Captive Bride - Alta Hensley Page 0,61

would be free.

But then what?

Where will I live? What will I do?

Who will I be?

Will I be Ember the Hallelujah Junction ghost forever?

I don’t know what the world looks like. I don’t know what people will say or do. I don’t know how to live and breathe in another world. I may be in a cage now like an animal, but I’m fed, I’m protected…

“My mother,” I say to Christopher. “If I leave here, who will protect me from my mother? She could find out I’m alive and where to find me. Papa Rich warned me that leaving here means she can find me.”

Christopher places his palms on both sides of my face and stares at me in the eyes. “It’s a story,” he begins. “Richard made this up to scare you and to explain why he would never let you leave this town. The real reason he keeps you hidden from the world is because he’d go to jail if anyone found out about you. You aren’t his. You never were. He kidnapped you, Ember. He kept you locked here in his own manipulative way. I know that’s hard to hear, but it’s the truth. He stole you.”

I shake my head, not wanting to hear the words that deep down I know to be true.

“Why?” I swallow hard and divert my eyes from Christopher’s stare. “Why would he do that to me? Why would he want to keep me locked up? He’s my father. He loves me.”

“Ember…” Christopher leans forward and kisses my forehead and then embraces me. “He’s a sick man. I can’t give you a reason for why he does what he does. He’s killed people. Only monsters and demons kill people. He’s not your father. He’s nothing but darkness, and you have to escape that. You believe we have to get away, right?”

I nod against his chest. “Yes.”

I begin to cry, and I don’t know why. Is it because I’m scared? Is it because I’m leaving Papa Rich and it’s breaking my heart thinking about what I will do without him? Am I sick like him because a part of me doesn’t want to leave? Part of me wants to stay… why?

But the sane part of me screams to my soul. I know we have to leave. Not just because of my freedom but because of Christopher’s. He can’t spend the rest of his life chained to me in a place that isn’t his home.

This isn’t right. It’s never been right.

“And if by some chance,” Christopher adds, “you do have some crazy mother out there who wants to harm you, I’ll protect you with my life. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Then we should go,” I say with a sudden spike of courage. “If we try to run, we may beat him before he returns.”

24

Christopher

Ember’s right. We can try to run as fast as we can in the snow, but it will take time. Time we might not have. And I can’t risk us being caught again. This is our one shot, and if I don’t plan this out perfectly, then Richard will win again. I can’t have that happen.

“We need the authorities to come to us,” I say.

“I told you there is no phone or radio. Well there is, but I know Richard has that on him,” Ember says.

I freeze for a second realizing that Ember has called her Papa Rich by his full name. She’s morphing before my eyes. Courage looks good on her, and I’ve never been prouder. I know this can’t be easy for her. I can’t imagine how terrified she must be. And not just because of the fear of being caught. But I also know she’s afraid of what happens if we actually do escape. She has no idea what awaits her on the other side.

And her thoughts are valid.

Can Ember survive in the world I live? This is a girl who has never worn shoes or watched television. Electronics and the Internet don’t exist in her mind. She doesn’t know what it’s like to have the constant buzz of sound in her ears from city life. She doesn’t even know what a city is. I’m the third person in her life she has ever spoken to since she was taken. She’s been a caged bird that has been raised in captivity. Is it fair to throw her out to the wild?

She has no idea what modern society is like, and I’m about to toss her into the lion’s den