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But maybe it would be far enough. We just had to get down without breaking any bones.
The urgency to get out made my heart race. Preston could return any minute. I took a few seconds to look for more sheets so we could make our rope longer, but there was only an old quilt in a drawer. Nothing else that would help us get down.
I took the old quilt and unfolded it, then had Brielle help me drop it out the window. It wouldn’t cushion our fall, but at least it might cover up some of the glass shards. Then we tied the bed sheet rope to the bed frame and pushed the bed closer to the window.
“Are you ready?” I asked Brielle.
“Where do we go once we’re out? Down the road? It should meet up with the highway somewhere.”
“No, too much risk of Preston coming back and catching us. We should—” I was about to say we should use the road as a guide but stay hidden in the woods, when the distinct sound of a car came from outside.
Brielle’s eyes widened in terror.
I tossed the rope out the window. “You go first.”
She climbed onto the bed and scrambled out the window. My heart pounded as I watched, leaning out so I could grab her if necessary. She braced herself with her feet on the side of the cabin and lowered herself down as far as she could. Then she looked up.
“Jump down,” I said, trying to keep my voice low. “Roll when you hit the ground.”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, then let go. The drop wasn’t too far. She hit the ground and rolled, then got to her feet.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Come down.”
I didn’t even look over my shoulder to see if Preston was already inside. With blood roaring in my ears, I climbed out the window, over the ledge, and held on for dear life.
It was hard to brace myself against the cabin in my stupid heels, but there was nothing I could do about that. I didn’t want to be barefoot once I got outside. My arms burned with the effort as I climbed down. A voice came from inside, making my heart jump, and I let go, hoping I didn’t break a leg when I hit the ground.
I didn’t even try to keep my feet. I let the fall take me, rolling into the impact. A funny memory of Theo Haven teaching me how to roll when I fell off a swing came back to me. An odd thought to have while my life was in danger, but I was grateful my body seemed to remember the maneuver.
Brielle grabbed my hands to help me up and we raced away from the cabin together.
Behind us, I heard a man’s voice, harsh with anger. Was it Preston? Had he come up to the loft just as we’d fled out the window?
It didn’t sound like him. Although that might have been my fear-soaked imagination.
My heels sank into the wet ground, making it hard to pick up any speed. I tried to keep my head, orienting myself to the cabin and the road leading away, but everything was happening so fast.
My stomach sank as I noticed we were leaving a clear trail into the woods. There was no way to avoid leaving footprints in the muddy ground. It would be a matter of minutes before Preston—or whoever it was—found us.
“Keep going,” I said, half breathless.
My back tensed as a noise came from behind us. Someone was crashing through the brush.
We were screwed.
I risked a look over my shoulder. Sure enough, a man was following us into the woods. He was dressed in a black wool coat, but it wasn’t his clothes that struck me.
That wasn’t Preston. It was his friend, Drew.
A shot rang out behind us and Brielle reached out to grab me. We stopped and I drew her close to me, putting an arm around her.
Slowly, I turned around. Drew stood a short distance behind us, his arm raised. A gunshot. He’d just fired a gun into the air.
His arm moved so the gun was pointing at us. “I’d rather not shoot you, but I will if you run.”
I believed him. His casual tone was too honest—too matter of fact—to be a bluff.
“Come on back, girls,” he said, gesturing with the gun.
