Page 78 of Grown

Run.

My bare feet touch the carpeted steps. Gently, one by one, down I go, my balance off. No one is around. Music blares; the speakers vibrate with the bass. I slip on my sneakers, glancing up at the camera. Is he awake? Does he see me?

Run.

My hand touches the cold front-door lock. I inhale, press my lips together, and slowly click it right.I burst through the doors, the corner of the gate clipping my shoulder.

Run.

The bright sun in the sky disarms me. Where am I?

Run.

I smell pine trees, wet grass, and car exhaust. A driveway. A street. A stop sign. What do I do? What do I do?

Run.

Can’t call Mom. She’s so mad at me. She may hang up. She may leave me here.

Can’t call Daddy. He’ll do the same.

Run.

What if he wakes up? What if he finds I’m not there? Cameras? He knows! He’s coming, he’s coming.

Run.

Slip, swoop, down. I’m up and running again. Converse hitting the pavement. Laces undone. Run, faster, harder. Nothing looks familiar. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

Run.

Into the woods. I’m safe in the woods. He can’t find me here.

Run.

Telephone wires make music sheets in the sky.

Thicker wires lead to a highway. The highway. A yellow sign, yellow Scrabble letters. A Waffle House. Police car in the parking lot.

Run.

The door is heavy. My arms are weak.

Two cops sit at the counter. Coffee, black. Plates, empty.

Ask me if I’m OK. Ask me. Ask me. Ask me...

“Sit anywhere, bae,” a waitress says, walking by with plates of sizzling eggs and bacon. “Be right with ya.”

I limp and stumble to the counter, opposite the cops, lips quivering. It’s so cold. I left my jacket, my songbook, my everything.

The cops laugh, joking about something they see on their phones. I had a phone. But it’s gone. Along with everything else.

Dirty bleeding wound on my legs from a fall. Customer notices and stops eating.

Open your mouth and sing. Sing! Sing!

But my throat is full of sand and hunks of coral. I can’t sing. I can’t talk. How do I explain I’m a caught fish who needs to be thrown back into the sea?