Chapter 7

Once the doctor closed the door behind him, I asked.

“Did you find my father?” I wanted to see him nod but instead, he shook his head from side to side.

“Your father managed to escape the hospital. It seems to me that he got dressed as a warden boy and escaped in an ambulance with the sirens on. Your father fooled them stating that the ambulance was needed urgently for an accident which occurred nearby. He was wearing a mask as well and my men hesitated to stop the ambulance for a complete check up and let him go.” Jason angrily declared as he fisted his hands by his sides in anger, clearly frustrated that after reassuring me that he wouldn’t let my father escape the hospital, the latter still managed to get away.

I felt my insides crumble and twisting at the same time as my chest heaved out with uneven breath. No, this can’t happen. He can’t escape. I thought he would be behind the bars once he got out but he got away. Now, he can voluntarily pop up in my life at anytime as he wishes and I wouldn’t be able to stop him from torturing me again.

“Listen to me, Lea.” Jason said as he grabbed onto my shoulders, shaking me out of my thoughts and made me look at him.

“Do you have any relatives where you could go and stay while I sort this matter? I need to catch your father first before everything gets back to normal. Believe me; you will be able to restart your life once your father gets caught. I assure you that he will be sentenced for quite a long time for physically assaulting you.” Jason said but my mind was stuck on thinking about my relatives. My train of thoughts was at once broken and focused only on my supposed relatives.

“I have no one except my father.” I simply said and closed my eyes when I felt the brink of my eyes tear up with unshed tears.

“I’ll get you out of this mess.” He uttered with determination but I shook my head.

“How?” I questioned and tried to calm down.

“You will have to get away from this town. I know someone who can help us. He will help you, okay? Stop stressing yourself, Lea. Everything will be okay. As long as I am here, nothing will happen to you. I will take care of everything. For now, I need you to calm down and then, we’ll go fetch your stuffs from your house, okay?” he told me and I stared at him as if he lost his head.

“What? W-Why do I have to get away? Can’t you help me yourself?” I couldn’t help but ask Jason. He’s a freaking police officer. Why would I need to get away from here if he’s in charge of my case? Nothing is making sense right now. I’m already worried about my father roaming the town freely as if he hasn’t done anything wrong and now on top of that, this supposed police officer is ordering me to get away while I still can. What?

“Lea, listen to me. I am helping you. As long as you stay in this town, your father will try his best to get to you in every way possible. It might be at your school, at your place or even at the grocery store. You will have to look behind you every now and then, always anticipating meeting your father again. Do you want to live a life like that? All I can do is getting you a restraining order but knowing your father, he’ll stop at nothing to get to you.” Jason explained and I shiver in fright once the thought of crossing path with my father once again crossed my mind.

Before I could answer him, the door flew open and I involuntarily jumped.

“Here are the discharge papers.” The doctor handed out the sheet over to Jason whose eyes fleetingly glanced over the written sentences before handing them over to me.

“Can you fetch a nurse to pack her stuffs?” Jason asked the doctor while his eyes took in my unzip bag lying on the couch resting against the wall adjacent to the door. An old shirt of mine was thrown beside the bag as if someone had rummaged through my stuffs. It must have been my father taking out some clothes for me to wear. He must have been acting out in front of the doctor. It was so unlike him to bring me any clothes, I thought as I signed the discharge papers. But then when I think of it, I have never been admitted to the hospital like this before so I don’t know whether he would have brought me any clothes or not.  

The doctor called for a nurse and the latter zipped up my bag after having packed the shirt as well as the medicines prescribed to me.

“Let’s go.” Jason ordained as he carried my bag for me.

I slowly got up and followed him out.

“Take care, Lea!” the doctor yelled out from behind.

I glanced back at him with a grateful smile and nodded.

Once outside, Jason threw some keys over to one of the men standing at the entrance and the latter swiftly caught it and nodded at Jason.  

He must be one of the guards, I thought.

“He’ll get the jeep in a second.” Jason muttered as he caught me shivering.

It was getting cold as the night drew in and I couldn’t stop my teeth from clattering. I warmed myself up by rubbing my palms over my cold arms, instantly causing another shiver to travel up and down my spine.

Soon, a police jeep came into a screeching halt in front of us. The man from earlier got out but left the jeep running with the keys in the ignition.

“Get in.” Jason said as he pulled open the passenger door and threw in my bag. It landed perfectly on the seat. The man told him something and pretty soon, they were deep in a conversation, discussing something which appeared to be quite important, probably work-related as the serious looks on their faces deepened gradually.