A Year of Her Life

Chapter 17

Thank you all for continuing to read my story.  I love seeing the people on the side of my screen who are reading.  I hope you all are enjoying the story and like the characters.  I have tried to build their personalities a little but I'm not sure I have done that very well.

Please comment!

Thanks-

~~

“Ms. Baker, could you send Savannah to the office with her things.  Her Mother is here to pick her up,” said the voice on the intercom.

My palms were sweaty as I stood from my desk.  I tripped over my bag before I picked it up and headed out the door.  I felt as if everyone was looking at me.  Did they know that we were running away?  I looked over my shoulder to see that absolutely no one was paying attention to me as I walked out of the classroom and closed the door behind me.

I was so scared as I slowly walked to the office.  I wanted to prolong the journey so that I could calm down a little.  I should be prepared.  We had gone over what we all needed to do last night, again.  We had been planning our get away for a week now.  We were to each pack two changes of clothes, mine in my book bag.  Mom and Judy were going to pick both Georgia and me up from school when they were ready to go.  Then, Judy was going to take us all to a safe place.  She hadn’t told any of us were that was, yet.

When I reached the school’s office the door was open.  I saw my mom standing in front of the big desk even before I went in.  She looked as nervous as I felt.  Her shirt’s neck line revealed the remnants of the bruises my dad had given her.  She gave a loving smile as I walked through the door.

“Come on, Savannah, we have to get you to your appointment,” she lied to make it look believable in front of the school secretary.  It must have worked because she waved as my mom led me out of the office.

We made our way to the car in tense silence.  I climbed into the back seat of Judy’s Volvo with Georgia.  She wrapped her arms around me in reassurance before ordering me to buckle my seat belt.

“Did you forget anything?  Your socks, did you get two pair?  How about your brush?”  Georgia asked her questions in rapid succession not allowing for answers.

“Yes, I got everything you told me to get.  My bag is so full I didn’t have room for my books this morning,” I laughed trying to relax a little.  “Do we know where Judy is taking us?”  I whispered.

“No, I just know it’s going to be safe.  That’s all that matters now.”  She put her arm around me and pulled me close to her as we watched the road.

Mom and Judy chattered about what was next and where we would be staying and for how long as we traveled down an unfamiliar road.  I couldn’t hear a lot of what they said because Judy kept turning the radio up when she saw me listening.  I did hear that Chris would be moving his things out before Dad got home.  Mom said he would be staying with Russ for a while.

Because I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I finally sat back and relaxed for the rest of the ride.

~~

In a little while we pulled into a parking lot at an apartment building.  The apartments were painted brown with trim done in darker brown.  It was run down; the paint was peeling, leaves were clogging the green pool, and there were potholes all around.

The apartments were all ground floor with six apartments to a cluster.  Three apartments on the side facing the pool and three facing the walking path around the complex.  In all there were five clusters, making 30 apartments in the complex.  There was a small house near the pool with the laundry area and changing room for the pool.  Small, official looking signs marked both areas and each apartment cluster.  Each cluster had a letter A through E.  Each apartment was numbered 1 though 6.