MELISSA'S ESCAPE

“Mommy, when are we going to be home? I’m hungry.” Melissa sighed as she looked into the rear-view mirror at her 5-year-old daughter. Tight brown ringlets sprung out of her black beanie. Her porcelain skin illuminated by the shimmer of the snow that was pouring down on top of her old white sedan.

“Mommy!” Her daughter said again, and Melissa suddenly realized that she was staring blankly. “I am not sure baby girl; the car is stuck. There is so much snow. I am tired and hungry too. I promise I will do my best to get us home as soon as I can.” The tenderhearted child nodded in agreement, turning her gaze to the blizzard that was just outside. Melissa sighed, once again feeling as though she was a failure. She was merely 20 and had lost all of her family in a terrible accident. She was all alone in this world with no one to show her how to rear her own child. She regretted bringing that poor baby into such a stressful environment but always did her very best, even when most would say otherwise.

“You know baby girl; our track-record so far is 100%. We always make it out of whatever comes our way. We’ll figure out a way out of this too.” Her little angel just smiled as she watched the snow. Melissa checked her tired old cell phone again to see if it had charged, but it was still too low to turn on. She goes back to staring at her reason for living; her big brown eyes seeming to reflect every snowflake.

Melissa finds herself lost in melancholy thoughts once again.

Her statement was accurate, they always make it out, but she is unclear on how. She has no idea how a hundred-dollar bill just appeared in her mailbox one day, wrapped in a plain white envelope with no writing on it. Even stranger was that this was the exact amount she was short for rent, and it happened more than once. Numerous similar situations have happened in the same way.

She had never met her father and had no information about him other than she looked like him. Her mother was blond and small with blue eyes, Melissa was tall, thin, and had a dark complexion and eyes.

Several months after the tragic car accident that took her family, she ran into a man from the middle east who claimed to know her father. What he had to say scared her slightly, but she was sure that there was a good possibility the man was just insane. His speech was erratic, and he appeared to be intoxicated. His black hair was greasy and unkempt, and his cloths were filthy. “He knows about you, oh yes he does.” He spoke. “He isn’t nice though honey, keep yourself and that baby far away. He is an arms dealer on the black web and has enemies that would love to get to him by hurting you!”

She took all of this information with a grain of salt, but it was what he said next that she is now stuck on. “I know that he feels bad about leaving you here alone, that is why he sent someone to watch you.”

As she sits in the warm car, she can’t get her mind off this. Was she really being watched from afar? Would her knight show up today to save her once again?

Slow and relaxing music plays in the background. The car has a quarter-tank and that would easily get them home but, not if she let it idle much longer. She decides to try to free the tires again.

She works for several minutes on them, but it is no use. They were tired and hungry, and it was getting dark. She started to tear up but quickly began to compose herself before returning to the car.

Suddenly, headlights appear, heading her way on the dark and windy back road that takes her home.

A large, black SUV pulls up behind her and a tall, large man with blond hair walks her way. He towers over her small figure. He holds her eye contact and speaks to her slowly but assertively. “Are you and your child ok?” She could not place his accent, but he was clearly not American.

As she turned to the car to explain her circumstances she realized quickly that the windows were fogged making it impossible to see inside.

“How did you know I have a child with me?” she asks suspiciously She gets no response. She looks up into his strikingly blue eyes frozen and scared, part of her wanting to run and part of her wondering if this was her secret protector.

“I have no chains or tools, but I can return you to your home then bring you back to get your car tomorrow” he says through his thick and barely comprehendible accent. Her better judgement tells her this was sketchy, but she was desperate. She agrees and grabs her daughter, locks up the car, and they start on the drive home. His car is warm and clean. Her daughter eases into a nap about fifteen minutes into the drive and the silence became overwhelming.

“Where are you from?” she asked through a fearful and shaky voice..

“A little bit of everywhere.” She then asks where his accent is from but he in unresponsive and distracted. Her fear rises as she notices that he is intently focused on his rear-view mirrors. She turns to see behind her but he reprimands her. “Stay facing forward!” his voice is direct but calm. She did as she was told but upon looking into her mirror, she could tell that they were being followed by several vehicles. It was a remote area and there was a blizzard taking place, the strange man was her only hope. The black cars that were pursuing them make no attempt to hide their pursuit; there is no reason to, no one will be traveling these roads.

