Chapter 393
- It could be a long way away—I’m not risking it. I get lost in a shopping mall carpark, no way am I getting lost out here. I have drank nine litres of water over the last three days in preparation for this so I should be ok. I really would love a drink though. Tough shit as Joshua would say and I trudge back up the hill towards the road as I smile. I’m going to see my man soon and I picture his face when he finds out I’m still alive. My eyes tear up. After tonight it’s only two days until our wedding. I look down at myself covered in dirt, filthy with ripped track pants on. This isn’t the preparation I had planned. Oh well, suck it up princess and get moving.
- After another hour of walking I am too exhausted to carry on and I sit on a large rock just in the bushland. The road looks to be about 500 metres away and I see a car come out of a road up ahead that I hadn’t noticed before and turn onto the one I have been following. I dip down to go unnoticed. Shit they are going towards the house I have just run from—have I been busted? I look back in the direction the car came from. I’m going the right way. That car came from somewhere and I stand with renewed purpose and start walking again. I was going to stop and sleep somewhere for the night but forget it. I’m getting home to my family tonight, even if I have to walk all night. I stay just inside the line of trees and finally come to the turn-off in the road that the car came from and I look down it tentatively. What do I do? Which way do I go? Here I stand on the corner of two roads, not a clue in hell which way to go, and I know my and Joshua’s whole entire future rests on this decision. I look down the road that I just followed that goes to the house of hell and then down the road to the left. I’m going this way because that car came from somewhere.
- I continue to keep walking but I keep tripping as sunlight turns to darkness and I can’t see where I’m going. This is getting dangerous. I have to stop or I am going to break my leg. I find a large tree that has a big flat rock under it and I curl up into a ball on top of the rock. My eyes look around at the dark, cold and scary surroundings and for the first time today I let my fear sink in and the tears start to flow. “Please let me get home,” I whisper into the darkness. I know nobody is looking for me. Everyone already thinks I’m dead and if I die out here nobody will be any the wiser. “Please let me get home, please let me get home,” I repeat as a mantra. The darker it gets, the noisier the forest becomes with insects and animals and I lie still as I listen to them. What’s my beautiful Joshua doing now in prison? Is he ok? I smile. I did it. I broke out. I’m tougher than I think I am.