Patiently I Wait (10 page)
Authors: J.W. Stephens
They needed to move to the upstairs room that Shannon had thought was Megan’s all along. It was Julie’s room, and Shannon’s purse and keys to her car were there. If they were going to leave the state, country, or anything of the sort, they would need money to do so. Shannon had plenty available if she could get back to her wallet that had been upstairs the last time she saw it. As they walked up the stairs Shannon got to Julie’s door and stopped.
“When I open the door, you quickly enter the room. I want to catch anyone inside off guard if we can,” Shannon said.
Megan nodded in agreement and pointed to the door, anxious to get in and get this over with.
Shannon twisted the handle and pushed the door opened as Megan stepped into the dark room and flipped on the lights in one motion. Before Shannon could follow her in, Megan stumbled back out of the room, gasping for air. Julie was in the room, almost as expected. Her condition however was not something they could have drawn up in a million years. She was laying on the ground, face up with what appeared to be a bullet hole in her forehead. She was staring blankly at the ceiling, lifeless.
“Why…. how… what happened?” asked Shannon, as if Megan might know.
“I don’t know babe,” Megan said, trying to regain her composure as she walked back into the room. “Either Dan did this or our friends did just a few moments ago.”
“It was Dan,” said Shannon, very confidently. “We didn’t hear any gunshots recently and would have from anywhere we were around the house. Also, this blood is dried, it’s been here awhile!”
Megan nodded silently, agreeing with Shannon and trying to move the vomit in her throat back down to her stomach.
“I bet she turned on him,” Shannon said, trying to make sense of the situation, holding back tears and her raging emotions. “She sided with us and he didn’t have a use for her anymore.”
“I’m not sure what happened,” Megan said, still holding back the feeling of nausea. “I’m not sure we will ever know, but now is not the time to contemplate the possibilities. He is willing to kill, we see that. We have to leave, and leave now.”
Shannon moved toward the dresser, looking for her belongings. Her heart sank as she saw that nothing she had left there was still present. She quickly ran through options in her head, but didn’t know how she was going to get money as quickly as they needed it. Then, a thought popped into her head that she was almost ashamed of thinking.
“We have to flip her over,” she said, having trouble getting the words out. “She has a wallet on her and I bet it’s got my credit cards in it.”
Megan looked up at Shannon, stunned that she would even think of that as an option. She didn’t question her lover though and quickly helped Shannon roll Julie over onto her stomach. There was blood everywhere and the girls were careful not to get it all over themselves in the process. Shannon reached into Julie’s pocket and nearly let out a sigh of relief when she realized her wallet was there. As she removed and opened it, she was instantly a much happier woman. All of her parents credit cards, as well as hers, were there. They got what they had came for and decided to leave right that second, leaving anything else behind. Everything they could have grabbed was replaceable now with the amount of money Shannon had available to her.
The girls turned to leave, and looked back simultaneously at Julie, wishing things could have worked out differently.
“Rest in peace Julie, no matter what, I will always love you!” Shannon whispered as they walked out of the room. They looked around the corner of the stairwell into the living room before heading downstairs, still not seeing or hearing anything. They moved quickly to get down the stairs and back to the area they came in from, where everything seemed the same as they were moments ago. They didn’t stop moving to check their surroundings before heading out the backdoor, into the night once again.
Their plan was working, and almost complete. All they had to do was get back to the truck and be on their way. They were actually going to make it. Shannon looked over to Megan and smiled with tears in her eyes, knowing everything was going to be okay. Megan smiled back and grabbed Shannon’s hand to lead her to their new life. They had to be careful, as Dan was probably scouring the streets, looking for them as they walked. They stayed off the road, walking slowly but steadily along the ditch until they got close enough to see the truck. They stopped, waiting to see if they could figure out how the plan had unfolded. Both the driver and his partner were already back in the truck, sitting in the cab. They seemed to be waiting for the girls as they looked back and forth down the street quite frequently. The girls looked around and after about three minutes of not seeing anything, they decided to make a break for it. They got to the truck and hopped into the cab, panting heavily from sucking in the cold air as they ran.
“Go!”
Shannon put her head down on the dash and smiled, relived that it was all over.
“We did it!” she said, happy the plan had worked perfectly.
“Everything go as planned?” Megan asked the boys, wondering if they had seen Dan or not on the journey.
The passenger responded quickly, shook up it seemed. “Well, not really. We got Dan to come to the door, but the girl never showed up, so it took a little longer than expected. I think he caught on that something was up and seemed flustered, but came with us anyway. He pulled out a gun when we explained that you two must have bailed. He knew we were lying, but didn’t waste any time running back toward the house. We thought he was going to catch you two, but we couldn’t chase him down. We just got back in the truck and started hoping for the best. Now that you two are back, I think everything is going to be okay.”
Shannon and Megan looked at one another after listening to the story, knowing they were more than lucky to get out of the house alive. Dan had come back to look for them and must have never been in the right place at the right time to catch them.
Now, the only question was where to go from here. The had to leave, and get far away from Michigan, if not the United States altogether. Where would they go?
“Megan,” Shannon said, trying to get her attention. “What do you think about London, or possibly Paris? No one will find us there. We can live off in the country by ourselves and enjoy life to it’s fullest. We could start molding our future without anything standing in our way. How does that sound?”
Megan started to answer, but the driver of the truck decided to do so instead.
“Sounds beautiful girls, but you know I can’t let you do that…..”
The sound of his voice froze the two girls as they had heard it thousands of times before now. He took his hat off, and revealed a smile that was all to familiar to both of them.
“Oh my God,” Shannon gasped as eyes met his. “Dan….?”
Table of Contents
CHAPTER THREE: BREAKFAST IS SERVED
CHAPTER SIX: MORE THAN FRIENDS
CHAPTER SEVEN: GIRLS NIGHT OUT