Her breath becomes heavy and he reminds her once again to stay calm. She can barely make out his words as she was dizzy with panic.

They suddenly turn sharp onto a very unkempt dirt road that leads out into the wilderness that surrounds the area. Within seconds, every light of the vehicle is off, and her protector appears to be driving with the assistance of some sort of night-vision. His driving is impeccable. She wondered if she was hallucinating but when she looked in the back seat she saw her baby and it sobers her up. She is nowhere near as scared of the man with her as she was of the cars that he sped past.

They appeared gone so she turned to him and tearfully demanded an explanation but once again he offered none. Instead, he simply said “I cannot give you that, but I can get you where you will be safe.”

Her response burst out of her mouth louder than expected as she shouted, “You need to tell me why I am not safe here anymore and what the hell is going on!” She gasped at her own anger but returned a strong stare to the man that towered over her. “I cannot do that either, not yet.” His voice remained calm. “When?” She asked slightly more composed. “My first priority is to get you safe. My second is to take care of the men who are currently after you. I do not have time to ease your mind other that with this; I am here to help, and it is very important that you do exactly what I say. If you fail to do exactly what I tell you then you and your daughter may die. Do you understand me clearly?” She felt her eyes swell as she realized that she has no other way out of this situation.

Her hopelessness is overwhelming as she realizes that she is in an unfamiliar wilderness with her small child and no supplies and it’s snowing very hard.

She nods as this is all she can muster.

They continue their drive in silence as they venture deeper into the dark wild. The temperature gage in the car is reading twenty-three degrees and she has no direction any more of where they are.

In front of them she begins to see what looks like the reflection of a car beneath the light of the moon. As they get closer he turns the car lights on low and comes to a stop next to the parked car. Melissa notices that it is another similar SUV, black in color and large.

She is instructed to take her daughter and all of their things into the old rustic wood cabin for the night and to follow the directions saved in the car’s GPS in the morning. They are not to exit the cabin again until 9:30 the next morning. “Remain as quiet as possible and refrain from using any lights or electronics in the cabin unless all of the curtains are securely drawn.” She is barely catching his words in her confused haze. “There will be plenty of food and a warm place to sleep. In the morning you may exit to the vehicle. Inside will be a bag of items to help you along the way. Follow everything exactly.” He must have noticed her blank stare because he snapped his fingers in her face and demanded she repeat the instructions. She did this and he then lifted her sleeping child into the cabin for her.

Melissa did exactly as she was told. Her sweet baby remained quiet and in her arms most of the night. They enjoyed an array of delicious food and watched movies until they both fell asleep. When they awoke they kept the curtains drawn to eat and waited until the 9:30 to even look outside. When they did, they saw the black SUV waiting in the yard. It was quiet and they appeared to be alone.

They exited to the car. In a box on the front seat there were various items including an array of warm clothes, food, fake identification, and instructions to avoid using their real names at all. Also included were some travel safety items with instructions on the use of each. Next was a note containing directions for the GPS and instructions to fill the back of the car with as much nonperishable food as she could manage and to change into their new cloths and to leave their old in the cabin. The final item in the box was a smaller, little book that was all black. She opened it to find another note that simply said: “I am sorry, but I can no longer keep you safe where you at. I also know from watching you that you don’t have much left here anymore. I ask you to take what is in this box and follow the directions I gave you. That town will nurture you and your child. You won’t be alone anymore, and I’ll return when I can to offer more explanation.” She looked under the note to find a huge wad of large bills. Underneath that was a few more bonds equating to over a hundred thousand dollars.

He was right, she had nothing left there anymore. She followed his directions and drove into the cutest town several days later. The directions took her straight to an INN where she had been expected. Everyone seemed so kind an accommodating.

In a weird way, the trauma of her day had brought her to a place where she can finally feel safety, something she hasn’t known in a long time. She gets set up at the INN and they give her work to pay her way. The older couple that runs it are very loving, like your favorite grandparents. She was happy, now she just awaited his return.