Chapter 1: Eyes of a Stranger
"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
My name is Tessa, and I pray a lot. When I was a little girl, I prayed on the day that my birth parents died, hoping to end up with a good family. I prayed that I wouldn't be separated from my older brother, Mark whom I haven't seen in years. When I finally got placed in my new home...I prayed to escape it one day.
I'm twenty-two years old and did not have what some people might call a happy childhood. For some unexplainable reason, I ended up in the care of my neighbors, the Harrisons. Sure, they put up a good facade in front of my parents acting like the perfect caring neighbor, bringing over soup when someone got sick, going to my brother's baseball games, and even showing up to my dance recitals...but that was all an act. Behind closed doors, the real monsters came out to play.
The day I started living with them was the day I started giving up hope. The Harrisons didn't have kids, they couldn't conceive and couldn't afford to go to a specialist. So, when my parents died, and named them our new caretakers, things changed. Things like our last names, our public schooling, and our old life. The Harrisons homeschooled us, and if we got a bad grade or talked back to them, we got punished for it. It started lightly, a slap on the wrist, smack on the bottom, or sitting in the corner. But as Mark and I grew, so did the severity of their punishments. Days I spent in the basement, weeks I spent sharing leftover scraps with my brother, a life full of torment and total isolation from the outside world.
I desperately wanted to escape, and when I got pregnant, I knew I had to. Mark was the one who came up with the plan, distract them and run, don't look back. I wanted Mark to go with me, but we couldn't find a way for both of us to leave, without the other getting caught.
Now, I have a seven-year-old daughter named Mallory, she looks just like her uncle. I had her when I was fifteen, not by choice. I've made it my life's mission to keep her as far away as possible from her birth father and the monsters who brought him into my life.
Lately, Mallory and I have been crashing a hotel. Unfortunately, we'll have to find a cheaper one soon because I cannot afford another night here. I'm running out of cash because Mallory has been ill the past couple of days after picking up a stomach bug. I have also worked almost every odd job known to man and due to my lack of a degree, I'm running out of options for work.
I was lying down on the old squeaky hotel bed next to my daughter, listening to her soft snores when I heard a knock on the door.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
KNOCK.
The hand continued to pound on the door. Chills were sent down my spine and the hairs on my arms raised when I heard the familiar voice coming from the other side. "Open up!" It was that horrid woman, Mrs. Harrison.
"I know you're in there, Tessa!"
I got up and slowly moved around the room, checking the peephole, I noticed that she was by herself. She must have seen me at a gas station nearby. What is she doing out here? I'm an adult now, so she can't drag me back home, right?
"I saw the little girl with you at the station. Does she belong to him? She Hunter's girl?" I shivered at the mention of his name. "I'm sure he'd love to meet her."
Mallory started to wake up, wiping her big blue eyes as she looked at me in confusion. "Mommy, who is that?"
I had to act fast, "Don't worry sweetie, we're leaving soon." She can't be thrown into their world of darkness; I won't let it happen. I've lied to her over the past years for protection, she thinks her father is a hero and never sees him because he's saving lives at work. I told her that all my family members passed away in a tragic car accident. And we move around so much because I work for a travel agency.
"Mallory, I need you to get up and get dressed.... very quietly and quickly."
"Where are we going?" She whispered.
"Let Mommy figure that out, I need you to get dressed. Okay?"
She nods her little head of blonde hair. "Okay."
After she finishes getting dressed, I grab our duffle bag filled with dirty laundry, some cash, and Mallory's medication. Using all my strength, I lift the window of our hotel room and throw the bag out of the window. I crawl through it and jump on the ground, landing with a loud thud. I look up to see my daughter staring down at me in fear.
"Mallory, please...I need you to jump." I plead with her as she shakes her head, no. "Mallory, we don't have time for this." She keeps shaking her head. "Please sweetie, do it for mommy?"
I see her taking a deep breath before she finally jumps out of the window, and I catch her in my arms. I quietly say, "Thank you," and kiss her on the forehead. I set her down on the floor and she finds her footing, standing next to me. I hold Mallory's hand in mine as we sneak into the car. I open the door, and she goes into the backseat with the bag. I get into the driver's seat and start the car, as we pull out of the parking lot, I see Mrs. Harrison out of the rearview mirror.... smiling at me as if she finally caught her prey.
I hate it, leaving because of her, moving around from place to place. But I do it to protect Mallory, she's all I have left. I don't have a family or a house to go home to. I blame it all on them and the system for failing me. I tried so many times to get in touch with the police, but I got scared, when I finally did make a call, I found out that the Harrison's donated to them every year. They had everyone in their pocket and under their influence.
