my arms and allowed her to cry. I stared at the stars and listened to the tide coming in, thinking how much I wanted my old life back. The soft sand cushioned me, although the clamshells and dried seaweed straws pressed sharply into my skin. Willow rested her head on my lap and wrapped her long arm around me. I looked down and noticed that her eyes had started to swell. All of this combined to lull me to sleep. A disturbing sleep, but sleep nonetheless.
Sometime later I awoke to the sound of a thumping noise. Willow screamed, and I opened my eyes. Almost immediately I felt a blow to my head. I could barely see, the pain was so bad, and I assumed that Gil had returned to reclaim Willow. If she breathed a word of what he’d done, he knew he’d be going away to prison for a long time.
I stood dizzily and heard Willow’s high-pitched screams. I rushed over to her and tried to fend off the blows. Blood dripped from my forehead and into my eyes. My vision became blurred. Something hard smashed into my face and knocked me to the sand. It surprised me more than anything else. I should have been unconscious from the blow, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t.
My eyelids began to form into slits, and I felt disoriented and lost. Blood poured from cuts on my face. Willow screamed again, pleading for her life. Would we die out here on this beach? My ribs ached, as if broken. The only emotion coursing through me was fear, fight or flight. Willow shouted for me to run. She told me to forget about her and save myself. Since I had no fight left in me, I ran.
Through slitted eyes, I grasped shadows and forms. Every inch of my body trembled with pain. Blood flowed out of my nose and into my mouth, making it hard to breathe. The sound of the waves began to recede in the distance, informing me that I was running away from the shore.
I heard footsteps behind me.
I ran, bloodied, through the streets. Blurry images of affluence passed me on either side. Pebbles and sharp objects stabbed into my bare feet. I heard a shrill voice call out my name and realized that my attacker was on my tail. I had no desire to stop at someone’s doorstep and ring their doorbell and beg for help. I knew they wouldn’t help me in my condition. Stopping would only give my pursuer time to catch up and drag me away. Then, because of what I already knew, Gil would find a way to get rid of me. I pictured my head being forcibly held down in the ocean, seaweed filling my mouth and my eyes bulging, until I stopped breathing. He would make it look like I had gotten drunk and had accidentally waded out into the ocean and drowned.
I ran until all the expensive homes receded behind me. I made my way into the woods, and then deeper, pushing branches out of my way and stepping over sticks and thick brush. My blistered bare feet cried out for relief. Was someone still on my trail? Or was my mind playing tricks on me? No sense taking any chances. All I could think about was drowning and then my body drifting far offshore until it sank to the bottom of the ocean floor and became lobster bait.
My head felt as if it might explode, the pain had become so immense. Never in my life had I experienced a headache so agonizing. And yet I kept moving deeper into the woods, constantly looking behind me to see if Gil was still on my heels.
Streaks of light began to fill the sky. Although my vision remained blurry, I caught sight of a run-down hunting camp. The door was opened. I staggered inside, then tripped over a soiled mattress. I could barely see anything in front of me. Exhausted, I knew I could no longer run. Whatever happened to me now, so be it. I collapsed on top of that disgusting mattress and wept, clutching my head and feeling the scrapes and bruises on the soles of my feet. I had finally given up. I simply couldn’t run any longer.
I prayed to God to watch over me. To bring an end to all this.
* * *
My arm hurts from being in the same position, and I can barely move my injured shoulder. I