Page 48 of Monster's Edge

The two of us run until our lungs hurt. We’re in the woods now and soon, my dad will have people crawling around in here looking for us. They’re going to be tracking us, trying to find where we’ve gone. I know that we can never go back. It would be a million times better for us to kill ourselves than to go back. My dad is not a forgiving person. He’ll punish us for embarrassing him, and then he’ll punish us for existing.

We run until the forest thickens, until we reach a place in the woods that I’ve never been even in all of my years of exploring. It’s only then that we finally allow ourselves to slow down.

“Are you okay?” I ask Georgetta.

She nods. She doesn’t speak for a moment, but she nods. We’re still walking. He didn’t hit us with his gun. How bad was his aim?

“Did he hit you?” I ask just in case Georgetta did get nicked by one of the bullets. She’s a tough woman. It wouldn’t really surprise me if she got hit and tried to hide it to save me. She’s my protector, after all. She always has been.

“He didn’t hit me.”

“One grazed me.” I hold out my arm. It’s bleeding a little bit, but it’s nothing serious. She reaches for my arm and looks at it. Then she nods.

“You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.”

“Keep moving.”

The two of us walk for what feels like an eternity. Neither one of us speaks for a long time. I’m still trying to process what’s happening. I’m basically an orphan now. I’m an abandoned kid. Well, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m 27 years old. I’m old enough to know better. I’m old enough that this shouldn’t have caught me by surprise.

“Georgetta, who was he?” I finally turn. I don’t stop walking and neither does she.

“Your dad owes him money.”

“How much money?”

“Enough money that he didn’t just sell you. I’m pretty sure your father sold us both.”

“What makes you say that?” A chill settles over me even though it’s warm outside. I’m sweating from running and walking, but I still suddenly feel ice cold.

“Your father told me to pack a bag after I was done serving breakfast. He didn’t tell me why. I’m not sure why he would want me to pack a bag if I was still going to be at the estate.”

For some reason, the realization that my dad didn’t just sell me, but Georgetta, too, pisses me off. There’s another thing, too.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Lucas?”

“You would have asked your father about it.”

“Of course, I would have!”

“Your dad would have killed me for telling you,” she says. “I’m not even supposed to know.”

“Why would he kill Lucas?”

Georgetta looks at me. She seems to be trying to think of a way to tell me this delicately.

“Rose, honey, you know I adore you, but your father counts on the fact that you don’t pay close attention to what he does. You don’t look too hard. If you did start looking, and if you did start noticing, then you’d realize that he’s a monster. Not just any monster, love. He’s the biggest, baddest monster of them all.”

“Then what are we supposed to do now?” I ask. I don’t argue. I know she’s right. I do keep my head in the sand because it’s easier that way. As long as I have dance classes to attend and kittens to take care of at the shelter, then nothing else matters. I let everything else slide because I have things that are important to me.

“We need to get out of the woods,” she tells me. “Another mile and we’ll reach the highway. We can hitch a ride to town and get a motel room there for now until we figure out what to do.”

“A motel room?”

“Your dad won’t be looking for you in a motel, Rose. He’ll be looking for you at Ian’s. Why do you think they took your phone?”

“Because they’re pieces of shit?” I ask, hoping I sound quirky. She’s not amused, though.

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