Runaways (33 page)

“And steal my car!” he screamed, making his face even uglier than it was. “Why my car?” He pounded his chest so hard, I heard the thump and actually thought I felt it myself. He's a time bomb, I thought. “I got people depending on me back there, people who are very angry at me because of you. Why didn't you all just get on a bus? No one would have cared then, believe me.”

I lay down again, shivering. If I said the wrong word, did the wrong thing, there was no telling
what he would do in response. Anyway, I thought, he was right. It was a mistake to take his car. He wouldn't have cared otherwise and we might have gone all the way. Then again, it would have been easier to catch us on public transportation.

“Crystal says you buried it. Is she telling me the truth? Huh?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I better find that tomorrow or there will be hell to pay, Brooke. If you're all lying to me, you're going to be sorrier than you ever were living back at the Lakewood and even sorrier than you would be going to jail. Trust me on that,” he threatened. “Did you hear me? Did you?”

“Yes,” I said.

My heart began to pound again. I wished I could speak with Crystal and see if she had any plan for tomorrow. How far did she think we could lead him and what would happen when we finally stopped?

I heard him get up and then pause by my bed so I opened my eyes. He was staring down at me in the strangest way. It was as if he was trying to decide something and he was being pulled in different directions.

“So, you ever been with a boy?”

I closed my eyes.

“I guess that's a no,” he said. “You're a virgin. I bet you wonder about it every night, huh? I bet you lay awake in that bed of yours and think about what it's like. Maybe you pretend, huh? Huh?”

“Leave me alone, Gordon. We're going to do what you want tomorrow, so leave me alone,” I pleaded. His voice was softer, but darker and he was beginning to frighten me even more.

“You have a period like every other girl, don't you? You ever think about having babies?”

The tears were hot and heavy under my eyelids. I kept them closed and tried not to sob.

“I could show you,” he said. “I could show you what it's like better than any teenage boy can show you. Just like that,” he said snapping his fingers. “It's different with a real man. Experience is important when it comes to things like this.”

I didn't move. I didn't open my eyes, but I sensed him drawing closer. I felt my body tighten up. I wished I could turn myself into a ball and roll away. When his fingers touched my hair, I jumped up and pulled the blanket around me with my knees against my chest.

“Stop!” I screamed.

He stood there, gaping at me, his eyes wide.

“If you touch me again,” I said, “I'll scream so loud it will bring the manager or people from the other rooms. I swear I will. Then they'll call the police and we won't show you anything tomorrow.”

He stood there, wavering a moment, his eyes opening and closing.

“Take it easy,” he said. “I'm not that desperate. But you just passed up the best thing that could ever happen to you, girlie.”

“That's not true! I have a boyfriend and someday I'll marry him.”

He laughed. Anger replaced fear, rage rushing over me, making me feel like I was bathed in blood. If he came toward me again, I vowed, I would scratch out his eyes. He saw something in my face and backed down some more.

“Ahh,” he groaned. He wavered, took another
drink from his bottle and looked toward the bathroom. “I'll be right out. Don't you even think of going anywhere,” he said, pointing that long finger at me as if it were a knife.

The heat receded from my face and I relaxed again. I knew I wouldn't fall asleep tonight. I would be up all night just in case he tried something. Crystal, Crystal, what are we going to do? We should have taken our chances with the police. How can we protect Butterfly? We can't protect ourselves.

He stumbled when he stepped out of the bathroom and then cursed. I didn't look directly at him. He went past my bed and I kept my back to him, but held my breath. The television droned on, the light flashing on the wall above me.

Suddenly, I felt him grab my right arm. I started to scream, but he put his hand over my face and brought his own smelly mouth close to me. My stomach did flip-flops and I almost threw up the burger I had eaten at the sheriff's office.

“I'm not touching you,” he growled. “But I ain't taking no chances. I want to get some sleep tonight and I know how sly you girls are. Don't you scream, Brooke,” he warned, “or I'll pound this fist right through your face,” he threatened, holding his mallet of a hand above me. He released his grip on my mouth and I held my breath. I felt him twist my wrist around and then I saw him tying a small rope around it.

“You ain't going to sneak out on me,” he muttered. “This here,” he said as he tied his knot, “is a sailor's knot, an eight,” he bragged as he turned and wove it around my wrist.

After he was finished, he wrapped it around his own wrist a few times and returned to his bed.
There was just enough slack for me to turn over if I wanted.

“What if I have to go to the bathroom?” I asked him.

“You went. You'll hold it in until morning now,” he said. “I want some sleep, so shut up.”

He took another long drink on his bottle, nearly emptying it, and then he lay back and closed his eyes. I gazed at the knot. It was tied so tightly, it was worse than handcuffs, I thought. Frustrated, I lay there with my eyes wide open. He never turned off the television set. Programs changed until it was one of those late talk shows. When I looked at him again, his eyes were shut tight, his arm dangling over the side of the bed.

He moaned in his sleep and tossed and turned a little before he started to snore. I wondered about the girls. Did Crystal and Raven have to join with Butterfly again in the next room? Were they all lying awake, just as terrified of what would come tomorrow? What plan could Crystal possibly have concocted?

I looked at Gordon again and then decided I had to try something. Slowly, moving almost an inch at a time, I slipped off the bed until I was on all fours on the floor. Then I moved as quietly as possible to Gordon's side. I studied the way he had tied the rope around his own wrist and then I started to untie it, moving so slowly, it took what seemed like hours just to unravel the first few turns. He grunted and turned on his side. I held my breath and waited. He didn't wake, but now I had to stand and lean over the bed to get to his arm. Any moment, I thought, his eyes would pop open and he would do something terrible to me.

