CHAPTER 4
"Randy! Randy!" Austin said, lightly pulling on his sister’s arm. Miranda still didn’t wake from her state of unconsciousness. "Randy!" he cried laying his head on her stomach. She slowly started to stir. Austin sat up immediately. "Randy! Wake up Randy!" he pleaded.
"Huh?" she said, as she tried to sit up. She fell back quickly from the pain caused by sitting up. "What happened?" she asked.
"Daddy" he said. "He hurt you again Miranda." She knew he was scared because he never called her Miranda.
"Oh Austin," she said trying to sit up again, this time succeeding. She wrapped her arms around her brother and replied, "We’ve got to get out of here. Will you come with me?" she asked.
"Yeah, Randy. Where are we gonna go?" he asked still sobbing.
"I don’t know. We just need to get away from Daddy." She replied. "Go quickly to your room. Pack as much stuff as you can in your suitcase. Take your teddy bear and your blanket. Make the rest clothes. Who knows how long we will be gone. Now go." She urged him. He left the room, letting him little legs carry him as quick as they could.
Miranda quickly pulled a suitcase out from the closet. She didn’t even think about where she could go, she just packed her stuff. She packed as many clothes as she could. She dumped all of her books out of her backpack and stuffed in a picture of framed picture of her mother, her *NSYNC CD, her CD player, and a picture of *NSYNC. She went in the back of her dresser drawer and pulled out $300 she had saved up over the past 3 years. She put that in her backpack too. She grabbed the bags and put them out in the hall and then went into Austin’s room. "You ready baby?"
"I’m ready Randy." He said, clutching his teddy bear under one arm and his suit case in the other hand. Before heading downstairs she looked in the mirror. The whole left side of her face was swollen. She grabbed concealor from the bathroom draw and put it in her pocket.
She put her backpack on her shoulders and grabbed her suitcase. She waited to make sure Austin had his then headed down the stairs. She saw that her father was passed out on the kitchen floor. She thought he was gone. She grabbed the keys to car that no one ever used and went outside. She threw her stuff in the trunk and helped Austin do the same. She quietly went back to shut the door while Austin situated himself inside the car. She came back and sped out of the driveway. "Where are we going?" Austin asked.
"To the library." She stated matter of factly.
"Why?" he questioned.
"I need to go online." She said. She decided she had better tell Scott now and let him know that she couldn’t talk to him anymore. They drove to the library in silence. She carried Austin inside. "Honey, stand next to me while I just write someone a quick letter."
"Who you writing to?" he asked.
"A friend." she said plainly. She signed on Road Runner. They had AIM so she typed in her screen name and password and signed on. She saw that Scott was on. "Great. It will be easier telling him this way." She whispered.
Miranda: Scott, I need to tell you something.
Scott: Sure, Miranda what is it?
Miranda: I won’t be able to talk to you anymore.
Scott: Why not?
Miranda: I can’t. I think I can tell you now. The reason I can’t is because
I’m running away from home, with Austin.
Scott: Why? What happened?
Miranda: My dad, he abuses me. Today he knocked me unconscious. I can’t take
it anymore.
As she typed she silently cried.
Scott: Oh Miranda why didn’t you tell me sooner?
Miranda: I didn’t want you to think differently of me or treat me different.
I just thought you should get an explanation. I have enough money to stay at
a hotel tonight. Then from there I don’t know where I am going to go.
Scott: If I give you my number will you call me tonight. I want to help you.
Miranda: I can’t put this on you.
Scott: Please?
Miranda: All right. What is the number?
Scott: It’s my cell phone number. Its (555) 555-8876.
Miranda: Okay. I’ll call you around 7. Is that okay.
Scott: Yeah. That’s fine. Please call me. I want to know you’re okay.
Miranda: Okay. Thanks, but I got to go. TTYL.
Scott: Bye
Miranda signed off and looked down at Austin. He was crying. "What’s wrong buddy?"
"What if Daddy finds us?" he asked, sobbing.
"He won’t I promise. Come on we have to go to a hotel."
