Run away

3. hidden behind bars

my father is standing there in front of me, in the kitchen with a knife. Turning to the counter was an animal that I recognized. Gunner.

The knife dug through his hairy unmoving body, father sawed back and forth I tried to look away but I was forced to watch. About to scream until I opened my eyes.

The motel roof with its yellowish-white tone was all I wanted to see, I tried to move but mothers arm was on my petite body. She must have came to my bed while I was sleeping, maybe I was moving around in my dreams and she was worried.

I slowly got out of bed without waking her and bent over the old, out of fashion toilet. I puked until there was nothing in my stomach and then I cleaned my face with fresh cold water. Walking out was like walking into another country, my mother was standing with her hands rapidly going through her bag. The look on her face was focus, she looked right into my eyes, "he's on our tail, he must have been close behind us when we were traveling and now we are stuck here until he leaves. The car is by the trees behind the motel it's by the garbage... he's out there... we need to wait." Her concern turned to worry and I became overwhelmed with worry as well. Who knew what he could do with how much anger he must be holding right now.

We had a a few granola bars and left over desserts from christmas. None of the left over liver and onions, which I try to clear out of my mind but somehow keeps coming up.

Being stuck in a small room with a women who I barely speak with, wasn't what I thought freedom would be like. It felt more like being hidden behind bars, there was nothing to do but talk but there was nothing to talk about...

It has been 2 days and we have nothing left, no food, no more patients. But he was packing up his truck which was a good thing that could mean he was leaving soon. But he never did, he kept coming back and he wouldn't spend much time out so we weren't able to leave. We only could watch as he brings meals from a nearby restaurant into his motel room.

One morning i opened my eyes so suddenly, i heard a truck come to life and i was hoping that it was finally time for us to escape or else this room would start smelling like decomposing corpses. It has been 5 days now and am dying every second of starvation, mother barely has enough energy to walk to the bathroom. We waited from early in the morning to around dinner time, that's when we knew he wasn't coming back. We creeped out of the room, making sure we didn't forget anything that we brought in. We marched stiffly to the back of the motel and flopped into the car. Exhausted from walking those couple of blocks, food was somewhere in the back but neither of us wanted to test our limits. We went through a drive thru and again we were on our way. A few days behind but we were still on our way.

We swallowed two big burgers each and slumped down a large cup even though neither of us were thirsty we had the luxury and we used it.

We were bonding more than the first night we escaped which i find very important if we are planning on starting a new life with eachother.

She looked at me and smiled, "that was some good burgers, what about yours?" She nodded her head at my empty wrapped up piece of garbage that the burger was once in.

"I thought it was the best burger I have ever had, that or I was just really hungry." We both laughed a little which gave me the impression that we were finally having a mother and daughter relationship.

"Mine too, though something is stuck in my teeth but I can't get it out." While one hand stayed on the wheel she uses the other one to try to pick the food out of her teeth. A minute later she put her hand back on the wheel, she either succeeded or gave up.

I never noticed how pretty she was until now, i never knew what a true mother was until now.