The concrete burned her feet, even though the sun was already starting to disappear behind the hills in the distance. She couldnāt say how long sheād been moving in this direction, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew sticking to a straight line was not the best method of keeping out of sight. But the quickest distance between two points is a straight line, and her need to find help was stronger than the panic of what he would do if he caught up with her.
She wanted to scream, as another sharp stone dug into the rough skin of her heel, but any momentary stop to check whether it had drawn blood would have meant slowing her escape.
Escape.
It had been merely a pipe dream for so long; so much so that she couldnāt even be sure she was out in the open now. For all she knew, she was still in that dingy hole, and this was just another cruel dream from which sheād be painfully woken at any moment. It wouldnāt have been the first time.
Regardless, she had to keep striving onwards. To fail now would be to waste the best chance sheād ever had to flee that musty, windowless room beneath the ground. With no watch, she had no frame of reference for how long sheād been stumbling along the road, though her grumbling stomach told her she would be gobbling up the scraps right now if she hadnāt made for the unlocked door.
What if this was all part of his plan? Just another torturous trick for which sheād be forced to pay a heavy price. Promise freedom, only to snatch it away. How many times had he told her he loved her one day, only to violate her the next?
She tried to shake the thought from her exhausted mind, and just focus on putting one foot in front of the next. She had to come into contact with somebody ā anybody ā soon, if she could just keep going; but this was the most exercise sheād had in years. She couldnāt even say for certain that she wasnāt walking around in circles now. Sheād tried to keep the dying sunās glow ahead of her the whole time, using it as a fixed point to aim towards; through the forest, low branches scratching at her cheeks and bare arms as sheād torn through it.
That part had been a surprise. With no clue where theyād been living for all these years, she hadnāt expected to come out of the hole into such a wild and unyielding monster of trees and undergrowth. The few occasions heād brought her up, heād kept her blindfolded; less trouble if she was disorientated. Sheād fallen at one point, a thicket of thorns drawing blood from her right palm, and sheād been certain thatās where heād catch up to her, and drag her back by the ankles. She hadnāt allowed herself to wait for that; tearing off even faster, ignoring every bite, scratch and sting as her barely clothed body bore the brunt of the forestās clutches.
The nightdress was practically glued to her skin, such was the expulsion of sweat as she persevered, vowing to take just one more step. Cars had passed, but she hadnāt allowed any of them to stop and check if she was okay. Every time a set of headlights neared, sheād try and cower out of sight, uncertain whether it would be him out hunting for her. Again, for all she knew, he had friends out here who would also be only too willing to watch him take her back as his prisoner. Sheād come too far now to allow him to catch up with her.
Another stomach grumble, and she was consciously cursing herself for trying to get away on an empty stomach. The scraps he gave her each day were barely enough to satisfy the smallest of appetites, but it had to have been at least twelve hours since sheād devoured the stale crust for her breakfast. It had been enough for then, but had she known how the day would play out, she would have saved some for this journey. Last night he had promised her chance would come, but she hadnāt wanted to believe it when heād told her he loved her. How could something so forced be love? Even as sheād found the door ajar, and had felt the cool breeze filtering through the gap, sheād been sure he would appear and force her back down the narrow tunnel to her cell.
Sheād moved unsteadily forward, unwilling to believe the possibility, her heart racing, as she tugged on the tiny edge, and felt it move beneath her broken fingernails. Sheād pulled it open just wide enough so she could peer out, half-expecting him to be there, ready to kick it in and send her stumbling, but all sheād seen was the darkness of the wooden boards lining the dirt floor. Opening the door wider, sheād dared to step out, again expecting to feel the pain of his anger that sheād dared to defy him, but he didnāt emerge from a secret hiding place to punish her.
Keeping her foot in the gap between the door and the entrance to her makeshift room, sheād reached into the darkness, feeling the cool air blowing from above, but then sheād rushed back into the room. It was too good to be true, and sheād learned from her mistakes. Sheād been about to push the door closed and allow it to lock when something had stopped her. Was it possible that he had been telling the truth? That he would grant her the freedom sheād so desperately craved?
