My Escape

Chapter 22: The Lost Lucky Charm

Saturday, February 19 – Daytona International Speedway

Danielle walks into the motorcoach, seeing a series of scattered bags and items all along the floor. She felt every hair on the back of her neck stand up, as it looked like something that had gone totally wrong. She didn't know whether to take another step, turn around and run, or call for someone.

"Chase?" She questions, figuring his response would be telling what step she should follow.

"Hey Danielle," he replies quickly, though didn't seem to be executing a pain or over panic reaction. She takes a couple deep breathes, knowing not everything was worst case scenario. It wasn't like everybody was coming to kill her or do her harm. She shouldn't always assume that...

"Are you okay?" Even though he had responded, it was worth getting a proper reaction in response as she watched another couple clothing items go flying across the bedsroom in the back. She had never seen him in a mode where he was randomly throwing things, usually very organized and clean.

"Yeah – just looking for something." She takes a couple steps, making her way closer to the bedsroom, though unsure if this was the right time to invade his personal space in seeing the frantic behavior of his actions.

"What are you looking for?" He then stops, looking over at her, debating in even saying something. It was just another avenue to open that same door that he was still scared to open and speak of. What if it led to him sharing everything?

"A palm tree keychain. It fell off my key ring and I've been looking for it since I got back after prac-"

"Would this be what you're looking for?" He freezes as she holds up the familiar palm tree. He lets out an immediate sigh of relief, before clutching it from her fingers, holding it close to his chest as he takes a series of deep breathes. It seemed so simple, just worth a mere couple dollars. However, it meant so much and he didn't know if he could bare to lose that. "It was in the doorway here. you must've missed it looking through everything, or flung it when you threw something."

"Thank you..." He takes his key ring out of his pocket, putting the lucky charm back where it had sat for the past several months, and was probably going to stay for the rest of his life if he had any say in the matter. It wasn't much, but it was something to hold onto from that time.

"Please don't tell me you're that superstitious type who must have certain things, including a palm tree to be successful." He chuckles, shaking his head no as he sits on the end of the bed, still clutching it with his fingers.

"This is something that means much more to me..." She then slowly makes her way over, sitting down beside him as she looks over at it as he lays his hand flat so she can make it out. "When I won the championship, I bought it for Annabelle. She was able to make it to Phoenix to celebrate – surprisingly, I still don't know how. We celebrated the title together, sharing drinks and everything like all of my friends. I wanted to signify the moment with her so I bought her a keychain – a palm tree, because she liked how the start-finish line palm tree lit up."

"And now you hold onto that as a special memento of her and that time together?" Chase nods his head yes as he finally allows his eyes to meet Danielle's, her sympathy shining through in seeing the pain written in his eyes. "Even after everything Thomas Wesley put me through, I still have our wedding ring." He looks over at her hand, having not caught on sooner that she still wore the ring from their vows. "I hate him. I hate everything that he put me through. But i can't allow myself to take this ring off because I want to hold onto the special times – the trips, the special romantic moments, the feeling of pure love, everything before he took a turn for the worse."

"If it was me, I would want to run as far as I could from a reminder of someone who hurt me..." She nods her head, knowing her girlfriend at work had the exact same response. "The palm tree for me is a reminder of that happy time in phoenix where we could be carefree, friends, be back like high school with nothing to worry about, having fun together. We were able to party, not think about the troubles of life, and the crowning achievement. She always told me to chase my dreams and do the best that I could – and there I stood on the top of the world."

"And it doesn't remind you of everything that eventually happened?" Chase wanted to shake his head no immediately, but knew that wasn't the case. Otherwise, the tears that sat at the back of his eyes, filling him with emotions, would not be there right now. "Considering how well you knew Annabelle, why did you never get together – if you don't mind me asking? It just seems like she meant the world to you, but yet it never wor-"

"She moved away to California for school just as my career was taking off. We were best friends through high school – always hanging out, having fun together, doing things. We went to places together." He almost chuckled as looking back, it seemed they were everything except for boyfriend and girlfriend. Maybe he should've taken her to the Xfinity banquet instead of Erin. That may have changed the history of time. "We agreed to keep in touch, speak with each other, keep tabs on each other, and never lose track of each other. A couple months, and she fell in love with Joe. They seemed like they'd be the perfect ever after, and I let it go – believing she was happy, glad she was happy, ready to move forward but knowing she was my best friend." He then takes a deep breath as his eyes fall to floor, feeling a hand rubbing his shoulders immediately in the process.

"I thought Thomas was my forever after. I thought he was my second half as it just was perfect. He spoiled me – we went on trips, always buying me flowers, wrapping me into a perfect world of beauty and everything to where it was just perfection. How could I say no? How could I be afraid? It shouldn't go wrong..." Danielle felt her own emotions begin to surface as she brushes away a couple stray tears from her eyes. "It was like a switch flipp-"

"And next thing you were in too deep, not believing you had a place to run?" She slowly nods her head as Chase looks over at her. "That's what happened with Joe. He wrapped Annabelle in so much, had her so covered in fear that no matter what I said or did it wasn't enough. I tried to convince her to tell someone. I tried to convince her to run away with me. But nothing worked. I became the hidden confident, helping her with advice and dealing with the pain, but yet no escape to be had because of her own stubbornness..." He hated tos ay the word outloud, knowing it went deeper than that simple expression. However, it seemed to be the only thing that came to him.

"I thought I was there, too. I lived the trapped feeling – sometimes thinking that night would be my last on this earth. I don't know what took over me that night to run, but when I started running, I couldn't stop – until I ran into you." Chase smiles a little as it was almost poetic in a way.

"I was out for that drive trying to run away from my feelings and everything that was in my mind from what happened. Maybe it was meant to be – we were meant to find each other, help each othe-"

"Be each other's escape from the hell?" He nods his head, knowing her words took a page from his book the other night. "One day at a time, we're both going to get through this and move forward."

"That's a promise."