Finally, I had the rope off his wrist. I gathered it
up and wound it around my waist. There was no time to try to get it off my own wrist now. I tiptoed across the room to his jacket and took out the station wagon keys. He turned again, mumbled and then threw his arm over the side of the bed as it had been before. I waited and listened, holding my breath. His snoring was regular and deep.

Moving as though I were on a shelf of air, I crossed to the door and slowly turned the lock until it snapped open. I thought the tiny noise might wake him, so I watched his eyes. The pupils moved beneath his eyelids violently, but he didn't open them. He continued to snore. I opened the door only as much as I needed to slip out and then I did so, closing the door softly behind me. My heart was racing so fast, I had to catch my breath.

It was very late and quiet. Only one other room had lights on and the office was dimly lit. I went to the girls' door and knocked softly, hoping they would hear. I waited and then knocked again.

“Who's there?” I heard Raven whisper.

“It's me,” I said.

She opened the door quickly and I slipped in. Crystal and Butterfly were in one bed. They had the blanket clutched to them and looked at me with wide, surprised eyes. I indicated complete silence.

“He had me tied to him,” I whispered and showed them the rope, “but I got the rope off him when he fell asleep.”

“Tied to him? Oh, Brooke,” Crystal said. “We've been so worried about you.”

“He's crazier than he was, Crystal. I don't know what he'll do tomorrow. I took the car keys,” I said holding them up. “We can get away,” I said.

“You want to steal his car again?” Crystal asked. “Oh, Brooke, no.”

“Well, what did you have planned for tomorrow, Crystal, because if it's not a great idea, we're in a lot of danger,” I told her. “He as much as told me so back there. What's your plan?”

“I don't know,” she confessed. “I was hoping something would come to me tonight.”

“Well, there isn't anything coming to you and we don't have much time to waste. This is what we have to do,” I said holding up the keys.

“He'll have the police after us again,” Raven said.

“I'm keeping this rope around me just the way he tied it. I'll show it to them and I'll tell them what else he wanted to do to me.”

“What?” Raven asked.

“Don't ask,” Crystal said, throwing a look at Butterfly. She thought a moment. “Okay, let's do it,” she said. “Come on, Butterfly.” She and Butterfly got out of the bed and put on their shoes.

I opened the door and listened. The three of them hovered behind me. It looked clear. Gordon was still asleep, I thought. Rather, I prayed. I nodded an all clear and then we moved with whisper steps to the wagon. I unlocked it and taking great care not to make too much noise, opened the doors. We all got in and I inserted the key. Raven put her hand on mine.

“Wait, Brooke. He's going to hear it start,” she warned.

“Maybe not. He did a lot of drinking. I think he's dead to the world for now.”

“I can't imagine his rage when he wakes up and discovers we've taken his car again,” Crystal said.

“Imagine what it will be like when we reveal his drugs are gone,” I said. I looked at Raven. She took
a deep breath and nodded. All of our eyes went to the door of Gordon's room.

I turned the key. The engine started. Gordon's door remained shut. Without turning on the lights, I backed out of our spot and slowly accelerated through the lot, Raven keeping her eyes on that fearful door.

“He didn't hear us,” she said in a heavy whisper.

When we reached the entrance, I turned on the headlights and then I shot out and down the road. It was a very dark secondary road with no streetlights and very few houses. There were no road signs either. For the moment I had lost all sense of direction.

“My heart is beating so fast, I think I'm going to faint,” Raven said.

I don't think any of us let out a breath for at least ten minutes. Darkness seemed to be closing in around us. Images of Gordon's ugly face close to mine back in that motel room flashed before me. I drove faster, squealing around turns, riding on the shoulder of the road, fighting to maintain control.

“What are we going to do?” Raven asked. “We don't have any money or the credit card or anything.”

“I don't care,” I said. “We've got to get away from him.”

“Well, where are we going?” she followed, turning to look back at the motel as if she expected to see him running after us. Butterfly clung tightly to Crystal.

“Away,” I said. “As fast as we can.”

All I could think of was putting as much distance as possible between us and Gordon. Whatever came after that had to be better. Didn't it?

O
ur fear kept us under a veil of silence. The station wagon's headlights sliced away some of the darkness, but without houses and lit windows, other traffic and activity, we felt alone in the night, far from any sign of civilization. Trees towered like sentinels guarding the clearing sky. I felt as if I was driving us through a tunnel from one world into another. Soon, the tree line disappeared and was replaced with long, barren fields. Any houses we did see were dark or only vaguely lit, their inhabitants surely snug in their beds. When I gazed into the rearview mirror, I saw that Butterfly had fallen asleep in Crystal's arms. Raven had her head against the window, her eyes closed. We had all sunk deeply into a pool of numbness.

The terrain changed again, this time looking more rocky. The sky became even clearer, now with only occasional, thin, wispy clouds drifting
across the stars. I was no longer driving fast. The tires hummed until the road turned rougher and we began to bounce more.

“Where are we?” Raven asked after a particularly rough bump shook the vehicle.

“I don't know. I haven't seen a road sign for miles and miles,” I said. “Crystal?”

“I don't have the map anymore. The last house was back about twenty or thirty minutes,” she added.

“Something should come up soon,” I offered as a straw of hope.

We rode on with nothing but the same monotonous scenery. In fact, it became even more primitive. I spotted cactuses and then saw a long, dark line of mountains silhouetted along the western horizon. Butterfly woke when we hit another rough piece of road, making the wagon shake and rattle.