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Nathaniel woke to his mother shaking him awake.
“Abram. Abram get up. I’m serious Abram you need to get up now.” She was using that hushed angry tone that was typically reserved for when he did something wrong.
Nathaniel opened his eyes to a dark room. That wasn’t right, the sun wasn’t even up yet. Why was she waking him up so urgently in the middle of the night? He tried to ask what was going on but all that came out was a confused mumbling noise.
“Come on Abram get up, we have to go now. Be quiet we can’t wake him up.” Now what caught his attention. Wake “him” up? The only person Mary could be referring to was his father, Nathen.
Abram’s body caught on faster than his conscious brain and next thing he knew he was stumbling out of his bed, his mother dragging him along by the collar of his shirt. Careful to be quiet like Mary warned, Abram didn’t ask what was going on. He would find out soon enough he realized as they went out the back door.
Mary was moving like hell was on her heels as she shoved Abram in the front seat and drove away as soon as she was in the drivers seat.
Once they finally drove off Abram began to process what was going on. They had left. Looking into the backseat he saw duffle bags full of what he assumed to be their things. She must of gone into his room and packed up his stuff before waking him. His room was too dark when he woke up to notice anything missing. Mary took Nathaniel and left.
“Mom? What’s happening?” He questioned once he was able to process what just happened.
Mary took what could have been seconds or minutes before she finally answered. “We’re going away for a while Abram. Somewhere he can’t find us.”
Abram sat with that answer as he watched Mary finally hit the highway. They were going away. Somewhere far his father couldn’t reach. Abram didn’t say it, but he was relieved. He was terrified of his father, he was the biggest monster Abram had ever met. He hated how his father constantly hurt both him and his mother. Hated his “lessons” in how to be a “real” man. He was happy him and his mom were going away, maybe it would be like a vacation.
Abram must have fallen asleep shortly after leaving Baltimore. The next time he opened his eyes the sun was out and his mom was closing their car door. Abram took a moment to gather his surroundings. They were in a parking lot, where, he wasn’t quite sure.
“Let’s go Abram, grab your bag and move it.” Abram climbed out of the front seat and quickly grabbed his duffel. He followed after his mother confused. After walking for a moment he finally understood where they were. A bus station. He wondered where exactly they were.
“We can’t keep driving the car. He’ll find us that way.” Mary explained.
Abram trudged after his mother until they found the ticket counter where the bus routes were also located. After a quick scan of the schedules and routes Mary bought them 2 tickets to Oakland California. Looking at his ticket he saw that they were leaving out of Philadelphia. They didn’t drive for very long then, barely 2 hours. It must of been almost morning when Mary woke him and left.
Mary and Abram found the correct bus platform and waited. Now that Abram had some free time he was able to think about things. Like what were they going to do in California? Would his dad be able to track them that far? They ditched the car but was that enough? He was hungry, would there be food on the bus? He wanted to ask his mom these things but knew if she wanted him to know something she would tell him. His questions often weren’t welcome anyways. California was far, it would take them a few days to get there. Abram hoped once they got there they would finally be safe.