Week 464 – Just can’t get a break

“Could be police dogs,” Graham suggested, but they both knew it was a lie.

“Did you call the cops?” she asked him, she had no idea what he’d had time to do once he realised she was in trouble.

“No reception,” he replied tightly.

“Then I don’t think it’s help,” Sasha said, although she wished it was.

“We have to run,” he said, tugging on the hand he still held.

“Freddy has a dog,” she said, unable to make her feet move. “He’s not a very nice dog, they like to taunt me with him, letting me run and having him hunt me.”

“I won’t let them or the dog touch you,” Graham vowed, and somehow when he said it she almost believed it.

“I hate that we just can’t get a break,” she said as they both started to run.

“Me too, honey. All we have to do though is get to my car. Once we do we’re safe. You’re safe.”

Safe.

The word had lost all meaning to her over these last several months. It felt like it had become an unreachable goal, like a dream, something always shimmering just out of reach. Would she ever really feel safe again?

They ran until Sasha couldn’t breathe, until her bare feet felt like they were one giant, throbbing bruise, and she had a stitch in her side that made her want to curl up in a ball. But she didn’t stop. Couldn’t. Because it was no longer just her life on the line.

So she ran until her body gave out on her and she stumbled, falling, knowing once she hit the ground she wouldn’t be getting back up.

Only she didn’t hit the ground.

Graham caught her, swept her up into his arms, tossed her over his shoulder, his arm banded around her thighs, and kept going. He’d come back for her, risked his life for her, and he might be the only thing that got her out of this mess alive.