If I Can't Have You || (N.M.)

Chapter 9

"Sandra," Nate said to me, "get up. We have to go now."

I knew I had to move fast, but I was frozen to the edge of the bed. I thought that I was scared before, but now I was terrified.

"We can't get away from him," I whispered inaudibly.

"What?"

"I said we can't get away from him!" That time I was loud enough for him to hear. When he noticed the quivering in my voice, he immediately stopped his rushing to come and console me.

"Hey," he grabbed my face in his hands, "if we can't run from him then we're going to fight."

Nate's optimism was really starting to become too much for me. "How do we fight someone who we we can't even see?!" I yelled, "He's been watching us this whole time and we didn't even know it! We can't beat him!"

"Yes we can, don't you doubt what I'll do to protect you!" he yelled right back, face red with anger.

The two of us just stood there looking at each other fiercely, chests heaving. Then we heard Miracle wake up and yawn.

"Fine, we'll do this your way." I said quietly before looking over at Miracle as if nothing had happened.

"Good morning Mir," I smiled at her, "you want to go for a ride?"

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We checked out early then Nate drove the three of us to a 7-11 across the highway. The farther away we got, the better. We parked in front of the entrance then simply sat there, thinking of what we were going to do next.

"Well I have work in two and a half hours," Nate sighed. "You and Mir will have to come with me, I can't leave you two alone."

I cringed at the thought. Nate worked at an auto repair shop and I wasn't sure I'd be able to bear sitting in a stuffy waiting room all day while he was in the garage fixing cars for eleven hours. However, Nate was right. It wasn't safe for us to be away from him right now, so I'd have to find some way to deal with it.

"Alright, then that's what we'll do."

Now the only thing left was finding a way to occupy ourselves until it was time for us to head to Nate's job. I leaned my head back in my seat and closed my eyes, planning to doze off, but was soon interrupted by the sound of Nate's voice.

"I remember when Vanessa first snapped."

I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or talking just to talk, but it caught my attention anyways. I turned my head to look at him.

"She was seven months pregnant with Mir." he continued. "She wanted to run away and get married, but I told her not yet because I hadn't had a chance to break up with you. I was still debating if I even wanted to."

Hearing the confession brought back old feelings of betrayal, but I tried to listen to him without letting them get the best of me.

"She was becoming so crazy. She threatened to kill you if I didn't break things off. That's the only reason I left."

That part was new to me.

"You left to keep me safe?"

He nodded sadly, like it still hurt him to think about. "I guess that's what they mean when they say if you love them let them go."

I reached over to take his hand, "Well we're together now so that's all that matters."

He shook his head, "This isn't what I wanted it to be like."