Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Robert
We know where you live. Leave Robert before you and your child get caught in another fire.
My heart hasn’t stopped pounding against my chest since last night.
I suck in a deep breath, struggling with the zipper of the suitcase again. I drag it harder across the suitcase, the teeth grinding against fabric like the bag itself is fighting me on this.
“Christine…”
“Not now, Aisha.” My voice comes out bristly, clipped around the panic sitting in my throat.
I push down harder on the suitcase, forcing the clothes inward with my forearm while trying to pull the zipper across with my other hand.
It catches again.
“Come on!” I seeth.
Everything feels difficult this morning: the air, breathing, and even thinking.
I slept maybe an hour or less light night, and every time I closed my eyes, I saw the message again.
I yank the zipper harder and this time it gives with a violent jerk.
Finally.
“There.” I exhale, but the relief doesn’t come with it. Because the moment one thing is done, another rises immediately behind it.
Blue’s backpack is still sitting open on the armchair by the window.
The fear is still gnawing at my insides.
“Christine.” Aisha steps further into the room now, her voice softer this time, careful in the way people get around frightened animals. “You need to think for a second.”
“I am thinking.”
“No, you’re not, you’re spiraling.” She counters.
“You should tell the police,” Aisha continues. “Or Robert.”
At his name, something clenches deep inside me.
“Robert?”
“Did you also hear the part where I said to tell the…?”
“Yes, but what help will that be right now?”
“Christine.”
“I need to run first and think later. “ Everything in me feels pulled in different directions, and one more pull, I’ll split open right here on the floor. “You don’t know what this is,” I whisper.
“Then explain it to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you don’t know either!” She flares.
“That’s exactly the problem!”
Aisha stares at me, startled. And I don’t think it’s because I raised my voice, but because she can see the fear now.
“I need to get Blue out of here.”I grip the edge of the suitcase, trying to stabilize myself but it doesn’t help. My hands are trembling too badly. “Before this person makes good on their threat.”
I walk toward her before I even realize I’m moving. Then my hands are on her shoulders, clasping the fabric of her sweatshirt.
I feel myself shaking.
“And I get it.” Aisha nods, even though her voice trembles too now. “But just running without an actual plan?”
“Yes…” The word explodes out of me.
“What if they follow you?”
“They said I should leave Robert, and running means leaving him, right?”
“Right?” I ask again, waiting for someone… something to tell me I’m doing the right thing.
“Right.” She swallows through the word, nodding.
I step back, taking a moment to breathe in as much air as I can pass through my lungs.
“I’ll tell Robert later,” I murmur, more to myself than her. “After I get her somewhere safe. After I think.”
“Keep me posted.” She pulls me into a quick hug, exhaling warm breath into my neck.
“I will.” I pull back, offering my best fake smile.
Aisha is still watching, still trying to figure out how to stop me without saying the wrong thing.
I don’t give either of us room for it.
“Blue,” I call out, already moving toward the front door. “Finish your breakfast, baby, we’re leaving!”
Tiny footsteps answer immediately.
Then she appears around the corner in one of her oversized onesies, curls messy from sleep, spoon still in her hand.
“Leaving where?”
“To Grandma Maribel’s.”
“Really?” Her face lights up.
“Yes.” Despite everything clawing through me, my mouth twitches slightly.
“Forever?” She frowns.
“No.”
“How many days?” Her eyes narrow.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Will there be goats?” She’s still frowning.
“No goats.”
“What about chickens?” She presses.
“Probably chickens,” I answer.
“What about…”
“Blue.” My voice strains as I bend to wrestle the second suitcase upright.
She stares at me for a second longer than usual.
Children know, maybe not specifics, but they know when the air feels wrong.
“Momy.” She shuffles closer instead of leaving, her little brows pulling together. “Why are you talking like that?” She asks quietly.
“I…” I stutter, because I don’t know how to answer that. “I…” The truth sounds insane out loud and I’m terrified.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.” My fingers slip on the suitcase handle. “No…” I clear my throat, gripping it harder. “Mommy’s just in a hurry.”
“Why?”
“Because we have to leave early.”
“Why?”
The question hits deeper this time, relentless in the way only children can be.
“Blue, go finish your breakfast and meet me outside,” I inhale too quickly.
“But I wanna know why...”
“Baby, just do what I asked.”
“But…”
“Blue.” I lash out before I can stop it. “Go finish your breakfast.”
Her little face changes so fast it feels like watching glass fracture.
“Okay.” She lowers the spoon in her hand and guilt hits me so hard I almost stagger under it.
“Hey.” Aisha moves instantly, stepping between us before I can even fix it. “None of that.”
I shut my eyes briefly but Blue’s mouth wobbles slightly.
“She was just asking questions,” Aisha warns, glaring at me.
“I know.” My voice comes out thin.
“You’re scaring her.”
I nod, her words slicing through me. Because that’s the one thing I was trying not to do.
Blue looks down at the spoon in her hand, then back at me carefully, like she’s checking whether I’m still safe to approach.
I crouch immediately, reaching for her before she can retreat into herself.
“Baby.” I reach for her arms gently. “I’m sorry.”
She doesn’t answer, watching me with those huge eyes that see too much.
“I didn’t mean to yell.”
“You’re angry,” she whispers.
