Page 83 of Unorthodox
I got a head start. For some reason, he didn’t chase after me immediately. He let me go. And I almost believed he might let me gofor good.I almost believed I’d come to the other side of this forest, find someone to hitchhike with. Someone to call the police.
Fuck my father. Fuck Max. I’d throw them both under the bus, and everyone else I could think of, too. All of my father’s friends. His guards. Mamie.
Fuck all of them.
I almost thought I’d get out of this.
But he’s coming.
I keep going.
Keep trying to put distance between us even though every step now feels like agony. My side aches, my chest is heaving, and I feel as if I can’t breathe.
I run three miles a day. Never more than that. And never for my life.
I should be able to go much further, much longer, if only to save myself, but I don’t know how long I’ve been running now.
It feels like forever.
With the sun scorching down on me, the trees giving way to flat grass, it feels like I’ve been running for hours.
But I keep going, not daring to look back again, scared of what I might see.
Then, up ahead, when I feel like I might collapse, I spot a fence.
Not impossibly tall, not lined with barbed wire. Just a regular, chain link fence. Beyond that is more forest, but if I can get over the fence, surely that marks the end of Max’s property? Then maybe I can find someone else. A neighbor or a road. Anything. Something.
I keep going, pumping my arms faster, churning my legs to the point of pain with each step.
Just to the fence.If I get to the fence, I’ll find someone.
Someone won’t come to me here. I was fucking deluding myself before. But I can find someone. I’ll get help.
This will end.
I will never be in this life again.
I keep going.
The fence can’t be more than fifty feet away.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Ten.
As I reach it, I don’t slow. I grab the top, launch myself over it, the chain link digging into my palms, but I barely feel it.
I land on my feet, hard, and sink down to a crouch to balance myself.
I fucking did it.
Even though the landscape is the same, more trees ahead, I feel a sense of accomplishment, having gotten off of Max’s property.
This nightmare is going to end.
I stand to my feet, adrenaline giving me a second wind.
