Chapter One

Chapter One

She knew she had to leave, knew it was the right thing to do, so why did she have the feeling of despair in the pit of her stomach? Elise finished packing her bags, looked around the room she had spent ten years in. Then she heard him stir in bed…. She grabbed her bag and darted for the door quietly. She slowly opened the door, took one last look, and ran to her truck, her new found freedom.

She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to leave, and fast. She was leaving Arizona for good. Duncan had been apart of her life since she was a child but she didn’t really know him until recently. He had turned her life upside down, in what felt like a short amount of time. Now that she was reflecting on things though, he had messed her life up as soon as they met. Elise started the truck and left at great speed. She was headed to the highway, it didn’t matter which way she went. She looked at the clock on the dash, twelve thirty-one in the morning.

Duncan wouldn’t awake for at least three more hours, he had been passed out drunk which meant just about nothing could wake him. She took a deep breath as she got onto the highway, and sighed as her trucked reach 70MPH. She had done it, she had left him… he’d never hurt her again, never hit her, use her as a punching bag. She shook her head and tried to focus on where she would go now. There was only so much money, she had been saving for this day for about six months, on the ‘allowance’ Duncan gave her. Just a little over a grand…If she needed some more money, she could find a short term job, she hoped.

New York. It seemed like a busy place, she could get lost there. He’d never think of looking for her there, if he even bothered to look for her at all. Of course he would though, she took his truck. But she had left her car, the car he bought to keep her there. She was never allowed to fill it up, only enough to where she could stay in town, he had kept a tracking device in the dash. The she thought about it… what if he’d done that to his truck, just in case? Oh god, he could be behind her right now. She needed to trade in the truck, if she could avoid him. Get something small and ordinary. She’d keep driving until noon, then stop at the first town she came to, to see if she could trade in the truck.

It was a silver, Ford F-150, 1996. Slight rust, long cab, automatic, almost everything was electric. Elise hoped she’d be able to get something for it… she had the title, registration, insurance card, and everything. The only problem was that the title didn’t have her name on it. She hoped that someone would be willing to help her out.

Her eyelids were starting to get heavy, but she didn’t want to pull over just in case. If Duncan was really following her… she shivered with the thought. He’d all but kill her, literally. The clock read four oh-five. She’s only been on the road for three and a half hours. Wishing she was farther away, she pushed the gas peddle harder. No one else was going the speed limit, why should she? She got the truck up to ninety before she put on the cruise control.

****
Edwards was a small town but Aaron felt something stirring in his gut. Something big was going to happen he just didn’t know what. Nothing was out of place in this small town but you can’t just fight off this kind of feelings. He pushed away from his desk, ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair and sighed. He’d just have to wait and see.

“Get back to work” he muttered to himself and went to greet his faithful customers.