Taking one final look at the room sheād called home for so many years, sheād taken a deep breath, and headed out of the door, crawling on hands and knees, certain the wooden boards would whine and groan beneath her frame and reveal that she was revolting against her captors. Yet sheād made it to the top of the tunnel without hearing him coming for her, and as sheād leaned into the door at the top, expecting to find it closed, it had swung open, and sheād felt the gust of fresh air wash over her. She hadnāt waited a second longer, tearing out, refusing to look over her shoulder in case he was there waiting to pick her off with his hunting rifle.
When sheād made it to the edge of the forest, where a grey strip of road divided the woods in two, sheād turned onto it, and tried to keep her feet and legs moving in tandem, despite the agony it caused. That felt like hours ago now, but with the terrifyingly slow pace it probably was less than an hour. He could still be on her trail; watching and waiting.
The dark of the bordering forest swallowed up the route sheād come by, and the road continued to twist and wind. She couldnāt believe she hadnāt come across any kind of habitation where she could seek shelter.
Another set of headlights appeared in the distance, hurtling towards her at some speed. Looking around, she could see nowhere to duck and cover. Sheād yet to come across a property, but there was now a barbed-wire fence along the line of trees, and she didnāt have the strength to get over it without inflicting further injury. If this was him, she had no means of escape.
Stumbling forwards, she crashed to her knees, yelping as her right wrist buckled beneath her weight, breaking her fall. Exhaustion had set in, and no amount of will power and fear could get her back to her feet. All she could do now was wait for him to come and find her, and take her home.
Lying perfectly still, save for the deep lungfuls of breath she willed into her body, she waited for the headlights to pull over, but as they neared, and her pulse quickened to breaking point, they continued past.
It wasnāt him; or at least, if it was, he hadnāt seen her.
Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the ever-darkening sky. She had a simple choice: lie here and wait for death to take her, or continue the journey; the former felt like the easier option, but she was too resilient to give up. Heād told her as much last night.
When the time is right, youāll know it. You can do this!
Rolling over, she pressed her left hand against the ground, and forced her legs to lift her back up. Over her shoulder, she could see the tail lights of the car that had passed, now long gone, and too far for the driver to see the lurching figure now continuing along the potholed road.
Another five minutes passed before she came across a sign on the edge of the road, but whilst she recognised the words, she couldnāt say for sure what they meant. Sheād always been good at reading at school, but her eyes were too tired to focus properly. The fading sun was to her right, such was the nature of the bends in the road. The only way to right the course of her journey would be to scale the wire fence, and head back through the trees, but the path of the road could easily correct itself if she just continued along it. Breathless, she strode onwards, leaving it up to fate to determine her future. If her escape was to be completed, then the road wouldnāt lead her straight back into his waiting arms.
I love you. Let me prove it to you.
She just had to keep believing.
And thatās when she saw it. A large building, at least four storeys high, and with a mismatch of lights glowing from windows in its sides. It reminded her of one of the crossword puzzles heād once allowed her to attempt. Heād offered to set her free if she could complete it, but she hadnāt come close. Another of his sick games.
Rubbing her eyes, as her legs threatened to give way once more, she again questioned whether what she was witnessing was real or the final embers of the dream. This side of the building burst into flashes of blue as she neared, and her heart raced harder at the prospect of what sheād finally stumbled upon. She had to get inside; that much she knew. It would be just like him to be parked up somewhere, revelling in the glee in her face suddenly being torn away when her eyes fell on him. It would be the cruellest of tricks, but if she could just get inside, she would be safe; of that she had no doubt.
Gripping the handrail of the staircase directly in front of her, her toes scraped across the hardened concrete steps as she dragged her feet up them, until she arrived at the set of automatic double doors. Nobody seemed to notice her at first as she stepped through and was immediately struck by a wave of cool, conditioned air. So bright inside too that she could barely keep her eyes open and focused on finding that one person who might tell her she was safe after all these years.
A manās face appeared in her immediate vision, and for the briefest of seconds she thought it was him, dressed in some kind of brown shirt and sweater, but as the spirit left her body, and she collapsed into the manās arms, relief washed over her. The man was now shouting to others, calling for help as far as she could tell, but she didnāt care. In that moment, she would have happily allowed death to take her in his embrace.
She was out.
She was free.
