Chapter 3 - The Fire Escape
Panic clawed at my throat as I frantically rattled the immovable door handle.
Elliot began to cry, his tiny voice echoing loudly in the suffocating silence of the locked hospital room.
“Shh, sweet boy, mommy has you,” I whispered, bouncing him gently while my eyes darted around the room for a way out.
The heavy footsteps in the hallway were getting closer, slow and deliberate, like a predator stalking trapped prey.
I noticed the small maintenance window near the ceiling, positioned directly above the bathroom sink.
It was a terrifying drop to the fire escape outside, but it was my only chance.
I carried my crying son into the bathroom and locked the flimsy privacy door behind us.
I climbed onto the slippery porcelain counter, balancing precariously with Elliot pressed firmly against my chest.
I unlatched the frosted glass window and pushed it outward, letting in a sudden blast of freezing night air.
The heavy boots stopped directly outside my hospital room door.
A keycard beeped, and the main door handle turned with a heavy clank.
I forced myself through the narrow window frame, scraping my shoulders against the sharp metal track.
I dropped onto the rusted iron grates of the fire escape just as the bathroom door splintered inward with a deafening crash.
I didn't look back to see who had broken it down.
I sprinted down the terrifyingly steep metal stairs, the freezing wind whipping against my thin hospital gown.
My bare feet bled against the sharp iron edges, but the adrenaline completely masked the pain.
I reached the dark, rain-soaked alleyway behind the hospital and hid behind a massive commercial dumpster.
I pulled my cell phone from my duffel bag, my fingers shaking violently as I dialed my best friend’s number.
Chloe was the only person in the world I could trust right now.
The phone rang three times before the line finally clicked open.
“Chloe, thank God,” I sobbed into the receiver, hugging Elliot to keep him warm.
“I need you to come pick me up at the alley behind Mercy General right now.”
There was a long, terrible silence on the other end of the line.
Then, a deep, raspy voice spoke softly through the speaker.
“She can't come to the phone right now, Clara,” the man said.
May you like
It was Julian.
“But don't worry, my love, I'm already looking out the window, and I can see you perfectly.”
