Page 89 of Escape
It was no surprise I’d fallen asleep quickly, doing it with a smile on my face.
I shot up in the bed with a gasp.
I blinked my eyes rapidly, attempting to assess the situation and catch my breath. Kurt was nowhere to be found, and I realized I was in the guest bedroom in Huck’s house.
At least I hadn’t woken up screaming in terror.
Dropping my head back onto the pillow, I tried to take several slow, deep breaths. It became clear I was safe, but that didn’t change the fact I still felt panicky and couldn’t seem to settle down.
Unsure if it was the best idea, but recognizing I wasn’t going to be able to fall back to sleep, I climbed out of the bed and walked out of the room toward Huck’s.
His door was cracked, like always, and I knocked gently on the door. There was just enough light filtering into the room that I could see his head pop up off the pillow. “Josie?” he called.
I pushed the door open. “Can I come in?”
He sat up in the bed. “Yes, of course. Are you okay?”
Moving toward him, I shook my head. But since I wasn’t sure he’d be able to see that, I shared, “I had a nightmare.”
When I came to a stop beside the bed, Huck asked, “Do you want to stay in here with me?”
“Would it… You don’t mind?”
Huck answered by simply pulling the blanket down and giving me the space to crawl in beside him.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Strong, protective arms wrapped around me. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. We’re working through this together, remember?”
“I know,” I murmured.
Huck shifted our bodies in the bed until we were both laying down. We were on our sides, facing one another. “It’s been a while since you’ve had a nightmare. Was this one different?”
“Slightly. I mean, I was in the kitchen like always, but there was no physical abuse,” I explained. “He stood there, staring at me for the longest time without saying a word. It creeped me out. Then he spoke and only said five words.”
“What were they?”
“I’m going to find you.”
Huck’s arms tightened around me. “You know he can’t hurt you as long as you’re here, right?”
“I won’t be tomorrow,” I reminded him.
There was a long stretch of silence, and I had a feeling the reality of the situation was becoming clear to Huck. “You’re returning to work tomorrow. Are you feeling anxious about it?”
When the doctor had cleared me to return to work as long as I modified my work to not do more than what my shoulder could handle, I felt great. I was ecstatic. I thought I was truly on the road to rebuilding my life.
“I didn’t think I was anxious about it, but now I’m not so sure,” I confessed. “I mean, I’m excited to get back to work. I want to see my coworkers, and I’m looking forward to being able to do something productive again. But I guess if I really take the time to think about it, there is some uneasiness lingering there for me.”
“Are you worried about him showing up there?”
“I don’t know. He never showed up there at random before, so that would surprise me, but the situation was different then, too.”
Huck’s arms loosened around me, and he brought one hand to my arm that was draped over his side. His fingertips ran delicately along the skin on my arm as he spoke. “As you already know, I’m going to be taking you and picking you up every day that you have to work. If I thought it would help you, I would stay there at the diner until you felt comfortable alone. But I’m not sure that’s the best way to make it happen. You do need to be able to stand on your own, too. And with everyone else around you at work, I think that’s the safest way for you to start making those strides in your independence. We can talk about what you need to do if he shows up there, though. I think it’s extremely important to have a plan for that.”
Huck was right.
It was silly to think I had anything to be worried about. He would be dropping me off for and picking me up after each shift. Unless Kurt came into the diner in front of everyone and attempted to approach me—which seemed far more daring than I believed he was—it would be impossible for him to get to me.