Sometimes I wish I could go back and rescue Mark, be the knight in shining armor that we needed as kids. But going back meant seeing them, seeing him again. But I promised myself to never go back there, not after what happened...
I was fourteen and Mark taught me how to hotwire a car, so I snuck out last night, stealing Mr. Harrison's car. I tried to drive it, but I didn't really how to, so I ended up crashing into a tree. My arms were pierced with glass from a broken window, blood trickled down my forehead. I didn't care how much pain I was in; I needed to escape them. I screamed in agony as Mr. Harrison dragged me out of the door and threw me back into the house where a sinister man with evil brown eyes and a scar on his left cheek was waiting.
"That is the last time you will leave this house without asking! You belong to us, Tessa and it's time you showed us some respect. Now, I want you to meet Hunter...your new babysitter." Mr. Harrison said.
"Please, I don't need a babysitter." I pleaded. "I won't leave again, don't hurt me."
"You've broken too many rules, I don't know what to do with you anymore." Mrs. Harrison shook her head. "No, you need extra supervision. Hunter here is a friend of ours, and he'll be watching your every move from now on.
I cringed when I saw the twisted smile on his face, crying as he yanked my arm and pulled me closer to him. "Nice to meet you, doll."
I looked back to see my little angel, fighting off sleep in the reflection of my rearview mirror. "Mommy."
"Yes, sweetie?"
"I don't feel so good..." She pauses as she hurls on the back seat. I pull the car over and come to a screeching halt. She just threw up blood on the duffle bag. "Mommy."
Come on Tessa, think! Your baby girl could be dying. You didn't get this far for nothing. Think of something! "There has to be a hospital nearby." As soon as I get back on the road, I hear a funny noise coming from the car. "No! No! No!" The car battery died; this can't be happening. I open the back door, grabbing Mallory and the vomit-covered duffle bag. I decided to walk to the nearest city, which is miles away from this dirt-covered road. I hear Mallory groaning as she clings to me. I pause to check my surroundings; I see a quaint farmhouse nearby.
I know this is a bad idea, and I could end up on Dateline for this...but I can't give up on my little girl. I look at my sick child, who is slowly losing color on her face. Raising my hand, I bang on the front door. Yelling at the top of my lungs, "Hello! Hello! Is someone home? Hello! Anybody!"
"Hey, what's going on?" The first thing I see is a pair of chiseled abs, glistening in sweat. I slowly trail my eyes up to see a head of golden hair and tired midnight-blue eyes. This stranger looks like he just did some yard work, he pokes his head outside of the door and crosses his arms. "Do you need help with something?" He asks in a deep voice.
Any coherent thought I had just flew out the window. "Um...huh?"
"Yes?"
"It's my..." I pause and think about it, he doesn't know me, but he could know the Harrisons or Hunter. He also doesn't have to know who my daughter is. "My sister, Mandy. She's sick. I would have gone to a hospital, but my car broke down and I didn't know where to go."
"May I?" The handsome stranger asks before touching Mallory's forehead.
"Um...sure."
He puts his hand on her forehead and makes a face that I do not like. "She's burning up. Here, come inside." We go inside the house and it's very rustic-looking with wooden walls and floors. "You can put her down here," he gestures to the brown leather couch. "I'll go get my mom, she's a nurse."
"Thank you." I set her down and he turns on a fan, cooling her down.
He holds his hand out, "My name is Matt, by the way, Matt Green."
"I'm Tiffany."
"You got a last name?"
"No, just Tiffany."
"Okay then, just Tiffany. I'll go look for my mom. Feel free to sit down, I'll get you something to drink and maybe some clothes to change into." He says and disappears for a couple of minutes.
I hope that mom isn't a code word for murder weapon.
Matt comes back with a change of clothes, glasses of water, and a stack of blankets. "I promised that the water isn't poisoned." I eye him suspiciously, "Sorry, shouldn't be making jokes like that." He picks up a glass and takes a sip. "See?"
I take one of the glasses and chug it down, setting it on the wood-carved table.
"Um...I hope the clothes fit; I got them from my sister's closet. My mom had stashed some of her old baby clothes in there. She's out getting the first aid kit."
"You can uh go into the bathroom if you want to change, it's down at the end of the hall."
I look at my vomit-soaked shirt and leave for the bathroom. "Thank you...for helping us."
"No need to thank me."
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