Chapter 6 - Into the Freezing Night
For the very first time since my father’s funeral, absolute, paralyzing fear did not control my actions. The upload progress bar on my phone hit one hundred percent. The evidence was safe, locked in a digital vault they could never reach. The fear was replaced by a hyper-focused adrenaline that sharpened every sound in the house, every tactical choice, every single step I took toward the door.
I couldn't leave through the front. The security system chimed whenever a primary door opened, and Derek would intercept me before I made it to the driveway.
I quietly slipped out of the bathroom and crept down the back staircase, clutching my heavy winter coat tightly against my chest. The house was dead silent, save for the distant hum of the refrigerator. I bypassed the downstairs office and slipped into the laundry room.
I unlocked the small, frosted window above the washing machine. It was a tight squeeze, but I hoisted myself up, pushing the glass pane outward. The bitter, freezing winter wind immediately bit into my skin. I wriggled my shoulders through the frame, dropping awkwardly into the snow-covered bushes in the side yard.
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I was completely barefoot, wearing nothing but thin cotton pajamas beneath my oversized coat. The frozen ground sent agonizing shockwaves of cold up my legs, but I didn't stop moving. I sprinted across the lawn, keeping low to avoid the motion-sensor floodlights.
I walked three freezing, agonizing blocks through the silent, sleeping neighborhood. The ice tore at the soles of my feet. Just as my legs began to go numb, the blinding headlights of a night-shift city bus cut through the darkness. The driver, an older man with kind, tired eyes, hit the brakes when he saw me shivering on the curb. He opened the doors, not asking a single question, and let me on.
