Chapter Nine: House of Cards

Chapter Nine: House of Cards

Weeks had passed without travelers. April was now in full swing and Jack was uneasy. I decided to leave the box under the cobblestones and the money I’d found on the kitchen table. Obviously our lack of money was making him nervous. Without the money from the travelers we could no longer live off the grid. Like I said before, I was prone to stupidity and that move turned out to be the worst I’d make. It acknowledged that I knew exactly what we were doing.

Emma and I walked into the house shortly after I had set out the box. Jack sat at the table, silently counting the money. We tried to back out of the room as quietly as we could, but Jack immediately flew into a rage.

He accused one, or  both of us of hiding the money from him, calling us ugly names. He said we had probably slept around to earn a little extra. He raged for a while longer. Emma was thrown against the wall, and broke a lamp. He turned towards me and told me that if I liked selling myself out, I could earn my own keep from now on. His eyes were wild and bloodshot. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He dragged me to my bedroom and locked me in, telling me that I could only come out when there were guests.

Fortunately for me, there was a guest the very next morning. Another flower bed was tilled and Jack apologized to both of us when he let me out. He slumped in his chair and Emma cradled his head in her hands, forcing him to look at her. She told him that alcohol was officially banned from the house. Next she took all of the bottles of alcohol in the house and smashed them on the cobblestones out front. The liquids left an ugly wet splotch on the otherwise perfect stones.

More weeks went by without a traveler and Jack got edgy again. Then, in the last week of April, something miraculous happened. The traveler we found was a policeman, named John.

I went riding along with Jack that day. We both knew what we were really checking for. In our desperation, we found our way to the road that I had left my van on. In almost the same spot there was a police car. I didn’t know whether to run towards it or away from it. From behind the car stepped a tall policeman. Taller than Jack even. Rather unremarkable from the waist down because of the uniform, until my eyes reached his face. His gaze met mine.

My heart began to pound faster and the world stopped turning for a fraction of a second. I felt my face began to flush and I did a double take. Surely he wasn’t who my heart told me he was...he couldn’t be....he was my soulmate. It was like all other things ceased to exist. It was only the two of us. I didn’t have a homicidal kidnapper in the seat next to me, no one beat me. I wasn’t a victim when he looked into my eyes.

I told Jack that we shouldn’t stop. We did. Of course we picked him up. Of course. My soulmate, and he had to die. I would help kill him. And my dreams of escape would die with him.