Get Ready to Run

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

So Meredith's dad is a psycho child molester who gets out of jail early. Her incredibly idiotic mother takes him back, wanting to be a family again. Meredith wants no part of her father and runs away several times, first to her boyfriend's house and then to her grandma's house, which she had no choice because her father tried to hurt her again. Eventually she comes up with a plan, with the help of her friends, to catch him and send him back to jail. After all that, her dad ended up becoming paralyzed and was sent back to jail. Whoopty doo, a happy ending.

That was what the story was about. The story Aiden gave me.

This girl runs away hoping to find relief. Is this why he gave it to me? How the hell did he know I was running away? Was he somehow connected to Alexander, and this was his sick twisted way of sending me a message, signaling he had found me once again?

My mind was in complete overdrive after I finished the story. It wasn't too long and I managed to finish it in two days.

Ever since he had come into the Bistro I hadn't seen him again. Not around town or the restaurant, anywhere. This was adding fuel to my already sickening theory of why he had given me the book.

The logical part of my brain was telling me to pack up my shit and go. But the less reasonable side was telling me to find out the truth and not tear away the one home Hailey felt safe in.

I was going with my less reasonable part of my brain.

Maybe it would back fire on me but I had to know. This wasn't just about the safety of Hailey, although that was a big factor playing, but I also wanted to see him again and ask him in person what the truth really was.

I had to be sneaky though. If my conclusion was wrong and he was just some annoyingly, analytically correct guy, then me interrogating him might scare him off. But if I was right, I'd be playing his little game and being three steps ahead of him and Alexander, just like I had been when he chased me out of New York the very first time two years ago.

My only problem now was finding him.

For the past few days I had been taking on extra shifts or doing over time at work in hopes that he'd come in again. Margret probably thought I was being a total creep because when I wasn't working, I'd ask her if he had come in that day. But it was also giving me a good distraction away from Tyler who I haven't spoken to properly since he told me off.

On my breaks I had even started to look for places to live in town. Since I wasn't paying rent and the only bills I paid were insurance and my phone, I had managed to save up quite a bit of money. At least enough to get a decent apartment.

Living with Tyler was meant to be temporary anyway. I had planned on moving out but not till later since things had been going so well and he didn't seem to mind us being there, but now with this fall out and feelings in the way, I think sooner is a better idea.

I hadn't told Hailey yet and I wasn't sure how she would take it but I wasn't worried about that right now.

It was not eight o'clock on a Wednesday and still no sign of Aiden. My shift was almost over and hardly any one was here besides a couple, around my age, sharing a slice of cheesecake. I decided to put my apron on the coat hanger and move into one of the booths with a napkin and a pen.

If I do say so myself, I had a pretty good hand at drawing. I didn't do it very often because I never managed to find time but when I did, it felt like some time of relief. In a way it blocked out the world, just like music does for most people, but for me it was connecting anything a pen could draw on.