How I ran away

How I rested

The little town ten miles from the hospital is nameless. I know there must be a name to it but in my head there isn’t. Maybe I am just too exhausted after a ten mile drive to concentrate and figure it out.

                Maybe I just don’t care.

                The inn I check into is small and weathered but clean. The faded carpet in the lobby is spotless. The yellowed pictures are dust-free in their antique frames. I don’t choose it specifically, it is just the first one I see. I’m happy I do just the same. It lets off a homey feeling. And not just because the elderly lady behind smiles at me before she checks me in and not just because a plate of chocolate chip cookies are on the desk. Okay, maybe that was the reason.

Even though I don’t eat the cookies I feel good that they are there—I never eat food of strangers.

The old lady didn’t see anything wrong when she checked me in. that wasn’t surprising, she was half blind and half deaf. I checked in under the name Rachel Fender. I take the key and head towards the steps.

My room is on the second floor. There are three floors in the building. When I turn the key and open the door, I am surprised. The room is open and airy. The wall across from me is glass leading to a balcony that runs the length of the room. The lights are bright and the air condition blasts on high. I shiver. The room is big. As big as the lobby.

Although what I pay most attention on is the bed. My hair is in tangles and my legs are muddy. I don’t care. I drag my feet forward and before even checking the room for hidden bombs, I am on the bed. Already sleeping like a dead person.

Bright light. It flashes at my closed eyelids. I close my eyes harder and groan. The light is so light. And then I realize something else. I feel disgusting. Hot, sweaty, muddy—disgusting. I groan again and roll over, out of the tangle of covers I’m in. I stick my feet out and stand up. My eyes are still half-closed. I open them; take a minute to steady myself as the world spins around me.

I ache. Every bone in my body is aching. I am sore. My legs are sore. My arms. My shoulders. Everywhere aches.

A room. I am in a room. Sunlight floods it. Flashes through the glass sliding door covering the whole side wall. I squint over to it and pull the curtains shut. Artificial light becomes known. Still a line of sunlight streams through the crack. I don’t mind.

Where am I? I am way disoriented. The alarm clock on the side of the bed says eleven in glowing red numbers. I slept late. I’m up at six every morning. And then it comes back to me. the hospital, ten mile run. And everything before that. I remember yesterday. And let off a bigger groan.

Now that my mind is on that I begin to feel my arm ache as the pain becomes known again. now it’s just a throbbing pain. Small. Something I can handle.

Clothes. I am dressed in a bloody, muddy hospital gown that’s covered in sweat and grime. It is not comfortable. First things first. I need some clothes. I go back to the glass doors, pull aside the curtain and then pull open the door. I squint in the light that will only get brighter as the day wears on.

The cloths line hangs across the street attached from a house to the balcony beside mine. I climb on the ledge, jump over to it and pull a t-shirt and jeans down. I feel bad about it but here in this old-fashioned place, I’m sure they won’t mind. A man is looking up at me, eyes wide. I smile and wave and then jump back and go into my room.

The water is hot. I stand under the pounding stream and relax. I am safe here. I lost them five miles back at the gas station. I am okay. I turn the water a notch higher and feel the burn of the steaming water on my cuts. It feels good. The water going down the drain is brown. Its another twenty minutes till it’s clean. I take another ten minutes on my hair, getting the hard bloody parts, soft. The twigs and bits removed.

I take another five just relaxing. Letting my tense muscles ease out. I am safe over here. Today I’ll arrange a flight to Australia or somewhere else far away and start a new life somewhere else. Living a few peaceful years. Until they find me again.

I reluctantly shut the water and step out. It was hard to breath in the steamy bathroom. A thick curtain of steam. I dry myself and dress. The pants are two sizes two big and the t-shirt is baggy. I’m fine with that. It’s clean. I feel clean. I feel great. I drape the towel over my shoulders to dry my hair and open the door. The steam rushes out. I feel so great. The air condition is still blasting on high.

I step from the bathroom to the bedroom.

I freeze.

Monster is lying on my bed.