Run Away; A Short Story
One day while the sun was still hidden behind the mountains, a 17 year old girl name Lucy silently tiptoed down the stairs; Trying not to wake her parents. When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she slowly grabbed her boots and coat and snuck out the front door.
Making it to the gate, she looked back and smiled, knowing she had gotten away. She crept past the gate and started running down the street, away from the nightmares and the throbbing purple bruises she constantly woke up to. Feeling the icy cold stick to her face and her frozen nose starting to run, she started running. Although the cold was burning her head, she kept running; her dream of getting away finally becoming a reality.
Out of breath, Lucy stopped and took in her surroundings. She was far away from home and felt happy for the first time in years. She was exactly where she wanted to be; Somewhere new. Locating a small building she figured was the train station, she jogged up to the front door and pushed herself into the small musty building. It smelled of coffee and old newspapers with the mixture of grease from the steam engines out back. Walking up to the counter, she pulled out a small wad of dollar bills.
“I need a one-way ticket to anywhere but here” she exclaimed to the man sitting behind the glass.
He was short and had a shiny bald head that made him look very old and ragged. The man said nothing and reached into the drawer next to his desk. He pulled out a small green piece of paper that had ‘Salt Lake Utah to Las Vegas Nevada’ printed in tiny purple letters.
“This should do ya just fine little lady”, He said with a tiny smile, “They won’t find ya there.”
He leaned towards Lucy and pointed at the wad of money saying “Don’t you worry about that, I’ll take care of it.”
He winked and handed Lucy the frail ticket. Lucy whispered a small thank you and walked towards the golden door that read “PATRON PICKUP” in giant brown letters. Before pushing through the door, Lucy looked back at the man behind the glass and waved, not seeing the man’s cracked finger reach down and push a tiny red button underneath the countertop.
Pushing her body through the large doors, Lucy took a deep breath; She was free.
Lucy sat down and waited for the train to pull up to the station. Hearing the loud noise of the train’s whistle, Lucy stood up and walked to the yellow line at the edge of the platform.
Making sure her toes were behind the line, a man wearing a blue suit and a round hat walked up to her and asked her for her ticket. Lucy handed him the green slip and waited for him to punch it. The man, whose name tag said ‘Marty’, stared at the ticket then looked down at Lucy giving her a strange look.
“What’s your name?” Marty asked.
Lucy hesitated and replied “Margaret”, not wanting the man to know her real name.
Marty frowned and gave the ticket back to Lucy.
“I’m gonna have to ask you to follow me please.”
“But I’m gonna miss my train.”
“It’s okay, you’re not riding the train today.” Marty exclaimed as a big chubby man walked up behind Lucy and took her by the arm.
The man behind Lucy wore a blue button up shirt with blue slacks. He had a gun strapped to his hip and a large badge on his right breast; A police officer.
“Nice to see you Ms. Lucy.” The police officer smiled.
“How did you know my name was Lucy?”
“You’re momma called, she knew exactly where you were gonna go when you left the house this morning. Sorry to ruin your escape plan.”
The Police officer wasn’t sorry.
Sitting in the back of the police car, Lucy started crying when they pulled up to the house. Mama was standing in the front yard, still in her dirty green nightgown. Lucy got out of the car and slowly shuffled to the front gate.
“Hi Mama.”
Mama didn’t say anything as Lucy walked past her and opened the front door. Mama followed her into the house and slammed the door shut, leaving the police officer out front with a small frown on his face.
Ten years have passed and Lucy lays awake on her bed. She lives in her own apartment now and has trouble sleeping. She dreams of that night and still remembers the police officer’s face. The alarm blared a gut wrenching sound and Lucy smashed her foot into the button to shut it off.
Time for work.
Impressum
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 14.09.2015
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