I’m notsure when I slipped into unconsciousness but a warm gentle hand lightly shakes my forearm, bringing me out of the dark abyss I’d floated to.
“Wake up, Sutton,” the voice whispers.“You need to get up.We need to get you out of here.”
My brain is foggy.I’m unsure of my surroundings for a moment.The second I shift in bed, a ripple of pain shoots through me and I’m transported back to being whipped by Papa.The room is pitch dark.It’s either really late or in the early morning hours.
“Wake up, wake up,” the woman tries again.She shines a small pen light into my eyes, blinding me.
“What’s going on?”I ask trying to blink the spots away in my vision.
“You have to leave.This is your only chance,” Judy tells me as she jets around the room, grabbing things and stuffing them into a bag.The actions bring me back to the time when Mama did the same to get us to safety but failed.“He’s planning something?—”
“What do you mean?”
“I overheard your father saying that he was going to send you away with that man who came to visit,” she reveals.
I gasp, shocked.“No.”
“We have to get you out of here.Come on,” she says, helping me to my feet.When I try to bend down to put on shoes, the pull of the skin on my back zings and makes me moan in agony.“Let me help you.”Judy squats down and fits my tennis shoes on my feet.She pulls an oversized shirt on my tender body.“Take these, I packed you enough to last a while.”She hands me a bottle of pain relievers and a tube of ointment.
“Thank you, Judy,” I tell her.“I’ll never forget this.”
I ask her to reach under the bed where I’ve been hiding money, a bank card, and the new phone Beckett gave me.
“Be a good girl and get as far from here as you can, okay?”
“I will,” I promise her.“Come with me,” I blurt out.
There’s a hesitation and a moment where she contemplates it, but she shakes her head.
“I can’t leave my children, and The Fellowship would never allow me to take them.”I nod in understanding.After what happened yesterday, I believe it.
She holds the bag of my stuff in her hand as she helps guide me out of the room.She makes sure to lead in front and check around the corners to make sure we don’t run into anyone.Once we make it outside, she hands me my bag and places a key fob in my hand.
“Karen left this out by the sink yesterday after she came home from the grocery store,” she tells me.“You’ll need to ditch it soon so they can’t track where you are.”
“Thank you, Judy,” I say teary-eyed.“I’ll never forget this, and if there’s a way to get you and your kids out, I will try.”
She shakes her head, “There’s no hope for me anymore.You go and break free from all of this.”
I nod and limp to the car on the end.As I get in, I watch Judy slink back into the house and out of sight.When I pull out onto the road, there isn’t a specific destination in mind.I let the car steer me as I realize that my carefully laid plan has been tossed out the window.All I can think about is what a failure I’ve become.I didn’t get the location of Mama, and I won’t get to say goodbye to Beckett.He had some MC business to conduct and is scheduled to be back sometime later today.I’ll have to call him when I figure out where I’m heading.I can’t put anyone on The Fellowship’s radar.The last thing I want is for someone else to get hurt because I selfishly want to stay.Papa will find me and drag me back if I stay here, and after what he did yesterday, I don’t trust that he won’t hurt my friends just to prove a point.
The sign for the hospital comes into view, and I make a snap decision to make a quick stop.Raegan has been so good to me, and she deserves a proper goodbye.Pulling into a spot by the front, I carefully walk in and head up to where her room is located.It’s still really early in the morning so there’s not a lot of people around the halls as I climb off the elevator and walk down to her room.A man from the MC stands outside her door with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Morning, ma’am,” he greets me like he has the last few days I’ve come by and visited Raegan.
Pushing the door open as quietly as possible, I walk into the room bathed in darkness.Stone is nowhere around, but I see all his things piled up in the corner.As I get closer to the bed, Raegan shifts and tosses the blanket off with her foot.
“Raegan,” I whisper and lightly wiggle her ankle.
“Hmm?”Her eyes open lazily, and it takes her a moment before she focuses on me.“Hey, Sutton, how are you?”
“I’m good,” I respond, my words caught up in my throat.“I-I wanted to come by and say bye before I leave.”
“Are you planning to stop by after work?I think I’m getting out of here around lunch,” she tells me and presses the button to move the top of the bed into an upright position.
I shake my head, “No, I’m leaving town.It’s my only option now.”
Raegan’s face changes, and she becomes more awake after I say those words.