I wring my hands together as I wait for Bebe to get here. I know I’ve only been here for a few minutes but it feels like forever. It’s always does when I stay in one place too long. Irrational thoughts begin to flood my mind and all I can think is the more I stand still, the closer he gets to me. I clench the bag on my arm. It’s filled to the brim with all I could carry, and the weight of it is starting to make my shoulder ache.

“Will!” I turn to see Bebe running toward me. She almost knocks me over when she wraps me in a warm, tight hug. I want to cry as I do the same, knowing this might be the last time I see my best friend for a very long time. If ever again. Who knows how long he’ll chase me.

Bebe and I haven’t gone a day without talking since her family moved next door to mine in the second grade.

“God, I’ve been so worried.” I hear the tremble in her voice and I hate that I have brought this nightmare into her life. “I want to kill him.” She squeezes me even tighter.

We hold each other for a second, and then I look around as I cling to her. “Are you sure you weren’t followed?”

“Promise. I snuck out the side door when I left work today and took the bus instead of my car.”

I let out a sigh of relief at her words. I’m so close to getting away that I can almost taste it. I just didn’t expect it to be bittersweet.

I pull back and look at her. Her blue eyes are watering and I know she’s fighting tears and doesn’t want to upset me. I’m doing the same thing, though I’m not sure I have any tears left in me. I’ve cried them all out this past week on cheap rent-by-the-hour hotel room pillows. They’re the only places that will let me rent a room without asking for ID.

“How are my mom and dad doing?” I ask. Guilt weighs heavy inside me at the thought. My dad lost his job because of me.

“They’re fine, Willow. Your dad got unemployment and I’m sure he’ll find work soon. You know that doesn’t even matter. They only worry about you.”

I nod, knowing she’s right, but it still hurts. “Has he bothered you any more?” I ask, and wait. She hesitates for a moment. “Bebe.” I grab her hand and squeeze it. “Tell me. I need to know,” I plead with her.

She licks her lips before sighing heavily. “Yeah, he pulled me over last night on my way home. Asked where you were. I told him I didn’t know, because I didn’t.” Her last words are laced with irritation. I didn’t tell anyone where I was. I thought the fewer people who knew, the better. That maybe he’d leave my friends and family alone, but it isn’t working.

He seems to be growing madder each day that he can’t find me. The downside to that is I’m quickly running out of money. I drained all my accounts and maxed out my credit cards to get out as much money as I could. This is my last hope. It’s my final play, and it has to work or I fear I’ll fall into his hands. Or worse, I’ll hand myself over so he’ll leave the people I love alone. My family would fight that, but that’s not what I want. They’d fight so hard they’d end up getting hurt in the process. It’s best I leave. He has to know I’m gone so he’ll leave them be.

“What else?” I push, wanting more. I can tell there’s more with how she’s shifting on her feet.

“He said young girls like me shouldn’t be out late at night on their own. Terrible things could happen to them.”

I close my eyes. Yeah, I know what kind of terrible things Ben is capable of. I seem to be the only one, though. Bebe and my family know only because no one believed me when I tried to report him. Everyone loves Sheriff Bennett Campton. So much so that when I told my story everyone turned a blind eye. In fact, they thought I was a liar who was trying to get back at Ben after he dumped me. I still can’t believe I dated him for a month before I saw who he really was—the man who hides behind his badge.

I was like the rest of them, too, at first. I worked at the daycare down the street from the police station. It was where all the police officers brought their kids. Sheriff Bennett came around a lot because he knew all the men. The police force was like a family.

I loved my job, and when Ben asked me out one day everyone pushed me to say yes. All the other women at the daycare I worked with said he was a catch. He was sweet and handsome, they said, and I thought so, too.

We went on a lot of dates, but for some reason I could never get past kissing him. He’d said all the right things, did all the right stuff, but when his lips met mine something felt wrong.

Then he started pushing for more. He would try to go further than I wanted to, and he began being more forceful each time we were together. His hands would wander and I grew more and more uncomfortable when I was around him. I tried to break it off, but he laughed like I was joking. He kept coming to my work, calling, showing up at my parents’ house when I was there visiting. He would act like I invited him. He was everywhere I went, and I swear a few times I woke up in the middle of the night and thought he’d been in my apartment.

Then finally one day my dad told him to leave me alone. Ben lost it. He never hit me but was always really forceful. He was bigger than me, and I knew if I said or did the wrong thing, he could easily overpower me. It wasn’t just abuse, it was intimidation. I’d been lucky to get away the few times he’d cornered me, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he finally got me where he wanted me. Then, when he finally snapped, I didn’t have a choice but to run away.

“I’m so sorry I got you mixed up in this, Bebe.”

“Don’t you say that,” Bebe snaps at me. “He’s a prick and you did nothing to bring this on yourself. Everyone else in this community is at fault. No one is doing their job—protecting you. They’re letting him rip you apart. He’ll keep doing it until you crawl back to him. I know that’s what he’s trying to do.”

“I know it is,” I agree, letting out a deep breath.

After I made the report at the police station no one would talk to me. Not even at work. Eventually they fired me. Somehow he got my father fired from his manager job at the car dealership. He’s been there over twenty years. He convinced everyone I was mad he broke it off with me. Ben even told me if I came back to him he’d tell everyone we made up. That we were getting married. That made me want to vomit.

“I’ve come up with a plan,” I tell her.

“I figured as much.” Bebe pulls out her driver’s license.

I take it from her. Bebe and I look a lot alike. People often think we’re cousins or even sisters. We both have pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Where mine is straight, hers is curly. But she straightened it today like I’d asked her. The main difference between us is shape, which doesn’t matter. All that matters is the picture on the driver’s license.

“You got an extra ID, right?” she asks as I hand her mine. I nod yes at her. Her ID is only for traveling. I’ll need my real one when I get married so it’s legal.

“Okay. So I need you to go to the airport and book a flight somewhere. I don’t care where. But not too far because you need to be back to work on Monday.” She shakes her head in understanding. “You’re going to have to take a bus back home. Book the flight in my name. When you land, get a cab to the train station and get back here as fast as possible. Only cash.” I reach into my pocket, pulling out the only money I have left and I try to hand it to her. “He’ll think I went wherever you fly to. Then maybe he’ll leave you alone.”

She pushes the money back at me. “I have money, Willow. Keep it. You might need it.”

I put it back into my pocket, knowing there’s no point fighting with her.

“Where are you going?” she asks me.

I shake my head. I can’t tell her. It’s too dangerous.

She closes her eyes and a tear slips out. I wipe it away.

“I have a plan and I’m going to be okay. I’m going somewhere safe. I’ll reach out to you when I can.”

She grabs me, pulling me into another hug. I wrap around her as tight as I can. “I love you,” I tell her.

“I love you, too. Come back to us.”

I nod and pray I’m not lying.