Chapter 2 - The Red Suburban Lights
The cool night air hit my face like a bucket of ice water, snapping me out of the blinding shock that had gripped my mind inside the house.
Maya was hyperventilating beside me, her small sneakers catching on the slate paving stones of our front walkway.
"Mommy, is Daddy coming?" she gasped, looking back over her shoulder at the bright yellow light pouring out of the open front door.
"No, baby. He's not coming near you," I promised, my voice surprisingly steady despite the violent shaking in my knees.
I pulled open the passenger door of my crossover SUV, lifted Maya inside, and clicked her seatbelt tightly across her lap. I reached across her chest to press the door lock button before running around to the driver's side.
As I jammed my key into the ignition, the front door of the house flew open again.
David strode down the driveway, his face twisted in a terrifying mix of fury and panic. "Sarah! Turn off the car! We are not done talking about this!"
I hit the push-to-start button. The engine roared to life.
David reached the driver's side window, slamming his open palm against the glass with a loud BANG that made Maya scream in the backseat. "Open the window, Sarah! You took my child out of her home! That's kidnapping!"
"Get away from my car!" I yelled through the thick glass.
I threw the transmission into reverse and slammed my foot onto the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the wet concrete as the SUV backed out into the street. David had to jump back to avoid getting his foot run over by the front tire.
As I shifted into drive and sped down Cedar Street, I looked in my rearview mirror.
David stood under the yellow streetlamp at the end of our driveway, holding his cell phone to his ear, his broad silhouette looking dark and imposing against the suburban quiet.
Beside me, Maya pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Mommy... where are we going? Are we going to Grandma's house?"
A bitter lump rose in my throat. My mother was still inside that house, probably helping David formulate a story to tell the police.
"No, sweetie," I said, reaching over to squeeze her knee. "We're not going to Grandma's. We're going somewhere safe."
I drove three miles down the main avenue until I pulled into the bright, security-camera-lined parking lot of the Cook County Police Department 4th District Precinct.
I parked under a bright halogen light, turned off the engine, and took a long, deep breath.
May you like
My hands were still trembling, but when I looked down at my phone resting on the center console, the screen showed a four-minute and twenty-second video file saved safely to my cloud storage.
The silence was officially broken.
