In the Night

Cold night wind whipped across Ellen’s face as she cautiously placed one foot in front of the other, clutching her three-year-old daughter to her heart, straining her eyes to see what little light ahead was visible from the other edge of the ravine. She pleaded with Naya to stay quiet as they made their descent through the woods that brisk night in November.

“I want to walk!” Naya demanded “I can do it,” Naya insisted. Her daughter’s octave made her heart race as she desperately shushed her.

“When we get out of the woods, I’ll let you walk, sweetheart. Right now, mama needs to take careful steps.”

“Where are we going?” her daughter cried—too loudly. Ellen threw a glance behind them in panic, to see if they were being followed.

She didn’t plan for this. But it needed to happen. She hoped they would make it.

Guy’s breakfast was two eggs, sunny-side up, with three sausage links and a large mug of coffee with half-and half. He would also take a thermos of the coffee and his lunch with him to work at the steel plant. Ellen prepared all of it for him, while she got their daughter, Naya, ready for preschool.

“I want my sparkle boots,” Naya demanded, stomping one of her feet.

Where were the boots? Ellen combed through her short-term memory. Yesterday when she picked Naya up from the daycare she helped her into the boots, brought her home, and they got out of the car. Naya raced over to the bench on the front porch after she told her to be careful and not to run down the steps because of the ice…that’s it. They must be there! Ellen hustled out front to check around the bench…oh good. There they were. Naya wouldn’t have a melt-down today and they could still make it to the daycare on time, before the morning cut-off, and she would make it to work on time.

“Ellen!” her husband’s angry voice bellowed. “You’re burning down the kitchen.”

Shit. She ran to the kitchen where smoke was dancing in the air, and the smell of charred breakfast meat filled her nostrils.

Her face burned, comprehending that Guy had just backhanded her across the face. It wasn’t the first time. She clutched her stinging cheek, only to be thrown against the wall with Guy’s bloated ruddy hand around her neck, chocking her and blocking her airflow. She gagged and pleaded with her eyes for mercy.

“Can’t you do anything right?” Guy spat in her face. “You’re late. Take Naya to school, you stupid bitch.” He released her neck and walked away, taking his things and leaving the house. Ellen gasped for air and clutched her knees. Tears streamed down her face, sliding down the red welt developing on her face.

She turned the burner off and moved the scorched pan to the sink, filling it with water to soak. Looking out the window, the beautiful untouched snow graced the branches outside. A glistening duvet. How had things gotten like this, she wondered. She met Guy when she was seventeen, bagging groceries at Giant Eagle. He loaded groceries from the trucks. She wished she had gone to school and become a nurse like she always wanted. Instead, she was a receptionist at a busy hair salon. And with how many times she’d been in to work lately, she didn’t expect to last much longer there.

“I’m hungry!” Naya said. They hadn’t had dinner, she realized. She had thrown a few changes of clothes for her daughter and herself in a backpack with some toiletries, her wallet, a flashlight, Naya’s birth certificate, a few cans of tuna and some apple juice boxes. She put on Naya’s silvery sparkle rain boots that she had gotten for her birthday along with her winter coat and gloves as well as a warm coat and boots on herself before they left the house. If she was going to do it, she had to do it before Guy got home. She had thirty minutes to get out of there and away from him for good. She didn’t take the car—too risky. She didn’t even take her cell phone, in case they were traced. If only I had more cash, she thought. But they could go to an ATM once they were on the road. Not that her bank account was looking great, or anything.

Stopping, and finding a truncated stump to sit on she put Naya down and pulled the backpack off her spine. She pointed her flashlight at the bag and rooted around for a can of tuna and pulled it open with the easy-pull tab. “Here sweetie, let’s have some tuna before we go any further. You need your strength tonight.”

“I don’t want tuna! I want to go home,” Naya said.

“Can you take a few bites for me? Just dig in with your fingers, like this,” Ellen demonstrated for the girl.

“Why can’t we go home?” the girl asked, with a whimper in her voice.

“We’re going somewhere even better. Somewhere warm, where the sun shines every day. Do you think you’d like to live near the ocean?”

“Is daddy coming?” the girl asked.

Ellen touched her cheek, remembering what had transpired that morning. Panic welled up in her chest. She thought about turning back. Maybe they still had time to get home before he got there. Could they even make it on their own? If she went back now, she knew it would just be a matter of time until he finished her off for good. And then what? How could she make sure Naya was safe if she were dead? She knew Guy had never hurt the young girl…not yet, anyway.

Handing the tin to Naya, she cooed to her:“Honey, we’re going to go somewhere wonderful. But the only way to get there is to go through these woods. There’s a bus station on the other side of the ravine, and we’re going to ride a bus that will take us to Disney World. Wouldn’t you like to go there?

“Disney World,” Naya repeated. “Yeah, I wanna go. I wanna go to Disney World.”

“Okay, baby, we just need to be really good and quiet. Let’s walk carefully. Look at that light on that porch up ahead—do you see that house? We’re walking up toward it, up to the road. Let’s take some baby steps.”

The woman and child took small calculated steps in the moonlight. Ellen pointed the flashlight a few feet ahead of them. Ellen was glad that she had put Naya down. The girl had become heavy and she worried she’d trip and they’d both go rolling down the snowy slope.

“Where’s the bus, mama?” the girl asked. The snow made their legs wet above the boots, but they kept moving forward, one trudging step at a time.

“It’s just up there, baby girl. Do you see that house and the car up ahead? Once we get up there, the bus stop is right up the road.

Ellen was laser-focused. She was going to get her daughter and herself into safety. She wasn’t going to fail her child. She came from a long line of weak women. It was time to do things differently.

“What’s that?” Naya shrieked. A fast-moving rustle through the bushes made their minds conjure possibilities and tense their muscles, freezing to a stop. A barn owl screeched in the distance, mimicking the wind. The cold night air danced over their exposed faces.

“I don’t know, I’m sure it was nothing. Let’s keep moving.”

Naya dropped the half-eaten tin of tuna on the ground as her mom gently pulled her arm, guiding her forward.

“I’m cold,” the girl said, noticing the wetness of her pants.

“If we make it on that bus, in a few days we’ll be drinking smoothies on a beach in Florida. You just gotta trust me, baby girl.”