That’s my big girl. If Daddy wakes up, I want you to run back to your room and close the door. Lock it if you can or put things in front of it. Just do not let anyone in but me, okay?”
I know I’m scaring her, but I don’t have time to debate and I don’t want her to hesitate. “I’m scared.”
“I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
“Will we come back?”
I shake my head and then place my fingers to her lips. It’s now or never.
I still don’t know if going out the back is the best way, but it’s really the only option. The front door is too close to where he sleeps, and I’m not going to have Hadley climb out the window alone. If we can get around the house undetected, we have a much better chance.
I pull her with me, watching each creak and noise that seems to be amplified in the total silence. We get to the door, and I pull slowly, there is no noise other than the sound of our breathing. We get outside, and I pull Hadley’s sweatshirt around her, zipping it up as I look in her face.
“Okay, we have to go.”
