Drown #10: the mouse, part 6

January 2086. Stephanie Nova is 26, Justin Kim is 25, Willow is 4, Lily is 3.


Now, after all those times Stephanie swore she didn't need a restraining order, she finally realized that maybe it was time. Jeremiah was in the military and she didn't want him to get into trouble over it. "I just want him to go to South Carolina," she said. "And if he’s in trouble here, he can’t go to South Carolina."

"Well, Ma'am," the officer said, "You can file it or not file it, but I'm pretty sure it's his own fault if he gets into trouble."


"I can't hear," Lily said. "It's my turn to hear."

"Wait," Willow said, "I have to watch out for Mama. Mama said I'm in charge."

"She did not," Lily whined. "You're not in charge."

"I am. Mama said I'm allowed to lock doors today."

"Girls, come away from there," Cynthia said.


Stephanie was already speaking with the officer by the time Justin and Robert came home.

"She's okay," Cynthia promised. "He didn't hurt her. She didn't let him in."

Justin didn't mean just physically. "But is she okay?"

"She did really well. She was very brave."

Justin felt like he was doing this all wrong. He just wanted to wrap Stephanie up in a bubble, but every time he tried, the bubble popped.


Justin went to her as soon as the officer left. Her fingers felt sweaty with adrenaline, but steady. She didn't look afraid. "Steph, are you okay?" He turned over her hand, looking at her wrist, her arm. Then he looked in her eyes.

"I'm okay," she said.

"I'm so sorry, I should have left you up at the house. I shouldn't have brought you back here. I should have quit my job two weeks ago already. I should have—"

"No." She shook her head. "How could you have known?"

"How long will they hold him?"

"For this? It could be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. They couldn't say."

"Will they let him post bail?"

"I don’t know," she said.

"Let's not take any chances. Let's leave tonight. I’m gonna take you back up north and we’ll stay there. For good. I know we’re not ready, but we have to be ready. You need to be safe and relaxed. He can't keep doing this to you. I just want you to rest and feel safe and the only thing you'll have to worry about is growing our baby. I'm just so sorry I wasn't here today."

She took his hand into both of hers. Then he realized that he wasn't comforting her, it was the other way around. "Shh, it's okay, don't worry," she said. Her smile was slow and calm. "This might sound crazy, but I’m kind of glad I did that on my own. I think it was something I needed to do."

Justin blinked at her a few times. He didn't know what to say.

"Now will you take me home?"

"Yes," he said. "I can do that."


They had somewhere between a few hours and a couple of days, but they didn't want to take any chances. They would load up their car with as much as they could fit, and they wouldn't turn back.

Stephanie called her lawyer to let him know what her plans were. He said they would file the paperwork to revoke visitation privileges and request a psychological evaluation for Jeremiah before he'd be allowed to see Willow. It wasn't guaranteed, but their chances were good. And they knew exactly where Jeremiah was and that he couldn't follow them up north. "Go now," he said. "I'll file all of the paperwork and you won't be required to show up in court until absolutely necessary. I'll let you know when anything happens."

That was what they were paying him so much money for.

Neither of the girls had acted like they'd been traumatized by the event, but when Stephanie suggested they go to bed, they didn't want to leave the room. So they fell asleep on the couches while Stephanie and Justin boxed up what things they could. Justin carried boxes out to the car until he couldn't fit any more.

He wouldn't get to put in his two weeks' notice at work. He wouldn't get to wait until he had another job secured up north. They couldn't even wait to rent a U-Haul and bring up their furniture. Only what they could fit into boxes in the car. They had to go now.


"That will be the last box. Did you get enough pizza? Are you still hungry?"

"I had enough. Now I’m just tired," she said. All of the adrenaline had finally left her body and now she just wanted a big fluffy pillow and a warm bed. But they had a long drive ahead of them.

"You can sleep in the car," Justin said. "We should head out now. Do you have everything you wanted? Did you get the seeds you wanted for the spring?"

"Yeah, I got them."

"What’s wrong?"


Stephanie wasn’t coming back here, to her birthplace and childhood home, probably ever. "My mom will sell the house when we’re gone. They're too old and we won't be here to take care of it. This house has been in the family for seventy years."

"Maybe in seventy more years one of our kids or grandkids will sell our house and feel sad about it," Justin said.

Stephanie smiled at the idea of it. "We should say goodbye," she said. "I feel like I have so many memories here. I was born here. I mean, I don't remember being born, but I've seen the pictures. I had my first birthday party right here in this kitchen. And there, that back door, we used to run out of it when we were kids, straight back into the woods. My brother was married here in the yard. Willow was born here. We drank sake on my birthday here with your cute friend who moved away. You two put up the Christmas tree and I sat right there on the floor with the girls and watched. And we—well, you know—everything else happened right here, too."

He held out his hands and pulled her up. He walked her over to the foyer and pulled her close. "This spot, this is where we first kissed."


He kissed her there again. It lasted much longer than eight seconds this time.


"Mm," she said as his lips left hers. "That was the best kiss I’ve ever had."

"Yet," he added. "There will be more, Steph. Lots and lots more."

"Overachiever," she teased.


"You know, for the record," she said. "I was really only going to kiss you on the cheek that night."

"Good thing I got hasty then," he said.

They held each other there for minutes. Then when she opened her eyes, glancing into the closet still full of canned food and water, she saw something.

"Oh, look what we almost forgot."


It was a nondescript folder on the third shelf of Justin’s survival closet. She opened it. Four passports, four birth certificates, two marriage licenses for the wrong people. We were meant to escape together, she thought. We were always meant to be together.

In the bottom of the folder, she found several packs of wrapped bills. "Hey, there's a lot of money in here."

"Oh, hey." He took the folder and counted it.

"How much?"

"Two thousand," he said. "I forgot I even put that there. That's good, Steph. That'll keep us afloat until I can find work again."

She'd asked him once, Where are we going?

"Now I know what we were preparing for," she said.

"Come on, Steph. Let's go home."



They knew better than to wait for the right moment, for the right words, for the right reasons, for things to be legal or official or final, or for something else to come along and fuck it all up. The only perfect moment was right now. They loaded up their sleeping girls in the car and made their escape.

—

footnotes: the survival closet // the best eight-second kiss ever

outtakes & picspam: kissy extras // setting up house