We're Not Crazy

Run Like Hell

*4:50pm present day*

Our second day of doing nothing. Josiah was on his third movie since we'd woken up.

I heard a bit of shouting and it wasn't coming from the television. I looked at Jo to see if he was listening but when he focuses on one thing, he tunes everything else out. So of course he couldn't hear.

"I don't like when you motherfuckers are on my property! You ain't got a warrant then you get!" someone shouted.
He sounded like the guy that gave us the keys to our room.

"Josi..."
"Hm?"
"Listen..." I instructed.

He turned the tv down.

"We just have a couple of questions for you, alright? This is serious. I know you've heard about the deaths around town and the robberies. It's a small town, word gets around."
"Yea, I read the newspaper..."
"Have you had any outsiders come in and rent out a room?"
"Outsiders? Everybody here is a outsider."
"Anybody with a different accent maybe? Again, there aren't many people here, anybody you've never seen before?"
"I don't get out much as is. I don't see a lotta people. Just cause I ain't seen 'em before, don't mean they're suspicious. They ain't got homes? I give 'em one. I'm not lookin' for backstories."
"Well, sir, this is a serious investigation, people have died."
"And I'm sorry to hear that but I ain't got nothin' for you."
"Do you mind if we interview your residents?"

That question quickened my heart rate.

"Free country. But if they get mad at you and I lose business, you'll have me to deal with."
"I understand."

It was quiet for a few seconds until we heard knocking a few doors down.

"Josiah..." I called nervously.
"You remember what I said?"
"We can't run."
"Why can't we?"
"The door would bring us to them and what would we say when they saw us?"
"I never said we were leavin' through the door."

Another knock a few doors down but closer.

"There's a window in the bathroom. It goes to the back of the building." Josiah said. "Come on."
He took my hand and pulled me behind him as he walked to the bathroom.

I watched him shut the door behind us and he went over to the toilet before lifting the blinds and opening the window.

"You're gonna crawl out, alright?"
I nodded.
"When you do, you run like hell." He took my hand again and pulled me to the window then pulled the top down on the toilet.
"Where will you be?" I asked and stepped onto the toilet.
"Behind you."

We both flinched and looked towards it as we heard the knock on our door.

"Promise." I demanded and looked back at Josiah.

Another knock.

"Josiah, promise me..." I begged.
He pulled my face to his and kissed my cheek twice before my lips.
"I promise. Now go."

I looked at the woods a few feet behind the motel.

They knocked harder.

"Go!" he repeated in a harsh whisper.

I didn't want to but I began crawling out.

"You run like hell." he reiterated as he helped me out.

The doorknob to the front door started jiggling.

I made it out and landed roughly on the ground.

"Run." he said quietly and closed the window back.
I backed away from the wall slowly as I continued looking at the window.

"HEY!" someone shouted.

I looked to the side and there was an officer coming from around the corner.

I quickly turned and ran in the direction of the woods.
"STOP!" he yelled.

I had to stop myself from turning around to look for Josiah out of fear that it would slow me down and I'd get caught but I wanted him to be next to me.

I kept running and almost tripped over dents in the soft ground or sticks I didn't notice but I made sure I didn't fall.
I didn't know how far I was supposed to go, I didn't want to be caught but I also didn't want to lose Josiah.

My legs began to get tired and I quickly hid behind a large tree to catch my breath.

I peaked to the left to see if I could find if the cop had followed me. I'd ran a really far distance away from the motel. I could hardly see it.
As I looked, my hand was grabbed from the right and I was pulled off quickly.

I smiled as I followed him and ran behind. I noticed his other hand tightly held onto a bag.

I looked behind every so often to see our distance. I couldn't see the motel anymore. It wasn't long before the trees covered the view and we just kept running.

It reminded me of the first time we'd escaped.
The way we ran almost a mile through the woods to get away from the security and nurses that came looking for us.

All of a sudden I ran into something.

I looked at Josiah as he stood still.
I noticed what he'd stared at.

There was an old truck parked next to a deep crater in the ground a few hundred feet ahead.

"You think if we went over there, they wouldn't find us?"

I looked behind and couldn't see them but I didn't think they'd stop looking for us that fast. I turned back to Josiah and nodded.

He led us over to it and we'd both took time to look around every few seconds.
We could hear a bit of shouting occasionally and walked faster.

When we made it to the crater, we noticed a small house inside.

He looked at me and I looked at him.

"You think somebody's in there?" he asked and looked back at it.
"I don't know..."

I could see it had a bunch of items laying around. I wondered who'd choose to build a home out in the woods. Especially in a hole. I also wondered why they had so much junk.

Josiah slid down the side of the crater.
"Come on." he said and held his hand out for me.
I did what he did and nervously slid down the side.
He caught me and I now held his hand in both of mine as I reluctantly followed behind him.