Epilogue Two
Ophelia
Just run, don't look back, never look back. Hold on tight. You have to hold on tight, Ophelia .
I talk to myself the whole time I'm running through the cornfields surrounding our little community. I just need to get us out of here before they realize we’ve escaped. There is a bus stop in the town over if I remember correctly. If I can get there, we should be home free.
“Mommy, my wegs hurt,” Mabel says, slowing considerably.
She’s only three, so her legs aren't long enough to keep up with me, but after being locked away in a tiny basement, never being allowed outside that tiny room, I’m not as strong as I once was. Still, I bend and pick up my baby, trying to keep pace, but I’ve slowed considerably. I want to cry, but I don't. I keep running. I have to get us away. I have to get Mabel away. If they find me, I don't care.
They could lock me back up, or heck, even kill me. I wouldn't care, but Mabel deserves a better life. She deserves to live. To see the sun. This is her first time seeing the sky, and when we walked out, I could barely get her to keep her eyes on the path in front of us. She was mesmerized by the stars. I couldn't blame her. After four years of a dark room, all I wanted to do was stare up at that sky, but I couldn't. I couldn't slow down; I couldn't stop. They will find us and drag us back. I run for what feels like hours. I start to worry I’m going to get lost. It’s been so long since I’ve come this way, and some things have changed, but luckily, I recognize most of my surroundings.
I finally make it to the bus stop. Taking out the letter tucked inside my dress pocket, the only thing I was able to carry out of that place, the only valuable thing I own, even if its contents did rip my heart out. I look at the sender's address. The letter was addressed to me, but that didn't stop them from reading it. They were nearly giddy with the message inside, knowing it would crush my heart and soul. Even to this day, I swear the only reason my heart didn't give out and I didn't die that day was the knowledge that my baby girl was with me.
I buy a bus ticket to a small Alabama town, knowing I need to get Mabel there. He will protect her with his life of this, I am sure. He might not love me anymore, but if he looks at her beautiful baby blues, he’ll be lost. He’ll protect her as he did for me up until the day he left me.
Please just get us there… Alive.
The End