Chapter 75: Your Love Is My Drug Part 2
Escape Day
I wake up excited, but I don't let it show. I prepare the coffee before Doug leaves. I do something very light for him and stronger for me. While he eats scrambled and toasted eggs, I eat bacon, eggs and some fruit, I also have a large mug of coffee.
When we're done, he swaps the chain that holds me together for a longer one. This allows me, even if trapped, to move around some rooms of the house, such as the living room and bathroom. We don't have a television, I turn on the old radio through which I listen to the news while I pick up an old cast-iron pot I had in the cupboards.
My plan is simple, I'll wait for Doug to arrive tired from work, get the pot on his head and hopefully make him pass out. While I am awake, I will steal the keys to the handcuffs and the chain.
The morning flies by, I enjoy the free time and prepare a corn porridge, the same as my grandmother did. Like a large portion, and as soon as I'm done, I drop the plate in the sink and go hide from Doug, who should be arriving soon.
I hide in the kitchen pantry with the iron pot in hand, I don't wait long until I hear his car arrive. The house is silent, my plan starts to seem too simple, maybe I should give up or wait longer, no, the time is now. I hear the man open the door, calling out to me, I hear the desperation in his voice as he shouts my name, and I realize when he finds out where I am.
"Is that some kind of game, bunny? If it is, I've already won. "I say a prayer for strength from God, and I hope... Hope... and I wait, gripping the pot tightly and preparing to knock on the man who opens the door.
Doug opens the door slowly, when the door is wide open and he looks at me surprised, I bang the pot on his head, but I miss it at first, I don't give up and knock again, this time I hit his forehead. I keep pounding and I feel something warm on my skin, blood, he's bleeding. Doug is slow to fall, I didn't hit enough.
"You fat shitty bitch, why are you doing this, Ella, why?" Doug asks and comes to knock me down, the impact with the ground makes me lose air, a very strong headache takes me and for a second, everything goes black. "Want to go back to that little guy who humiliated you? Or for those freaks you call friends? You're not going to leave here ever, Ella. "He screams holding my neck, I see Doug's hatred plastered on his face, it's the most insane look I've ever seen in my life. For the first time in two weeks, I feel like he can kill me right there.
Doug squeezes my neck in a way that makes it difficult for me to breathe, I think about how to get away, I try to pull from memory everything Clint had taught me about self-defense. Every time I'm close to the thought, something drags me away, I go back to fighting and concentrating. Then the memory comes as a flash, hands flattened, slamming hard into both ears. I take strength from where I don't have it and hit it. Doug screams and lets go, I look around looking for the pot, it's under the kitchen table, I crawl over to it and pick it up, I try to get up, but I'm too dizzy, I try again and even dizzy, I manage to get up and go to Doug, I take a deep breath before hitting his head with the bottom of the pan, He faints, and I knock again.
I fall down next to a totally passed out Doug and start looking for the keys, find them in his pants pocket along with a wallet, grab the sauce and start testing the keys on the padlock, on the third I open the chain and see my ankle totally purple, but I can't focus on that right now. I drag myself across the floor and pin Doug's feet to the chain before walking away to the door, my head feels like it's going to explode, but I ignore the pain and get up near the door, get out and walk to the car with wobbly steps. Inside the car, I put the key and turn it on, then speed up and take the way out of the farm. I drive for about half an hour, I'm passing through what looks like a corn farm, the pain gets stronger and stronger, I start seeing stars in front of me before everything gets dark and I pass out from the steering wheel.
***
"Marilyn, you need to wake up." Jebe's voice wakes me up, I look around and I'm not in the car, he's sitting next to me on the lawn of a park with cherry trees. "You're showing yourself to be lazy, you know that?
"How are you here, or rather, how did I get here?" I ask looking at my second father.
"You're not here, you're still in the car that's mired in the cornfield." Jebe says laughing. "I always knew you'd end up kidnapped by some freak, but I swore this crazy one would be my son.
" John has already done it in the Hamptons. " I speak laughing, settling down on the lawn. "I miss you so much, Jebe.
"Me too, my girl, but I want you to know that I have seen everything that has happened." The old man says smiling, running his hand over my face. "The longing has been great, but the happiness has been so much greater, seeing the woman you are becoming soothes my heart.
"Do you swear, Jebe? I have done my best to keep everyone in the magazine united and happy, I wish you could see how well everything is going, the magazine even goes to India, believe me?
"I know that, girl, I always knew that John and you would turn Empire Kross into something much bigger than Made and I dreamed of one day." Jebe smiles looking at a spot in front of us, I follow his gaze and see her, the woman I've learned to admire even though I've never met her. "I knew she wouldn't resist, come on, girl, it's time to meet your mother-in-law.
Madeleine Hills is everything Debbie and John have ever talked about, an exuberant woman with long black hair and the eyes John and Miranda inherited from her. Jebe and I walk up to her smiling, the woman greets me with a tight hug and a big smile.
"I can finally meet you, Marilyn. Jebediah told me so much about you, I was almost asking for this meeting myself. " Made smiles gently, she conveys to me a peace that makes me forget everything. " You're so beautiful, that's why John fell in love with you.
"Well, that took a while, but I think I can say it's true." I speak watching Jebe hug the woman by the waist, it's so strange to see old Jebe with such a young woman.
"Believe me when I say, my son has always liked you, from the first glance, but my John has always been too stubborn and proud, like a certain person here.
"I'm stubborn to the right extent, but unfortunately I passed it on to my son.
" But John also inherited a lot of good things from you, Uncle Jebe, he's an amazing man, he even saved a girl from jail and then gave her a job. " I say remembering Lizzie. "He inherited your big heart.