Authors: Samantha Leal
She would never call it running away. She just needed to regroup her thoughts, be on her own for a while and know that there was a great deal of distance between her and Brad Richards. After she had snuck out of the house she had only just got to her car when she looked up and saw his silhouette in the doorway, his fists clenched and his eyes wild with anger. She had been sure he was out for the night. She tried to start the engine but in her panic dropped the keys. She immediately slammed her palms down on the locks, making sure the doors were secure. Brad stomped across the lawn shouting at her. She did her best to block the impending threat out in order to focus on her escape. She had to find the keys and she had to get the car moving. When she finally found them on the edge of the floor mat she picked them up with shaking hands and slid them into the ignition.
“Fucking bitch,” Brad spat at the window as he pounded his fist against it. She looked up at him one more time and she saw something in him she had always known was there but that was at last revealed, the maniac beneath the surface. He punched the glass with the full force of his muscular arms and it cracked as she threw the car into reverse and sped off down the drive. He chased her to the end of their road, jumping at the trunk and hammering on the back window as she slowed to turn the corner.
“Goodbye Brad,” she said, her voice faltering but determined. She’d done it. She’d escaped him. He grew small in the rear view mirror and was finally gone as she turned and drove out of her old neighborhood.
She’d chosen to go to a small town she had visited when she was a teenager, there were fond memories wrapped up in that place and it was only an hour’s drive from the city. Laurie had always promised herself that one day she would go back and relive her youth. She remembered being there one summer with her parents, she’d laid in the sun by the lake all afternoon and counted the clouds as they drifted overhead. In the evenings they buddied up with other families staying close by and had barbeques at dusk. She’d had her first kiss that summer with a boy who was staying at a lodge near theirs. He’d followed her around the back of the play park and into the woods where they’d wrapped their arms around each other and swapped spit for half an hour. She couldn’t remember his name but she remembered the t-shirt he was wearing. A black one with an alien head on the front. She had vague memories of him telling her about Area 51 and she had deduced he was a nerd and hadn’t spoken to him again. She was a bit too quick to judge back then, she thought in retrospect. She loved thinking of that summer because she didn’t have anything in the world to worry about back then. It was that feeling that drew her back there now. The promise of simplicity.
As she pulled off the highway she recognized the roads immediately, even though it had been ten years since she’d been there. She put on her high beams and followed each bend and dip cautiously. She knew there were a lot of animals in the forests around those parts and after the night she had had, she really didn’t need to hit anything. Soon the old familiar sign came into view in the distance.
Blakestone Ridge
. She was sure it was the same sign that had been hanging there all those years before, rusted and swinging on an angle by two chains of slightly different lengths. She looked down at her dashboard and saw that it was coming up on three in the morning. She had stopped on the way to fill up with gas and get her head together and it had suddenly dawned on her that there was no motel that was going to take her in at that time of night. In the city maybe it wouldn’t have been a problem, but out there in the practical wilderness she was going to have her work cut out for her finding somewhere to stay the night. She was exhausted and needed a warm bed, both for her physical comfort and her emotional stability.
She slapped her hands down on the wheel and bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to do. She was slowly moving along Main Street trying to be sure not to miss any possibilities. It was deserted and each shop window was darkened and closed down for the night. Her heart started to thump in her chest. She had forgotten just what a small town this was. After the girl had turned up at her store and scared her half to death with tales of Brad being abusive and practically trying to kill her, she had fled without thinking her plan through properly. And she had been so proud of herself for taking decisive action. She could have been better prepared, but at least she was out. She pulled to the side of the road and turned off the engine. The clock ticked over to 03:04. It was going to suck if she was going to have to sleep in her car, she thought. The streets were completely empty and it appeared everything was shut for the night. She looked over her shoulder and out the back window and saw nothing but dark storefront there as well. Well, it would be light in 3 or 4 hours, she figured.
How could I have been this stupid though
? She thought.
She was about to admit defeat and crawl over the partition into the back seat when bright headlights came over the road and flashed into view. She held her hands to cover her eyes, they were so bright. The car was travelling in the opposite direction, and it was crawling along just as slowly as she had been a few minutes earlier. Being that this was a small town, and feeling a little desperate, she unclipped her seat belt and opened her door. She waved to the car to get it to stop, and to her initial relief, it did. It was a big old truck covered in mud and as it slowed to a stop beside her she heard music blaring from the inside. As she stood on the curb, already wondering what in the world she was doing, the window slowly came down and she could see a man sitting in the driver’s seat.
“You okay, miss?” he asked, looking over the ridge of the window at her. She could barely see his face but his eyes were dark and mean as he looked inside her car. Instantly she broke into a cold sweat as she realized that his real question was
“Are you alone?
