The Hurt

Chapter 2

We managed to get to the woods by dawn. Both Melissa and I are exhausted. I give her a blanket and pillow and let her get some sleep. The next few hours are going to be critical if we want to make sure we don’t get caught. I sit up against one of the huge trees as Melissa curls up beside me. I made sure to set my alarm to wake me up in three hours so we would have enough time before they would notice we were gone. Just before we fall asleep I hear her whisper something.

“ Jess, do you really think we can get away? Forever?” I hugged her and nodded. Then I kissed her forehead and we drifted off to sleep.

*       *      *

He hadn’t called in days. He hadn’t sent any letters or emails. He didn’t keep his promise. I sit on my bed, laptop open with my email up, and Melissa sitting beside me. I kept hitting the update button, hoping that when the page finishes loading that there will be an email from him. I missed hearing his voice. I missed him emailing me about his recent crush at the institute. The short, dark haired girl with a very similar past as him that he immediately took a liking to the moment he saw her. Laura, I think that was her name. I debated emailing her to ask about Jake, but I decided against it. I was just so worried!

The phone started ringing. “I got it!” I yelled as I ran to grab the phone in the other room. But my uncle got it first. Disappointed I went back and sat with Melissa.

“Who was it?” she questioned.

“I don’t know, Uncle George got it before me.” I put my computer back on my lap, checking once again to see if he emailed me. My aunt comes in a few minutes later, face red and her eyes were watering. I think that was the first, and the last time that she had ever shown emotion, in front of me anyways.

“Jessica, can you come in hall for a minute.” Her voice was shaken and weak. I do as she asks and go to talk to her. “Jessica, I’m so sorry. There was an accident at the institution that Jake was attending.” She continued to explain what had happened to him. I was only ten so I didn’t understand everything she was saying but what I did understand was that Jake wasn’t going to come home, he wasn’t going to call or email me anymore. He was dead.

*       *       *

My phone started vibrating which meant it had been three hours but it seemed to dark for 9am. Then I realized it was raining. We were under the shelter of the tree, which is why the rain didn’t wake me sooner. Melissa was still sound asleep so I tried to dig through our bags to find our raincoats without waking her. I’ll let her sleep another half hour or so then we will have to get a move on.

I pulled my phone out of my sweater to see that Sarah had been texting me since last night. Crap. She was supposed to call me to talk about her boyfriend problems. As much as I wanted to tell her goodbye, I couldn’t risk having the police somehow tracking my phone signal through the satellites. I knew she’d understand. Once the police and my uncle stop looking for us, I can try and contact her. Try to apologize for just packing up and leaving her to deal with her own problems, but if I can do it, then so can she.

I started thinking about my last dream/memory. I found it funny that she never told me that he actually killed himself; I can thank Uncle George for that. She just said that there was an accident. She was really close with Jake. My Aunt was there when he was born, she was his godmother, and she didn’t want to send him away. She knew that he wasn’t addicted to drugs. She knew that it was my mother who had the problem. She begged my uncle not to send him away, but his word it law. What he says goes, and he wanted my brother out of the house, probably because he felt like a threat.

Melissa started moving around and I heard her yawn.  She sat up and looked confused as if she had forgotten how she got there. Then she glanced at me, realization filling her eyes. I could see her pause, remembering everything that had happened last night. Me punching Uncle George, saving Melissa from a further beating, getting my own punishment from him and finally getting enough courage to run away. Those risky choices, which could easily save us from future pain, or they could blow up in our faces and double it. She remembers it all and her golden brown eyes became blurry with tears. This was too much for her, I mean she is only 12, I realize that, and I know that she will never be able to forget the outcome of our actions but we did the right thing, didn’t we? If you were in our shoes, wouldn’t you have done what was best, even knowing the high chances of you not succeeding?