Saving Me

Prologue

     "Please! Don't hurt him! Dillon, put him down! I promise I wont leave again!" The words left my mouth without a thought. I stood on trembling knees as I watched the man I once loved toss our child toward me. I scramble to catch him, and fall to my knees, cradling him in my arms like an infant. At just four years old Lukas has had such a hard life. Tears spring to my eyes and the thought of loosing him. 

     Shuffling back to my feet I move us away from Dillon. I cower into a corner putting myself between my son and the threat. An evil smirk forms on Dillon's face as he watches our every move. He's come home drunk again, wanting to inflict pain onto me. He knows I've gotten use to the abuse, so he's focused on Lukas. Dillon stumbles toward me and grabs me by my hair. Tears spring to my eyes at the burning in my scalp, but I force my body to stay, cradling Lukas closer to the wall. Dillon's smirk drops, an enraged look forming in its place.

      " If you try to leave me again, I'll kill the boy." Dillon spits. He quickly jerks me out of the corner. Sliding Lukas to the floor, I push him toward the bedroom door to the side. He moves quickly, running towards the room and locking the door before Dillon could grab him.  Dillon's fist connects with my cheek, whipping my head to the side. A string of swear words leaves his mouth as he turns toward the front door. He slams the front door shut as he leaves, making the frames on the wall crash to the floor. 

     I know I've gotten off easy this time. I hadn't thought he would find the fake ID and bus tickets id hidden in the basement. I release a heavy sigh, not bothering to check if the parchments were still there. I knows he's got them. Quickly, I walk toward the bedroom and knock four times. Lukas opens the door, his face is red and puffy, tears rolling down his chubby face.               

"Momma?" Lukas whimpers as he reaches for me. I kneel down and pull him into my arms.

      " Momma is fine, baby. I need you to go pack up your favorite stuffy and some clothes, can you do that for me?" He quickly nods his head and squirms out of my arms. I move into the bedroom, and crawl under the bed, grabbing the small black box hidden there. Flipping the lid open, I pull out the bundle of cash Id snuck from Dillon's wallet as he slept off the whiskey. 

   Stuffing the money into my pocket and move to grab a bag of clothes id packed earlier. Turning toward the door I see Lukas with his little backpack packed full, and his tiny, stuffed white wolf pressed to his chest. I move, grabbing his hand, pulling him toward the garage. Dillon never let me get a car. He always said he would drive me places if he felt I needed to go. It hadn't always been this way. We had been high school sweethearts. Married at 18, right after graduation. We had been so in love, I felt we would grow old together but that all changed after college. He went to the police academy to become an officer, while I went to class for early childhood education. 

     Dillon had come home one night,after going out with some buddies from his training classes, and pushed me threw our glass coffee table. I'd passed out from the impact and woke up in the hospital. He had told the EMT's I'd tripped and fell.  I'd been so disoriented from the whole experience, I didn't mention anything to the doctors. After a few days they released me, letting Dillon take me home. O the ride back to our house he apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again. Unfortunately, just two days later, he smashed my face against our kitchen sink. He broke my nose and blacked both of my eyes. That same day, I'd found out I was pregnant with Lukas. 

     Dillon being the head investigator in his department at the county sheriffs department made it hard for me to leave. He had recently started threatening Lukas, which in turn had forced me to realize we need to get out, or I at least needed to get him someplace safe. So now I have us packed into a cab headed for the nearest bus station to take us as far from this town as possible. Our destination, New River, Arizona.