”
“Yes, I…” she began, unsure of what to say without sounding completely vulnerable and simultaneously regretting and berating herself further for her decision to try and ask for help at all. What was she thinking! She was just all over the map today, she thought. “I’m fine thank you, I was just wondering where I could find…” she trailed off as she realized the man’s expression had changed again. She needed to get back in her car. His eyes were glinting, wide and amused. She was just about to turn when she backed into another body as an unseen hand quickly came down over her mouth.
She screamed beneath the palm, shaking and terrified. The man in the truck roared with laughter as whoever was holding onto her tightened his grip.
“Where’s your handbag, Sweetie?” he growled into her ear. His voice was deep and hoarse, like he smoked a pack a day. By the smell of him she was sure he did. He nuzzled his nose into her hair and said, “Where’s your purse and your keys?”
Laurie was shaking, her legs about to give way beneath her out of fear. The saying
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
appeared unannounced in her head. She tried to scream but he held onto her tightly, pulling her back from the road and into the shadows of a shop doorway, out of view of anyone who might decide to drive through Blakestone Ridge at that ridiculous time of night. They must have seen her when she first stopped. She was so out of it that she had allowed this guy to creep up behind her.
She was so stupid
, she thought.
“Take it,” she spluttered beneath his hand, “Take whatever you want.” She just wanted him to let go of her. She just wanted to run. She didn’t care where, she just had to be away from these awful men. The man in the truck had left the engine running but was out looking through the windows of her car, shining a flashlight inside and surveying the pile of clothes on the back seat.
“Oh, don’t worry little darling, we will take whatever we want,” said the man holding her, as one of his hands squeezed at her belly.
Just then, at the fringe of the beam of the headlights, as she was struggling to figure out how she was going to get out of this mess, she thought she saw some kind of big animal dart around behind the car and out of sight. It was only an instant but she was sure she had seen something. Her attackers were too busy toying with their new found prey to notice. It jarred her, not because it was odd to see the occasional deer or even moose out here, from what she remembered, but because there was something menacing and fierce conveyed in that shadow that made the hair on her neck stand up. It so scared her in fact, that for an instant she all but forgot about the dirty man who was holding her tightly against her will.
“Were you taking a little trip?” said the man with the flashlight, chewing gum and grinning.
“You see the keys?” the guy holding onto her called over to him.
They were both completely oblivious to whatever she had just witnessed.
“I sure do,” he replied leaning in through her window and taking them straight out of the ignition and holding them up, shaking them so they tinkled.
Maybe it had been nothing, she thought, as her mind came back to her present predicament.
“Please,” she spluttered, her mouth still covered by his hand.
“Shall we take her along for the ride?” the man breathed into her ear.
Laurie’s legs finally did buckle, but not before she tried to kick out at him as she struggled to escape. With that he forced her to the ground, pushing her down face first and climbing onto her back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he laughed.
He pinned her hands and arms behind her, holding them right up to her shoulders. The pain shot through her and she screamed. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. He was leaning in closer, his rotten teeth bared, and she wished she had just not panicked and had just stayed home for one more night. She could have gotten up first thing in the morning and set off then. Brad would have been going to work, leaving the house early and going off to the construction site. She would have had all day to get her things into the car and set off at a leisurely pace. Why had she been so stupid to try and leave in the middle of the night?
She held her eyes tightly shut and was preparing for a blow to the head or a hand grasping at her crotch or breasts at any moment. Just in that instant she became aware of a low growl just off to her right. She immediately forgot about the man who was pinning her down. There was something about that growl that was unlike any she had ever heard, and it froze her blood. It sounded mostly like a dog, but it was not like anything she ever heard in her life. I would have had to have been the size of small moose to let out a sound so deep and rumbling. And it couldn’t have been more than 5 feet away judging by the sound. The man on her back obviously heard it too, as he suddenly froze as well, completely releasing her arms. As soon as they were free, she instinctively brought her arms up to protect and cover her face as she felt the incredible force of something colliding with both her and her attacker. The sound of the growl had grown into an explosive cry that was somewhere between a howl and a roar. The man let out a blood curdling scream himself as she felt him tossed completely off of her like he was a doll, the force rolling her over as well. She heard his head come down hard on the pavement with a crack, even as she heard the dog, or whatever it was, turn and face the other man. At least she imagined that was what was happening, since by now she was curled into ball, eyes still tightly closed. She could feel the hot rush of air as the animal panted just to her left. The other man screamed a stream of obscenities before she heard him take off at a dead run. She could feel the animal standing there for another moment, and then just as suddenly as she had heard it appear, she heard it bound off into the woods. Suddenly all was quiet again. Finally, overcome from the combined shock of the prior 24 hours, as well as pure exhaustion, she passed out entirely.
