The Miracle Place

9.

 "EXCUSE ME, SIR!" was what Jane had woken up to the next morning. Shortly after, a woman's shriek rang through her ears, jolting her upright. Her eyes were wide and her breathing heavy as she tried to shake herself from the bad dream. But Billy was jumping out of bed and swinging the bedroom door open. The shriek wasn't from her dream, it happened in real life. She hopped out of bed, stuffing her feet in her shoes.

Jane followed Billy out of the room to see a tired and disheveled Joel being rushed out of bed. "What's... goin' on?" he asked, sounding somewhat panicked while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Jane's gaze fell on Billy's back. His head was poking out of the door, but he retracted it and slammed the door just as quickly. "Shhhit!" he hissed, looking directly at Jane's wide eyes. "He found us."

The girl almost cried immediately. She wouldn't be catching a break any time soon. Joel had stopped rubbing his eyes and straightened up, wide awake now. "Is this some kind of daily routine for you?"

Billy scrambled to shove Joel's computer stuff back into his bag without breaking anything. "Just recently, actually- Jane, out the window."

Joel folded the couch in, before opening the window with a struggle. "They should have doors here!" he complained. "I swear, if any of us get shot, I'll kill you, Billy," he said, following Jane out the window.

"Well, only if there's time." Billy handed Joel his bag before climbing out and shutting the window. "And we won't get shot. Well, Jane won;t get shot - I can't promise you and I won't. Women and children, Joel."

"In that case, dibs on being the woman," Joel said, jogging to catch up to them.

Jane moved quickly, trying not to trip over her feet. Now was the worst time to be clumsy. She was barely awake yet. Even the shock of the sudden life threatening situation wasn't enough to wake her up, and by the looks of it, Joel felt the same. The second the car doors were unlocked, Joel was clambering into the front seat, his head rolling sideways with sleep still in his system. Jane ducked into the back, the door hardly shut when Billy pulled out of the parking spot so quickly, she had to catch herself on the back of Joel's seat.

"Way to be subtle," Joel mumbled.

Billy ignored him, glancing rapidly between the road and the rearview mirror. "You alright, Jane?"

"Good," Jane mumbled. After a few seconds of settling down, her lip began to tremble, the overwhelming sensation of the high-stress situation finally allowing itself to seep through her skin, devouring her cheeks in a hot stream of wet salt. She put her seatbelt on before Billy could remind her to, and leaned her head against the window.

What the hell, she thought, what the hell just happened? Not three minutes ago she was sleeping peacefully- well, sleeping somewhat alright, and now she was being tossed around in the backseat of a getaway car. Never in her life had Jane imagined something like this. Never in her life had Jane thought she'd make it this far. Distance in years, distance in miles - she was not going to let the rest of her life consist of running. Though right now, making it to fifteen was not looking achievable.

"What's the plan?" Joel asked finally. Jane listened in, thankful for someone else's thoughts.

Billy sighed, glancing back at Jane, though she didn't quite catch it. "Well, we'll need a new car. They have my plate number and if he's asking around, holding a gun to their heads, chances are, they'll let it slip."

"Okay," Joel twisted in his seat to slide his bag onto the seat next to Jane. "What then?"

"Then... we'll see." Billy sighed. "I'm not psychic."