I whip around in a circle, looking for any sign of movement. Nothing. No one overtly staring at me or following me. I send Nick a quick text that I’m getting on the first bus and that I’ll see him at home.
The ride home is uneventful. I chat with a girl in my class who hangs over the back of her seat to tell me about a crush she has on the quarterback of the football team.
“Don’t you just love football players?” she asks me, her eyes shining with innocence.
I visibly flinch. “Not so much. I’m not a big fan.”
“How come?” she asks in genuine surprise. “I thought most people love athletes.”
“I guess I’m not most people.” I pass it off with a smile.
When the bus stops outside the gates of our complex, I wave goodbye to her and climb down the steps to the sidewalk.
I use my keycard to enter the community and then walk through the tree-lined path to enter our townhome the back way. When I reach the front door, I barely suppress my scream.
The lock is broken on the door.
Which means that someone broke into our home.
I know better than to walk in alone. I back away from the door, calling Ben as I reach the driveway.
He tells me to call the police and says he’s on his way.
Twenty minutes later, my brothers and I stand next to two police officers in our living room, which has been ransacked.
Mom’s on the phone with Ivan, who has the next two days off and says he’ll be here in the morning to see us.
“He says not to worry,” she says. “I know he’ll help.”
But that safe feeling I’ve had for the last year plus…it’s over.
Bang!
I jump at the knock on the door.
But it’s just our neighbor, who wants to know why the police are parked outside.
When she hears we had a break-in, she invites us to stay with her for the night.
Mom and I bring a bag with our essentials in it, and Nick and Ben wait for Ivan to arrive. They swear to me that they’ll kill our father if he comes back.
I think we all know he’s going to be back. He wouldn’t have come this far to give up now.
Mom and I take the guest bedroom, and eventually I doze off.
When I wake up, it’s still dark, but Mom’s gone.
I creep out to the main room. Our neighbor must be in her bedroom sleeping, and I slip out the door and over to our townhome.
Mom greets me at the door and says we have to go.
We slip out into the night like we were never here. Thanks to my brothers, the few belongings we had are already packed in the car.
As she drives, my mom tells us how she forgot to dispose of a joint credit card she had with my father, and she used it last week in a pinch. My father was able to trace us.
So, we’ll have to leave the state for now. First, we’re going to drive west to throw my father off our trail. My uncle just got a job at a campground resort in Boulder, Colorado, and Ivan thinks that’s the perfect place for us to go under cover for a while.
“Because he just got hired, my brother’s unlisted on the company website,” Mom explains. “Ivan said he can make sure it stays that way. We’ll be safe there for the summer. School’s getting out in a week, so it’s the perfect time to do this. And when Ivan gives us the signal, we’ll move to our new home. He’ll have it ready.”