She came to slowly, at first having no idea where she was until she registered the hard asphalt against her cheek. Slowly it all came back to her, and finally she raised her head to survey the scene around her. The guy with the bad teeth lay off to her side, a thin rivulet of blood coming off his scalp, but still visibly breathing as he lay unconscious where he had fallen. Was that 10 minutes ago? Or was it an hour ago, she wondered. But even more shocking was that the other man who she thought had run off was now laying in a heap in the middle of the road as well. His face was now smeared with blood, and it looked like someone, or something had broken his nose. What was going on? Laurie scrambled to her feet and gawked down at her would-be assailants. At the same time she quickly surveyed her own body. She was a little banged up, but apparently none the worse for wear. The men were both out cold though, or maybe worse, she thought. Her mouth dropped open as she looked up at a figure emerging from the darkness behind the truck.
“Are you alright?” a deep, silky voice called. The lights were still blaring and the music was still pumping, but she could see over the high beams the outline of a man moving towards her. A huge man, one taller and more muscular than anyone she had ever seen. Her heart pounded in her chest. As he came into the light, coming towards her… she could see more blood, this time, on his knuckles.
3.
She stepped back and gripped the side of her car, not sure how much more of this she could endure. She held up her hands defensively as a pathetic shield trying to ward off this latest threat.
“It’s okay,” he said, the light falling on his face, “Calm down, I’m not with them. I’m here to help.”
“But, but..,” she said as she looked around. “There was a dog or something…something big…and what is going on, how did that guy end up here…and looking like that? Is that his blood on your hands?” All these words just came pouring out of her mouth, as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Relax, just relax miss, it’s ok…I’m not sure what you mean about a dog. At least I haven’t seen one…I was just coming along and came across that man over there,” he gestured toward heap number two, “as he was kind of hovering over you. With everything, well, like this, something just seemed really off, and I told him so. Well, let’s just say he didn’t like that and he came at me. It didn’t work out so well for him.”
Laurie’s heart almost stopped, but not from fear, but from shock. There was, first and foremost, the shock of hearing this crazy story and being in this crazy situation in the first place. She didn’t know what to make of this latest turn of events. But then there was the shock of seeing what she could only call “a fine specimen.” She had always thought that that was a pretty cheesy way to describe a guy, but now she knew what people meant when they said it. He was one of the most physically amazing men she had ever seen. His eyes looked luminous, icy blue and penetrating in the dark. He stepped closer, silhouetted by the car’s beams.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, moving around the side of the car to her. Laurie couldn’t get any words out. Her hands had begun to tremble and her head was spinning. She sat down on the curb and breathed deeply.
“Here,” the stranger said, holding her hair back, “Lower your head and take deep breaths.”
She had never had a panic attack before, but she imagined she must be having one now. Her vision was blurred and even though she was aware of him speaking she couldn’t hear what he was saying. There was a ringing in her ears that was getting louder and stars swam in front of her eyes. She lowered her head between her knees and sucked in some air, filling her lungs until they felt like they were going to burst. Only then did she exhale, feeling a little of her tension ease with the escaping breath.
“Are you alright? What happened? Did they hurt you?” he was asking her. Her head slowly started to stop spinning with each deep breath and she managed to lift her eyes to meet his.
Those eyes. They were incredible.
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
He smiled at her and brushed some hair off her face before realizing he still had blood on his hands.
“Sorry,” he said pulling them back and casually wiping them off with what appeared to be a silken handkerchief he pulled from a back pocket. “I’m pretty sure I broke that guy’s nose,” he looked back over his shoulder at the guy lying unconscious in the middle of the road and shrugged. He then shifted his attention to the guy who had been holding her down. He was clearly breathing, but was going to have one hell of a headache based on the size of the egg forming on his forehead. The blood had mostly dried. “And what happened to that other guy?”
There was something about the way that he asked it that seemed odd to her. Or maybe it was the look in his eyes. She couldn’t be sure. But she quickly lost whatever she thought she had detected as the emotion of the night started to finally coming to the surface.
“Thank you,” she said, “You saved me.”
As she said the words she felt the tears welling up in her eyes and knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep them from bursting forth. It had been a very emotional and traumatic day, to say the least. She covered her face with her hands and her body immediately succumbed to the tidal wave of emotion she had been holding back, not just tonight but for months. Unable to hold it back any longer, and triggered by this latest trauma, her body shook as she finally allowed all that had built up to burst forth. There was something about this guy that was somehow just different, but it was also undeniable that his presence just made it feel safe for her to let the tears fall.
“Hey,” the stranger said with sincere concern as her tears began to ebb. “It’s ok, you’re safe now.” He delicately put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to apologize,” he laughed, softly stroking her hair.
“Thank you so much,” she panted, looking up into his eyes again, “I can’t believe I was so stupid.” She tried to speak though renewed sobs.
“They could have killed me ... they were going to ...I had just stopped and was trying to … ,”she said, a fresh wave of tears washing over her face again, “I’ve never been so careless before, I can’t believe I put myself in that situation.”
