Remember these guys? I'm changing the POV back to Ethan later...
She stood, half-concealed by the darkness that flooded the house. Her fingers traced the tender bruise on her arm, and she winced. Lights shone from cars as they drove past, but none of them stopped. She looked around, not seeing anything, hoping her parents wouldn’t hear. Then, a light flickered on and off one, two, three times, and Diana knew to step out of the house. She picked up her bag and flung it over her shoulder, stepped outside, and closed the door so lightly that it would be entirely undetected.
Once the interior of the house was insulated from any noise, she ran, sprinted for her life across the frozen grass to the car. She flung the car door open and sat inside, throwing her bag into the backseat, on top of another large duffel.
She looked at Ethan, in the driver’s seat. “Are you sure you wanna do this,” she asked, terrified he would end up kicking her out, to go back into her cold, black, abusive home.
“Oh my God,” Ethan whispered, his hand tracing along the edge of her face. “What the hell happened, Di?”
She ripped his warm hand from her cheek and out it to her lips. “I came home past curfew last night, remember?” They had been plotting this hazardous escape the night before, keeping Diana from making it home on time. She shuddered as she remembered the screaming, the red faces. She relived the vase being thrown through the air, and hitting her face in her mind, the split skin aching even more in her memory.
They had paused too long, and as she turned to put on her seatbelt, she saw a face through the window. Her father’s deranged face stared at her, as he cracked his knuckles. She hit the lock on Ethan’s ancient car with her fist and screamed.
“Damn it, Ethan! Drive!”
“Diana! Get back here, you worthless brat! Listen to me, now. After you get back into the house I don’t want to see you with this boy again; now come and get your ass inside or I’ll make you,” he threatened.
Ethan shouted back at the man, a lifetime of pent-up frustration, in a series of vulgarities that shocked the man enough so that he stepped back, hands lifted, palms out.
He fumbled as he put the car in drive, and stepped on the gas. Diana’s father began screaming, cursing at the couple as Ethan maneuvered his way off her street, without colliding into him, no matter how much he wanted to.
He gripped the wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. Taking his eyes off the wintry road, he looked at his bruised, broken girlfriend beside him, her knees curled up into the fetal position. He knew, as he drove recklessly, that he was capable of hatred. The scratch wasn’t very long, but it was deep and very painful-looking. They were only two teenagers, running from their fears, but he knew that they were better on their own, than watching her be torn, standing helplessly to the side.
He slowed as they reached the train station. He pulled into the grocery store, across the street and walked out of the car. He opened the door for Diana and she giggled, “Why, thank you.” Her exaggerated gratefulness only equaled a small part of the gratitude she felt inside. He gave up a whole future to save her from the monstrosities she had to go through. It was priceless.
He grabbed both of their bags, until she playfully beat him to get hers back. “Come on! I owe you enough. At least let me carry my bag!”
Ethan tried to remain chivalrous, but eventually relented, passing the bag to Diana, who had begun shivering as snowdrops began to sprinkle all over her. He held her arm, and they began to speed-walk across the street.
They climbed up the stairs in the station and bought two one-way tickets to New York, where no one could find them, without extensive traveling. They waited by the gap, Diana shuffling on her toes nervously. Would they get caught? What would her father do? What hadn’t he done, anyway? And did it even matter?
The train pulled in, sending her hair flying. The aching in her face was finally beginning to be numbed, and without feeling the reminder of her familial evil on her face, she felt a soothing sense of relief fluttering through her body. When the doors opened, she jumped over the gap, with Ethan following closely behind, showing more reservation in his footing. The train was nearly empty and she picked an open three-person seat. Ethan sat beside her, and she whispered what held them together.
“I love you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment