Page 5 of Redeemed

A loud noise comes from the speakers, interrupting the song that’s playing, and I jump.

“Oh, hold on. That’s Ben calling.” Julie presses a button on her steering wheel, and then the sound of a man humming comes through the speakers. “Hey, baby. We’re almost home. Just got another hour or two.”

“Oh, good. Have any trouble?”

“Nope. Everything is good so far.”

I stare at Julie’s phone. It’s in its holder with a moving map on display, yet she’s talking to her husband, too—and somehow it’s connected to her car.

What on earth?

Before yesterday, I’d never seen a phone that wasn’t attached to a cord. Julie keeps hers in her pocket, and it looks so different from the ones I’m used to. According to Julie, she can do just about anything with her phone—play games, use something called Google, or even have it do math for her.

It sounds so impossible for something so small to be so powerful. I don’t know if I believe my eyes or if I’m imagining things.

I’m sure there will be a lot of that in my near future.

Julie and Ben talk for another minute before hanging up. She doesn’t even touch her phone to do so—just presses another button on her steering wheel.

“Move-in day for freshmans is today, although I’d imagine most kids will be done by the time we get there. We’ll get you settled into your dorm, and you’ll be able to meet your roommate. Ben bought some stuff for you, but we’ll have to go on a couple shopping trips to get you everything else you need. Clothes, whatever toiletries he forgot, et cetera.”

“Okay.” I try to keep the nervousness out of my voice, but I don’t think it works well.

“Unless you’ve changed your mind?” she asks softly. “You can still stay with me and Ben if you’d like. We’re not far from campus.”

“I want to stay in a dorm,” I lie.

To be honest, living with a stranger terrifies me. Julie and Ben are still strangers for the most part, but at least I’d have my own room if I was staying with them. But I’m not running away from everything I’ve ever known just so I can lock myself up in my room whenever I’m not at class. Having a roommate is a good place to start, I think.

“All right,” Julie says. “And we’ll have to do a decent amount of work to get your name changed over officially, but we can get the ball rolling on that fairly quickly.”

“You think it’ll be enough?” I ask.

“For what?”

“For them to not be able to find me.”

Because they’ll look. I know they will. Yesterday, Isaiah would’ve come home from work and realized I wasn’t there. Eventually, he would’ve realized I wasn’tanywhere.He’s not the type to just let me go, even if he has no clue where I could be headed.

“I… I think so,” Julie says slowly, “but I don’t know. If Cornerstone decides to hire a private investigator, then the less you’re on social media, the harder it’ll be to find you digitally. As for finding you other ways… I’m honestly not sure, hon. But we’ll do everything we can to keep you safe.”

Safe.I used to think I knew what that meant.

Home was safe. Home was holy. Home was where I belonged.

I never thought I’d leave.

But now, I never want to return.

. . .

Pemberton University is so beautiful I think I must’ve stepped into a storybook. Julie said she’ll try to show me around campus tomorrow, but she sounded doubtful about having the time, so I soak everything in as she drives toward my dorm hall.

Similar to Cornerstone, I can tell that a lot of thought went into the aesthetics of this place.

The buildings are mostly made of bricks, and there are cobblestone walkways cutting through trimmed lawns. Pretty trees litter the area, along with meticulously kept gardens full of blooming bushes and flowers.

Maybe it’s the soft evening light, but the place looks almost magical. It’s much more welcoming than I thought it’d be, and I find some of my anxiety slipping away.

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