Lucky's heart pounded as he followed Elizabeth out the front door and watched her trip as she ran quickly down the steps, and onto the sidewalk. When he caught up with her he grabbed her arm to stop her and turned her so she was facing him. He could hear her heavy breathing, and though she seemed oblivious to the cold he could see her breath in the night air. "Elizabeth, what are you doing?"
She pulled her arm away from his grasp and hugged herself as she said, "Lucky, please, I just need to be alone right now. Let me go."
"Where are you going?"
She looked down at the ground, avoiding his eyes. "It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore, Lucky, don't you see that?. Just let me go."
"I can't let you be alone out here this late at night. At least tell me where you want to go and let me take you there."
She raised her hands to her hair frantically and screamed, "No! Lucky, I'm going, and I'm begging you not to follow me. I just can't be with you right now."
He put his hand under her chin and tried to lift her face to look at him, but she avoided his gaze. "Elizabeth, please look at me. You know I can't take the chance that something might happen to you."
"I don't care!" She turned from him, hoisted her backpack on her shoulder and started walking again.
Lucky was desperate when he spoke again. "Elizabeth, I can't leave you out here alone in the cold with just your pajamas on."
Elizabeth looked up into his eyes then, her voice calm, but cold. "I'm going now, and I'm asking you not to follow me. Just leave me alone. PLEASE."
Lucky tried to reach out to her again, but she jerked her arm away from him and began to cry as she whispered, "Just let me go."
He pulled his hand back and ran it through his hair, wondering what had gone wrong, what had just happened back there in his room. She had never been so angry with him, had never run away from him like this. He nodded in resignation and whispered, "Okay, okay." He watched her run away from him as tears spilled down his face. It only took him a few moments for him to decide to follow her. Just as he started after her, Laura came outside and ran toward him. "Lucky, what's going on?"
"Elizabeth is kind of freaking out. I have to go after her."
"Maybe she just needs some time, Lucky." Laura put her hand on Lucky's arm. "Maybe you should let her go."
He looked at Laura. "I can't, Mom. She's still sick, and it's so cold out there."
Laura nodded and gave him a quick hug. "Be careful, okay?"
Lucky turned and in the few minutes he had spent talking to Laura, Elizabeth had disappeared from his sight. Lucky ran for awhile, trying to find her, but his search proved futile. Think, Lucky, think. Where would she go? He didn't think she would go home, not in the middle of the night, and certainly not after what had happened there earlier. She hadn't even been able to go inside the house. He went to the docks, thinking she might have gone there to think. He called out her name, but there was no answer, and there was a deafening silence as he sunk down on one of the benches and put his head in his hands.
He sat there for some time, unable to move, immobilized by his fear for her, having no idea where to look for her now. He heard a noise and jumped up, "Elizabeth?"
"No, Cowboy. It's me. What the hell are you doing out here this time of night?"
"I could ask you the same thing, Dad"
"Oh, you know me, I'm just a night owl by nature. So what's up? Why did you think I was Elizabeth?"
"She ran from Mom's house awhile ago after we had a fight and I can't find her."
"You guys don't fight. What happened?"
"I don't know. All I know is she isn't herself right now and she needs me, but she's shutting me out. She couldn't go in her house so I took her to Mom's and she must have been dreaming because she woke up she was really freaked out. Can you think of anywhere she might have gone, Dad?"
"Well, son, if I was feeling bad I'd probably want to go somewhere that had good memories for me, someplace where I was once happy." Luke stared out at the water. "Could be why I find myself wandering the streets in the middle of the night and end up staring at the old house. But that's a whole other story and equally as sad."
Lucky put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Dad, I think you just helped me figure out where Elizabeth is. You gonna be okay?"
Luke laughed, "Yea, I'm fine. You just go find your girl and take care of her. We can talk about this other stuff some other time."
"Thanks, Dad."
