In The Blink Of An Eye

Lucky Me

There was definitely no going back to sleep for any of us, so we all went to the living room as Thomas and his grandfather went and put tape on the window before they could replace it.

As we sat in the living room and talked, I couldn't help but feel sad. I should have been able to be with my parents right now. I should have been running to them for help instead of someone else's family. These should have been my parents protecting me now, and the thought that I was never going to be able to talk to them or see them ever again made me feel like I couldn't breathe. I didn't even have the proper time to get over my parents' death. I didn't have the time to go to their funeral or say a proper goodbye. I had been going through so much pain and suffering that to this day, I wasn't aware of how I was even finding the strength to stand on my feet, let alone do anything.

Life wasn't going to ever get any easier. It wasn't ever going to become more forgiving or sympathetic towards me or towards anybody. With each challenge and each hardship we face, life doesn't get easier. No! We just get stronger, and we become more resilient. I couldn't just give up even though that was the one thing I really wanted to do. I couldn't just stop trying because I remembered the promise I had made myself a long time ago. The promise that I was going to win and I was going to watch him beg for his life while I stood there watching him suffer the same way he had made me suffer this entire time. I couldn't give up on myself, my siblings, my daughter, my friends, or Jake. That was the easiest thing to do, to give up. I had to make it to the top even though everyone would understand if I completely fell apart right here and right now.

I had made myself a promise, and I had every intention of making that promise a reality, no matter how hard...

Over the next few days, I sat by the door waiting for the knock or the ring. I was waiting for Silas, but I was expecting the police. As each hour passed by, I became more anxious to know what my next step was going to be. I became almost impatient thinking about the fact that I had to go run and hide again. This time, all alone. I couldn't just call Jake and tell him to meet me up. I hoped and prayed that he would find me, but I also had to accept the fact that he never might. As I watched the minutes and hours pass by on the clock that hung over the television in the living room, I prayed to God to give me the strength that I needed to get through whatever was going to be thrown my way.

I will never forget the day. Tuesday afternoon, around 6 pm, there was a knock on the door. Of course, I figured it was going to be Silas, I mean, that's who I had been waiting on. But...it wasn't. It was a police officer. It's as if something had told me to go to the restroom a few minutes before the knock on the door. As I stood there in the restroom looking at myself in the mirror, I could hear the conversation happening outside. With each word that was shared between the police officer and Thomas, I felt my blood boiling and head spinning from a thousand different emotions that ran through me.

"Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you, but is there a way I can have a few minutes of your time?" Asked the officer.

"Of course, it's no bother at all," answered Thomas.

I knew Thomas wasn't alone. His aunt, grandfather, and grandmother were all there with him. They all knew what the officer was going to ask and do, and they were all aware that I was in the restroom. What they didn't know was that I could hear them and that I was also aware of the officer outside their door. But...they didn't know that I knew.

Can you imagine their fear that I would come walking out that door at any minute and walk right in front of the officer? I couldn't even imagine what must have been going on in their heads.

"We are looking for a young woman by the name of Lana Miller. She is very dangerous and on the run after killing a man. This is her picture. You wouldn't happen to have seen or heard anything about her, would you?"