Total Eclipse of the Hart

Nat! (part 1)

My head is pounding as I wake up. Damn was I hungover, I even forgot where the hell I was. I look at myself in the mirror. Hannah. My name is Hannah. "Ok Hannah, what day is it?" I ask myself, trying to think straight. "The one two days after Thursday. Saturday. Ok. Julie is at the hospital and it's Saturday. Her procedure was yesterday. She's getting dispatched tomorrow. Tomorrow I can see her again.". With this statement I proceed to sink into my comforter, desperate to sleep off the alcohol.

JULIE'S POV---

My head is pounding as I wake up. I slowly open my eyes, and am blinded by the bright lights. I see blood, and I'm guessing it's my own, although I wasn't sure until I saw the doctor looming over me, and the anesthesiologist comes in, apparently to gas me to sleep again. Dammit. I try to plead, but my mouth won't comply, and yet again, I must walk down memory lane.

Nat and I had spent the entire day preparing for tonight. We had almost everything we needed, including our sleeping bags, which was Nat's idea. We force food down our throats, nervous for what was to come. Jay notices our attitude, and swiftly kicks Nat under the table on her shin. Nat remains calm, even though her shin is red. Why doesn't Mom notice this? It happened in front of her! Jay smirks like the bastard he is, and Nat and I simply shove food into our mouths, relishing the thought that soon we won't have to put up with him. 

It was one-fifteen in the morning, and I was trying not to yawn. Nat and I had stayed up since twelve, making sure we had everything. Before that, we had showered and taken short naps to try to have as much energy as possible. As we escaped out the window, I couldn't help but feel uneasy- I had never done anything like this before, and I'm sure Nat hasn't either. Nat has the compass out, but we're walking in the dark because the house is still in the distance, and we're worried about attracting attention to ourselves-human or otherwise. I'm woken from my daydream with Nat falling on a log in the woods, and the thud of her body slamming against it. I lift her up, checking the surroundings to make sure we are still safe. So far, so good. Once we have been walking for what feels like thirty minutes, we turn on one of the flashlights to guide us through the darkness of that night. Our plan was to walk through the entire night, and hopefully find a new town during the day, and catch a taxi to somewhere far away. We have some money, probably enough for a month if we're extremely frugal with it. I hear a noise in the nearby brush, and jump, startled. I shine my flashlight on it, but I see a mouse scamper away and relax. Nat drags me from the bush, and I dare to ask her the one question I had wondered for years, "Nat... what has Jay put you through?", and I see her eyes move nervously. Whatever he did to her, he must have done some real damage. She looks like she's on the verge of tears. "I don't think you'll understand all of it. But besides the awful things he's done to me, the worst is his promises that if I stay quiet he won't hurt you, but I can never protect you how I want to...that, I think, is the worst...is the hopeless feeling that I couldn't protect you. But that's over." Nat says, turning around and smiling at me. This is when my nightmare turns. I feel the bile in my throat as my most dreaded memory crawls out of hell to torture me again.