Lucky made his way out of town, toward the woods. He found Elizabeth's backpack on the side of the road, and picked it up with fear coursing through his veins. Oh God, what if someone had gotten to her? What if she was hurt? He cursed himself for letting her go off by herself into the night. He continued on the path until the boxcar was finally in sight. He stood back from it at first so that if she were there she wouldn't be able to see him. He didn't want to frighten her. It wasn't long before he could hear soft crying from inside the boxcar. As he approached the boxcar slowly, he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, and said, "Elizabeth, are you here?"
~~Elizabeth~~
I'm not sure how long I had been walking when I heard him. I whirled around and peered into the long stretch of darkness behind me, but the footsteps had stopped when I stopped, and I could see nothing. My heart began to pound in my ears, and I was almost too afraid to turn back around, but I did. As soon as I began to walk, I heard the footsteps again, and they weren't trying to be quiet. He wanted me to know he was there.
I spun around again. "Lucky? Is that you?"
I heard nothing at first except the wind soughing through the leaves on the trees. And then it came to me, a long low chuckle. "Not a word, Lizzie."
"No...no..." I thought I was saying it out loud, but there was no air in my lungs, and when I dropped my bag and tried to run the ground slammed into me hard. I didn't feel the pain, I didn't feel anything, only the all-consuming terror that froze everything in my body.
It's just a dream Liz it's just another dream you're only dreaming! But the gritty asphalt beneath my bleeding palms and knees was all too real, as was the breath squeezing painfully into my chest, and the horrible words I had just said to Lucky...
Run! Run!
I lurched to my feet and charged forward. No, it wasn't a dream. I would have woken up by now. This was me running for my life, and above my own desperate footsteps I could hear his pounding relentlessly behind me, yet remaining far enough away that he was not catching up. He was playing with me, torturing me. How did he get out? I wailed inwardly as the tears cooled on my cheeks. They promised! They promised!
I didn't know where I was going until I plunged into the undergrowth. A branch snagged my shirt and, sobbing, I ripped it away and stumbled out onto the railroad tracks. He was still there, crashing through the trees and bushes. The boxcar loomed ahead of me, silent and dark. I don't know why I thought I would be safe there, but then again I wasn't really thinking anyway. If I could just get inside I would be safe, wouldn't I? Wouldn't I?
I threw myself against the doorway and pulled myself up, scraping my stomach as I went. And then I felt them, two hands clamped tight around my ankles.
"Gotcha."
I screamed and kicked at him, but he only laughed and let me go. I scrambled to my feet and ran immediately towards the other doorway, but he was inside now, and he seemed to fill the entire open space with his darkness.
"I don't think you're going anywhere tonight, Lizzie. Oh no, little one. I went through too much trouble getting out of there to let you go now." He stepped closer to me and I couldn't move.
He leapt forward with lightning swiftness and had me pinned to the wall, his arm across my throat. His hand slipped beneath my shirt and squeezed my breast, and he pressed his hips to mine. I could feel his hardness.
"You got away without it once, you little bitch," he hissed, his breath hot on my face. He pushed against me and I whimpered. "You probably thought you'd never have deal with me again, didn't you?" His hips jerked. "Ha ha. Tough shit for you."
He threw me onto my back suddenly. Black spots formed before my eyes and I couldn't breathe, but I could see through the dim haze of my vision that he was unfastening his pants. I tried weakly to roll over, intending to crawl away, but he knelt over me, flipping me back over.
"Oh no you don't. What did I just tell you? I went through too much trouble to get here. You and me are gonna have fun tonight, little girl." He pushed my shirt up to my neck.
"Elizabeth? Are you here?"
His head came up sharply at the sound of Lucky's voice.
"Oh fuck..." Then a sly expression came over his face. "I really am gonna have fun," he whispered, smirking at me as he stood up and tucked himself back in. He placed his finger against his lips as he lowered himself out of the back doorway. "Shh. Not a word."