Chapter 5 - Down the Hall
“She’s faking it to stall us!” Daniel snarled, completely unraveling. His eyes darted between the flashing blue lights outside and me curled on the floor. “Get up, Emily! Get the hell up!”
He grabbed the fabric of my maternity dress, hauling me upward by the collar. My injured foot dragged uselessly across the linoleum, the torn ligaments screaming under the sudden tension.
“Daniel, leave her!” Patricia screamed from the hall. “The front porch! They’re at the front porch!”
Heavy, thunderous bangs rattled the front door downstairs. “Sheriff’s Office! Open the door immediately! We have exigent circumstances!”
Instead of letting go, Daniel’s grip tightened. The desperation in his eyes had crossed from anger into absolute mania. “The back stairs,” he muttered under his breath, dragging me out of the bathroom into the hallway. “The truck is in the alley behind the tree line. We just need to get across the state line to my brother’s place. You’ll sign the papers there, Emily. You will sign them.”
“Daniel, stop! You’re killing her!” Patricia yelled, but not out of sympathy—she was terrified of an upgraded murder charge. “The police have the driveway blocked! Where are you going to go?”
“I am not going to prison for this!” Daniel screamed at his mother, his voice cracking.
I felt the baby shift lower. The pressure was unbearable, an overwhelming biological imperative that commanded every muscle in my abdomen to push. I dropped my dead weight straight down onto the carpet, using gravity against him.
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Daniel stumbled forward, thrown off balance by my sudden collapse. His grip tore through the fabric of my dress, leaving him clutching a strip of cotton while I crashed onto the hallway runner.
Downstairs, the sound of splintering oak echoed through the foyer as the front door was kicked off its hinges.
