![\"Escape](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Escape.jpg?resize=640%2C534\" "\\"Escape")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nby Murdock O’Mooney<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to get out of here,\u201d I tell her. She tells me she knows and that she\u2019s waiting for the right time. \u201cYou saw what he did to Johnny- he\u2019s got a black eye and fat lip… he\u2019s all beat up.\u201d She says that it\u2019s none of our business. I stare at her like she\u2019s stupid, though I know she\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
She smokes a cigarette and looks at her old blue car. She named it Faith. It made it here from Ohio. Can it make it out of here? I imagine her thinking. The dirt roads are rough and impassable when muddy. She takes the last drag and puts her cigarette out in the dirt. Her toes are wrapped in Teva sandals. She\u2019s worn them ever since I can remember.<\/p>\n
Later that night, I hear them having sex. It sickens me, but also excites me. I don\u2019t want to hear, but can’t help it- we are all sleeping in the same old army tent. Including his two sons, there\u2019s five of us.<\/p>\n
The next day he walks outside and brushes his teeth, spitting white toothpaste all over the ground. He also urinates in plain view, with one hand on his hip. He\u2019s the king of this domain and wants everyone to know it. He\u2019s a coward except for the 38 Special on his right hip. The gun makes him a tough guy. He beats his kids. He\u2019s racist. He murdered his wife and son, and although no one has ever proved it, everyone knows he did it.<\/p>\n
We never saw his dark side until after living with him. I can tell she is embarrassed that she put us in this situation. I still love her though and have to be strong right now. I have to be the man she needs. I have to help her get away.<\/p>\n
In the late afternoon, as the sun goes down over the high desert, we are playing. His youngest son and I get in an argument. He runs off crying to his dad. He calls me over. \u201cDid you take his toy?\u201d I say I did, but by accident. I thought it was mine.<\/p>\n
He raises his arm skyward, and brings it down quickly onto my face. I fall to the dirt and begin to cry. But I don\u2019t let him see this. I stay strong, for her. She yells and grabs him, but he hits her and then she goes down.<\/p>\n
The next day he takes his sons to town. Her and I are left at camp. She moves quickly and loads our stuff into the car. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to move quickly,\u201d she tells me. \u201cWe\u2019ll go the back way, towards Santa Fe.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we drive down out of the mountains, the night stars become visible. She lights up a cigarette and blows smoke out the window. \u201cYou should quite smoking, mom.\u201d I say. \u201cI know,\u201d she says. \u201cOne thing at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Escape by Murdock O’Mooney \u201cWe got to get out of here,\u201d I tell her. She tells me she knows and that she\u2019s waiting for the right time. \u201cYou saw what he did to Johnny- he\u2019s got a black eye and fat lip… he\u2019s all beat up.\u201d She says that it\u2019s none of our business. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[425,359,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contemporary","category-family-story","category-short-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3207,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3204\/revisions\/3207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}