Chapter 3 - The Good Samaritan’s Light
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The wooden grate gave way with a soft crack. Beyond it lay a narrow, dirt-lined coal chute that opened into the damp alleyway behind the garage. I squeezed through the opening shoulder-first, trailing blood and sweat across the concrete foundation.
The cold night air hit my face like an icy slap. It was pouring rain. Rain mixed with dirt washed into my eyes, but the freezing water helped keep me conscious against the blinding waves of shock threatening to drag me under.
I dragged my body through the mud behind the garage, inching toward the quiet residential street. My left leg was completely useless, dragging behind me like an anchor. My fingers were bloody, my nails torn to the quick from gripping the wet gravel.
“Help...” I gasped, my voice barely a whisper against the drumming rain. “Somebody... please...”
After what felt like an eternity, headlights cut through the thick darkness. A light delivery van turned onto the street, its tires splashing through puddles. Desperate, I reached up and slapped my muddy hand against the passenger door as the vehicle slowed down for the stop sign.
The van screeched to a halt. A middle-aged woman jumped out, holding a flashlight. When the beam caught my battered frame, my swollen leg, and my face covered in mud and tears, she let out a sharp gasp.
“Oh my God!” she screamed, dropping her flashlight and kneeling in the mud beside me. “Sweetheart, what happened to you? Who did this to you?!”
“Don’t... don't take me home,” I choked out, grabbing her raincoat with all the strength I had left. “Please... take me to the county hospital... don't call my husband...”
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“I’m taking you right now, honey,” she said, her voice shaking with rage and panic. She lifted me carefully into the warm passenger seat, wrapping her heavy winter coat around my shivering shoulders. “You’re safe now. I swear to you, you’re safe.”
As the van sped away from the dark cul-de-sac, I looked back at Derek’s house one last time. The windows were pitch black. They thought I was broken on their kitchen floor. They were about to learn how wrong they were.