“No.” My throat constricts painfully. “No, I’m just…”
Terrified.
“I’m stressed,” I finish instead.
“Because of work?” Her voice is so innocent it burns.
“Yes,” I lie softly. “Because of work.”
She studies my face like she’s deciding whether to believe me.
“Okay.” She finally nods once, accepting it because I gave it to her.
“Finish eating, alright?” I kiss her forehead quickly before standing again, forcing myself back into motion before emotion glues me to the floor. “We need to go now.”
Blue nods and walks back toward the kitchen slower this time, glancing back once before disappearing around the corner.
The second she’s gone, Aisha exhales deeply.
I don’t look at her. I can’t. I already know what’s sitting on her face. And I can’t survive being judged for falling apart while trying not to.
The road ahead of us is endless, the van hot and shimmering under the morning sun.
I grip the steering wheel harder than necessary, my eyes fixed forward even when there’s nothing to focus on except asphalt and distance.
Behind me, Blue sits dramatically slumped in her car seat, arms folded across her chest in a way that makes her look punched by life.
Every few seconds, she sighs loudly and on purpose.
“Are you done protesting?” I glance at her briefly.
“No.” She shakes her head firmly.
“You’re still mad at me?” I almost smile.
“Yes.”
“That’s unfortunate.” I tease.
She sighs again, longer this time.
“I only wanted to know, because you said I should always ask before following.”
“I know, baby.” I nod, proud of myself for raising such a fierce one.
“But you shouted.” she accuses.
The guilt comes back instantly, burrowing through my chest.
I loosen one hand from the wheel long enough to reach over and squeeze her feet gently.
“I said I was sorry.”
“You did.” She stares out the window stubbornly. “But I’m still tiny mad.”
Tiny mad.
“I can work with tiny mad.” I smile, retrieving my hand and placing it back on the wheel in time for my phone to vibrate against the cupholder.
I don’t look at it.
But it vibrates again, and then another after that, notifications stacking there.
“Mommy?” Blue calls.
“Mm?”
“I had another dream.” She starts, which means I’m almost forgiven.
“What was this one about?”
“About the tree.”
“The same tree?” I glance at her through the rearview.
“Yes.” She nods seriously. “But this time it was talking.”
“Talking trees now?” I laugh softly, despite everything.
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“It said I was climbing too slowly.” She straightens, already animated now that she has an audience again.
“Rude.” I frown.
“I know.” She gasps dramatically. “And then the birds were laughing at me.”
“Wow.” I shake my head. “Tough crowd.”
“And then the tree got angry because the ants were eating its leaves.” She exclaims.
“The ants again?”
“They’re everywhere,” she whispers like this is obvious.
“Really?” I shake my head softly. “You really need new dream characters.”
“No.” She grins now, finally thawing. “The ants are my friends.”
My phone vibrates again.
I ignore it.
Blue keeps going anyway, hands moving as she talks now.
“So the tree started shaking everybody off because it was being dramatic…”
“Being dramatic?” I snort.
“Yes,” she nods firmly. “Like Aunty Aisha.”
That one gets me and a real laugh slips out this time.
“There’s my mommy.” She beams immediately, pleased with herself.
My stomach folds but I force myself to stay here.
We are safe now.
My phone lights up again.
Again.
Again.
I finally glance at it briefly at a red light.
It’s the same unknown number with over six new messages.
My stomach jams instantly, my heart flipping over.
I turn the phone face down, take the next turn, and keep driving.
Blue is still talking, but about clouds now. Or sheep. Or sheep-shaped clouds that apparently have favorite sandwiches.
I’m only catching every third sentence, nodding at the right places while my mind keeps drifting back to the phone vibrating beside me.
The sound drills into my skull now.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Like a countdown.
I grip the wheel, my knuckles turning white.
Outside, the road has thinned into emptiness, fewer cars passing now, fewer buildings, and fewer signs of life.
“…and then the sheep said a vegetable sandwich is a better choice because it’s without fish…”
Buzz.
My hand moves, snatching the phone up, one hand on the wheel while the other clicks open the messages.
: Distance won’t save you.
Cold rushes through me at the last message, so fast my fingers go numb.
“Mommy?” Blue’s voice dips, so low I can barely hear it.
Another message comes in.
: Goodbye Christine.
Everything inside me stops, my pulse slamming hard against my throat.
“Mommy?” Blue calls out again. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, baby. I’m…”
I don’t get to finish the lie before a brutal force explodes into the back of the van so hard my entire body jerks forward against the seatbelt.
“What the…” My grip slips sideways from the wheel.
Blue screams, the sound tearing apart around us as the van flips, everything slamming violently from one direction to the next.
“Baby” I struggle against the seatbelt, trying to reach the back, but the window explodes beside me.
Glass bursts across my skin like rain and the car rolls again.
This time, something cracks, but I can’t tell if it’s inside me or outside me.
Pain detonates through my shoulder as the world finally slams upside down.
Then stillness
My ears ring so loudly it feels like drowning.
For a second, I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I can’t tell where up is anymore.
“Blue…” I call out hazily, blood dripping past my eyes, some of it slipping into my mouth. “Baby?”
No.
No, no, no… please.
“Baby!” I scream with whatever is left in me, my throat tearing as blood sputters past my lips.
My body gives out beneath me.
And everything goes black.