Escape

Chapter Twenty

I wave goodbye to Samuel as he tends to the customer that walked in. I speed walk down the road and arrive at the diner with eight-minutes to spare. I greet Lily as I walk past her and into the employee break room. I place my stuff in my locker, wrap my black apron around my waist and get to work.

The first half of the shift goes by fast. The lunch rush keeps me on my feet most of the time, but my tables were kind and patient. I approach one of my tables in the back with their food and place one plate in front of each person.

"I'll be right back to fill your waters," I smile and return to the kitchen. I grab the glass water carafe and begin walking back towards my table. I glance at the table right behind mine and my blood turns cold. My ears start to ring, and my heart rate elevates. My body goes numb as my adrenaline races through my body. I drop the glass carafe on the floor, shattering everywhere.

It's him. He's here.

I'm frozen with fear. My feet cannot move, I can't speak, and my vision blurs. My breath quickens as I try to pull myself from this statued state. He's looks straight at me, dark eyes piercing into mine. I want to run, but my feet have turned into cinderblocks, holding me in place.

"Payton!" I hear Lily yell as she waves her hand in front of my face. Finally, I'm able to pull myself from my trance and I see the entire diner staring at me, everyone is silent. I look down and see my co-worker, Todd, sweeping glass off of the floor. I look back up at where he was, and I see the face of a different man with a horrified expression. I blink rapidly. He's gone. Well, not gone. He was never here. I was imagining him? The man I mistook for him did have a slight resemblance, but not enough to where I should have seen what I saw. My nightmares are following me into the day.

"I am so sorry," I plead as I try to help Todd grab glass pieces off of the floor. I grab one and it slices my finger open and I begin to bleed.

"Oh my gosh, honey, let's take you to the back," Lily grabs a napkin from her apron and covers my cut, leading me to the break room.

"I am so sorry, I... I don't know what that was," I explain.

"Shh, don't worry about it." Lily reassures me as she run my finger under the sinks. Once the water goes from red to clear, she grabs a band-aid from the drawer. She dries my finger to reveal a cut about two centimeters wide. She places the band-aid over top.

"All that blood for just a little thing," She laughs. Laura walks in the door and runs up to me.

"Oh my gosh, dear!" She looks at my wrapped finger, "Are you okay?!" She's practically yelling.

"Um, yeah. I am now. I'm so sorry Laura. I don't know what came over me." I'm fighting tears. She waves her hands in front of her face.

"Oh, don't you think on it for a minute, all I care about is that you're okay." She says as she places a hand on my shoulder. "Listen, we're going to be fine here, okay? How about you take the rest of the evening off." She really is the nicest woman.

"Oh, that's okay, really, I didn't mean to cause a fuss." I explain.

"It is no fuss at all, you hear me?" She offers a warm smile. "Now go home and get some rest." She places a hand on my cheek and reassures me that the rest of the staff will be okay.

I gather my things from the locker and leave out of the back. I'm a little embarrassed by the scene I caused and would rather not face the crowd of people that were staring at me.

As soon as I leave, I can't help the tears that begin to fill my eyes. I cross my arms in front of me, trying to make myself as small as possible as I shuffle down the street towards my apartment, at least I thought that's where I planned on going. Before I know it, I'm pushing my way through the front door of the bookstore. I walk in and I see Samuel placing books on to the shelf.

"Payton?" He asks, surprised to see me. It takes a second for him to notice my tear-stained cheeks. He quickly places the book on the floor and pulls me into his arms. I begin to sob. He pulls me tighter, just holding me. He doesn't ask what happened, he doesn't try to offer solutions or advice. He does exactly what I need him to and just holds me.

After a few minutes my sobs calm, and I pull back and look at him.

"I saw him." I try to collect my thoughts.

"Saw who Payton?" He asks, "What happened?"

In this moment I realize that if I want any sort of future with Samuel, I have to tell him. I have to tell him everything. Why I'm here, who I'm hiding from, the nightmares... everything. I sigh.

"I'm ready," I say as I look into his dark eyes.

"Ready?" He asks, unsure of what I mean.

"To tell you. To tell you everything," I feel like if I don't tell him, I will burst into a thousand pieces.

He pauses, studying my face. He shakes his head and leaves our embrace. He walks over to the front door and flips the 'OPEN' sign to 'CLOSED' and locks us inside. He turns back around and clears his throat.

"Um, after you." He says as he gestures towards the back of the store.