Ultraviolet

Chapter Forty-Two: The Town

I didn't need to set an alarm. I had been awake for hours.

This was it. I would finally be free.

I turned on my phone, the bright screen lighting up the widest smile to ever appear on my face since moving into the Wilkes'. I didn't know what I was going to do. I had no direction, no money, no one. I didn't care. I would walk out of Sunshine on foot. I would escape today or die trying.

11:58.

I grabbed my bags, which had been pre-packed since the day I moved in here. Full of all the clothes I either hid or could convince the Wilkes' were worth nothing. I placed the phone, which had been cleared of all evidence it had been mine, on the bed and stood up quietly.

I had one shot of this. If anyone heard me leaving, I'd be punished for breaking Quinton's heart. There is no measure of what the Wilkes' might do in that case. I tiptoed through the house, holding my breath as I passed Quinton's and his parents' rooms and out the front door, closing it as softly as possible.

The second my worn-down trainers hit the asphalt of the path I was sprinting. Running as fast as I could, my bags hitting my back with each step. I made it to the town square, halfway out of town, and looked up to the large clock above the pub.

11:59.

I ran to the last intersection before the main road of town stretched out through empty land to meet the highway. I turned, my heart beating out of my chest, to take in the town one last time. The town had once been a stranger, the setting of my Mum's childhood stories. And then it became my solace, my home. And then, the Wilkes' had spoiled those memories, poisoned the name Sunshine eternally. In the dark, it looked like a new town. I had never been out this late, and the quiet darkness brought beauty back to the place I'd once loved.

"Goodbye." I hummed before turning to the road that would lead me to freedom.

A Sherif station car swerved quickly in front of me, coming out of nowhere to intercept my path.

"Fuck." I cried. So close.

"Esme?" A voice called out. A voice that definitely didn't belong to Sherif Geiger. It was kinder, softer.

"Deputy O'Connor!" I exclaimed.

He had once responded to a noise disturbance call posed by my neighbour during an argument between Mr Wilkes and I. He was kind, and I could tell he wanted to help me but knew, just as well as I did, that he couldn't. Not with Sherif Geiger in charge. He stepped out of his car to greet me.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked. "Is everything okay?"

The loud creak of the giant clock moving interrupted my thoughts and set my heart on fire.

12:00.

"I'm leaving." I stated. "I'm 18 now. I can't stay there any longer."

Deputy O'Connor smiled, wide and proud.

"I'm going to help you."

Deputy O'Connor apologised profusely as he drove me to the Sherif station. He promised me that the Sherif wouldn't be there, and that he had explored every possible escape route but none of them could help me while I was a minor.

"I also want to congratulate you." He smiled kindly. "I was there, at your graduation. Top of your class; I'm very proud of you."

It wasn't a victory I rivalled in. It wasn't like university was an option.

"We need to change your name." The deputy explained. "And find somewhere for you to stay. I did some research and found out that your father had a daughter with another woman before you were born."

"I have a sister?"

"Yes, her name is Jessica Moore." He said. "What do you think of moving to Boston."

I changed my first name to Violet, after my great-grandmother and my own middle name, and changed my last name to O'Connor.

"I always want to remember what you did for me." I smiled at the deputy. I watched him discreetly wipe away a tear. He was a big softie.

I spent the day at his house. Deputy O'Connor bought me a new luggage set, some warm clothes for the Massachusetts weather, and contacted a friend of his at the local DMV and had a new license made up with my new name, Violet O'Connor.

"I got you a bus ticket, you leave tonight at two o'clock this afternoon."

I didn't thank him with words, simply just threw my arms around him and hugged him. He hugged me back, and I couldn't control the tears that streamed down my face. I hadn't been hugged in years, not properly. Not by someone who genuinely cared.