the permanent escape

chapter ten ~ blake

(4 hours later)

The last few hours have been extremely silent...

Eden confessed to having some sort of nameless chronic condition. Apparently she's in pain all the time, among other things. Of course, I had to pull the information out of her. She seems to want to hide things, which I can understand, to an extent, but it's frustrating.

I know that when I tell her that I'm going to take her to the hospital, she probably views it as a threat. But as much as it may seem that way, I'm not threatening her.

I can't help her if she's not open with me about what's going on. At the end of the day, that is her choice, but she's going to be suffering and in pain. And I would like for this journey to go as smoothly as possible. It's already been pretty rocky and I don't want that.

And now she's put the thought in my head about different ways of taking medicine. I'm not entirely sure of what she's referring to, but she was also quite vague when she was talking about it. I just hope things go smoothly.

I have been driving for at least 4 hours, and now we're finally in the area of the specific pharmacy that has Eden's medication. So I guess my questions are about to be answered.

I park the car in the pharmacy's parking lot. The ground is wet because it is raining (again), so I have to be a bit more careful than usual.

I turn my head over to the side to see Eden, who is still asleep. I know she's probably very tired; we've been in the car for several hours, and she didn't get that much sleep last night, and she has also been in pain the whole time.

I reach over and gently nudge her shoulder. She slowly turns her head over and looks at me, wearing a wide eyed and scared expression on her face.

"Where are we?" she asks weakly.

"We're at the pharmacy. I'm about to go and pick up your medication. I told you I was going to wake you when we got here," I explain, in a hushed voice.

"Is it ok if I stay in the car?" she asks.

"Absolutely not," I say sternly.

"I don't feel good," she says.

"I don't want you staying here alone. You said that your stepfather is after you. If that's true, then it's not safe," I tell her.

"I don't know if I can walk right now," she says.

I sigh deeply. I really don't want her staying out here by herself. I don't know if he's still after her. He probably is. 

I've been keeping an eye out and I haven't noticed anything but I'm unsure of whether he's following me. But I'm also unsure if she has it in her right now to stand up. I can tell she's in extreme pain.

I'm going to have to make a decision...

"Here's the deal," I say, "You can stay. But I'm turning the car off and I'm taking the keys with me. Keep your hood on your head, and if anybody approaches the car, keep your head down."

She sighs. "That sounds like a lot," she says.

I place a hand on her back. She winces.

"Relax. Eden, listen to me, ok?" She lifts her head to look in my direction, not making eye contact.

"Keep in mind that this is all for your own good. I'm doing this to keep you safe. We don't know if he's after you, so we need to be cautious. Now, I'm going to go in and get your medication. I'll be quick," I say.

She nods slowly. I pull my car keys out of the ignition and leave the car, locking the door behind me.

I walk into the pharmacy and immediately head to the back. Fortunately, it is almost empty.