Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Lyric, do you wanna talk about it?”
She sighed, “some day maybe. Right now, I need to be out of his reach. Every time he touches me I die a little more inside.”
I didn’t want to press more because I knew how it felt to have someone break my trust and the shame for allowing myself to be in the situation in the first place.
“Lyric, it wasn’t your fault. Whatever he did, I can imagine some of it, and you have to remember it’s not your fault. That’s what you told me about Logan and you were right.”
At fifteen, I was in love, or so I believed. It was nothing more than a childhood crush. Logan kissed me and the world stopped spinning. Everything seemed right until it went so very wrong.
I had to force myself to stay in this moment. Dragging up my past wouldn’t help our situation in the here and now. The fatigue of the day weighed heavily on me, but I still couldn’t find sleep.
“Do you think they’re coming after us already?”
I sighed at her question. “I’m sure. They won’t want outside questions, so it will be a quiet manhunt. But I’m sure BJ and Logan and the elders are sorting a plan on how to find us by now.”
We both laid in the bed quietly together. Lyric reached over under the cover and laced her fingers in mine. “We’re in this together Melody. I don’t leave you and you don’t leave me.”
“Always,” I whispered as we both fought to calm our racing minds.
Eventually we fell asleep hand in hand.
The dawn of the new day came upon us quickly. We packed up our meager belongings and climbed in her Toyota Camry and headed East again. The miles went easier today. With the adrenaline calming inside of us, the fatigue was a battle all its own, but we were not giving up. There was no turning back.
The hours passed on as we continued on this journey.
“Have you thought about where we should stop?” I asked desperately hoping she had a plan.
“I was thinking South Carolina would be nice. There are small towns we can blend into. Cassie visited Charleston once and said it was a beautiful place.”
“Do you think that’s where she took off to?”
Cassie was our cousin, just three years older than us. She was beautiful, smart, and always looking out for us. One day two years ago, she disappeared. We were told she left on her own accord and would always be welcomed back. But the rumors were haunting. After a fight with her husband, she miscarried her baby, the trauma was too much, she left. Other stories said he killed her and the body was buried in one of the bison pastures. Who knew what was true. All Lyric and I knew was she was there one day and gone the next.
Cassie went to Charleston on a ministry trip once with her husband and some other church families. She always got dreamy-eyed when talking about her time there.
Lyric explained her thoughts with a trace of hope in her voice that had me wondering if somehow this would work out. “I’m hoping we can find her if we go to South Carolina. I looked at a map online and the state is big, but if we make it to Charleston, surely we would run into her if she’s there, right? It’s not a big city like New York.”
Oh the naivety we had. If only there had been more outside influence, more experience in life, we wouldn’t think so stupidly. Finding someone was a needle in a haystack.
“Do you think BJ will think of that and know to come this way?” I asked as all the fears were building inside me.
“No, our honeymoon was in Utah. He thinks I failed geography. Everyone knows you haven’t left Akron and my only time away was with BJ in Utah. They will go West first. As long as we keep to the East I think we’ll be fine.”
I nodded. “Eventually, they will give up on finding us. We will be cast aside.” I took a long pause, “We can’t ever call home or return.” The words cut deep. I would miss my siblings and our family, but I knew if I was married to Logan he would hurt me in every way possible. That was no life to live and he knew how much family mattered to me, he would most likely limit my contact if he allowed it at all. I was doomed to be secluded from them one way or another.
Nothing about this would be easy, especially finding our cousin. I didn’t share these thoughts with Lyric. She needed hope.
We both did.
The fear of the punishment should we return home was enough to have me press the gas pedal a little more.