She got to her feet and rushed to her car door, yanking the handle up as she turned back to the stranger.
“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. No sense beating yourself up about it. So just let that go right now,” he said gently, looking into her eyes earnestly.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ve just been through a lot today. I can’t thank you enough, but I need to just go. I can’t deal with this right now.”
“Where are you going?” he shook his head, looking up and down the street. “Are you lost? You’re obviously not from around here, are you?”
Laurie bit her lip and looked down at the ground. She was confused and embarrassed and totally blown away by how gorgeous this heroic stranger was, she didn’t know whether she was coming or going. The whole evening, or morning rather, she thought, was taking on a surreal quality. First dealing with Brad, and then this … and then that weird animal or whatever it was. And let’s just throw the most incredible looking man in the world into the mix for good measure.
“I don’t have a clue,” she held her hands out, “I, I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, ok?”
There was stirring behind her and she knew it was the man who had run coming round. The stranger walked past her to stand above him. Without hesitation he punched him square in the face, knocking him out cold. Well, at least he was still alive. Not that she was that concerned for his welfare. Still, she wondered exactly what had happened while she was out. She definitely felt the guy deserved it, but how did the stranger know that? He didn’t seem like the type to just throw punches around without good reason. She guessed it must have happened like he said. They had some kind of fight while she was out. She let it go. She was dealing with enough already.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Don’t want the cops to find us with these two.”
“Well, shouldn’t we tell the police?” Laurie asked, uncertainly, even though she was ready to get out of there herself.
“No,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with those guys later. Do you want me to drive?”
“I think that might be a good idea,” she responded gratefully. She didn’t have any energy left to argue, even if she had wanted to. He waited for her to climb into the car and then got in after her. She scooted over to the passenger side and let him take the wheel. He started the car and closed the door.
“Can you just help me find a hotel or something? Then I’ll be fine,” she said, exhaustion taking over.
“I’m taking you to the only hotel in town that’s going to let you check in at this time,” he said. “I know someone who’s running when I see them.” He turned to smile at her and his eyes glinted brightly through the dark. She struggled to find words to either protest or express gratitude, but ended up settling on just taking a much needed deep breath.
“You don’t have to say anything, you’ve had a rough night. Just let me take you somewhere safe and then I’ll walk back for my own car.”
“But the men?” Laurie turned around and looked out of the back window. The crumpled heaps of her two attackers were still there, spread right across the middle of the road, silhouetted by the beams of their still running truck.
“Oh, I’ll finish with them,” he said again. “Don’t you worry about that.”
He gripped the wheel and she marveled again at the size of him. His hands were big and rough looking and the bulk of him in the seat next to her made her feel tiny. His wide muscular arms were perfectly sculpted. As he turned the corners she let her own eyes trace lines over them. Despite being in a semi-state of shock, she had the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him.
“Here it is,” he said, slowing down. He pulled over to the side of the road and parked in front of a modern looking building with double glass doors. There were lights on inside and a man in a suit sat behind the desk.
“Twenty-four hours,” he said, “I know because I’ve checked in pretty late here myself, on occasion. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst either.”
“Okay,” Laurie stammered, still in shock and not really with it. She still felt like she was half in a dream.
“Try and get some sleep,” the stranger said as he stepped out of the car and leaned down to look in at her. He flashed her his amazing smile again, and his eyes glistened, as if on cue.
“Are you going to be ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just need some sleep. Thank you,” Laurie whispered. “I mean it, really, thank you.”
“Take care of yourself,” he said before he turned and disappeared into the night.
Laurie sat in the car without moving for a few moments and then she turned and looked through the glass doors to the hotel reception. She got out and locked her car, taking her purse and one of her clothes bags with her. She realized she had never even gotten her hero’s name.
As her head hit the pillow her mind was swarming with a mix of her attacker’s rotten teeth, the stranger’s piercing blue eyes, and the glimpse of whatever that animal was had appeared. She realized that if it had not been for whatever animal that was that had taken out the one guy and scared off the other, things could have turned out much differently tonight.
Thank you scary animal
, she thought with genuine gratitude. The sounds it had made still rang in her ears, now that she was ok, she could almost imagine that it had been there to save her. After all, it did leave her alone completely. She thought on that a moment more before moving on the mysterious stranger, as she had taken to calling him in her head. He seemed so powerful and in charge, like he had been in that situation a million times before. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. She was still jumpy and nervous but she had double locked the hotel door and had even sneaked in a baseball bat that she always kept in the trunk of her car. A girl could never be too careful. Not that it had done her any good that evening. Maybe she needed to start keeping it in the passenger seat she half joked to herself. At least she still had a sense of humor. As she drifted off to sleep the sun was coming up and pink light shone through the crack in the curtains. She could finally rest. Tomorrow she would wake up and get the hell out of Blakestone Ridge.