Miranda grabbed his hand and led him out of the library. She buckled herself in and made sure he was buckled as well before leaving the parking lot. They tried three hotels before she found a hotel she could stay in for 3 nights for only $270. It was their grand opening price. She paid at the desk got a cart to carry the suitcases to floor 3. She opened the door with a slide card the lady had given her at desk. She put the bags inside the door and looked at the clock. It was 6:58.
"I have to call my friend Scott in a few minutes." Miranda said facing Austin.
"Who is he?"
"He is a friend of mine that wants to help us so Daddy can’t hurt me anymore." She said.
"Is he a nice boy?"
"Yes, from what I know he is. His name is Scott," Miranda looked at the clock once again and it said 7:02. "Okay, you be quiet while I give him a call."
Miranda dialed the number and listened intently as it rung. Soon the phone was answered by a man. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Miranda. Is Scott there?"
"Miranda!" he yelped. "I honestly didn’t think you would call."
"I told you I would."
"Where are you now?"
"I’m at the Wyndlim Hotel. We are going to stay here for three nights. After that I don’t know what I am going to do." Miranda said, as she watched Austin go through her back pack and pull out her *NSYNC CD and her CD player. Instead of putting in the headphones he put in the mini speakers. He turned on "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You."
"What’s that?" Scott asked.
"Only my favorite group in the world."
"Oh, you like them a lot."
"Yeah I do."
"Well, I talked to my friend’s mom today and she said that you and Austin could come stay with us."
"No I couldn’t possibly."
"Come on. It will be fun. I’m off work for 2 months. We can get to know each other better."
"What am I going to do Scott? You know my Dad is going to report me missing. He’s going to act all innocent around the police and then after he gets me home he will beat the shit out of me."
"You don’t know that Miranda. If he beats the shit out of you he obviously doesn’t care enough about you to care where you are."
"But he will when he finds out I have Austin."
"Will you just come down to Florida and stay with me , my two friends, and. There is plenty of room and they said that would be fine. I told them the situation you were in and they were quick to agree. Please?"
"Okay. I’ll start the drive down on Monday morning."
"No. Abandon the car. I’ll arrange a flight for you."
"No. You can’t do everything for me."
"Well, I want to. You’re a sweet girl Miranda. There will also be a surprise waiting for you when you arrive at the airport. What room number are you in. I’ll call you sometime tomorrow with all the flight arrangem…" Scott was interrupted by the sound of Austin.
"Miranda! Look it’s JC!" he squealed.
"What?"
"He showed Miranda what he had found in a magazine!"
"That’s lovely! I’ve seen JC a million times silly!" she said turning her attention back to Scott.
"What was that all about?" Scott asked.
"Nothing." She said quickly. "sorry you got interrupted."
"That’s all right. As I was saying, I’ll call you tomorrow with the flight arrangements. Is that okay?"
"That’s great, but are you positive you want to do this for me? You haven’t even met me face to face. Not that you would want to anyway, with the way I look." She murmured the last part.
"Yes, I’m positive."
"Okay, then. I think I’m going to get some sleep."
"Okay sweet dreams." Scott replied.
"Miranda!" Austin shouted.
"Can I talk to the boy?" Miranda chuckled.
"I think Austin wants to talk to you Scott."
"I don’t mind," he said.
"I’ll let him hang up. Goodbye and thank you, Scott."
"No problem, Miranda. Talk to you tomorrow." Miranda handed the phone off to Austin.
"Hi!" he replied.
"Hi Austin. My name is Scott."
"Me and Randy are coming to live with you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so. You’re going to take a plane here. Have you ever been on a plane?" Scott asked.
"No, I haven’t."
"So you were the one who turned on *NSYNC?"
"Yeah! My sister likes *NSYNC."
"Oh. I know. Does she have a favorite?"
"Yes. She has two."
"Really? Who?"
"Umm, JC and umm, Lance!" he screamed triumphantly.
"Oh! That’s neat kiddo, but I must be going. I think you have to get to sleep."
"Bye Scott."
"Bye Austin."
Austin hung up the phone just as Miranda was coming out of the bathroom. "He is a nice boy." Austin replied.
"I’m glad you think so. I thought you might not want to go live with him."
"No, I want to because I don’t want Daddy to hurt you anymore Randy."
"That’s sweet of you, Tin. For now, it’s time for you to go to bed."
"Goodnight Randy!" he said as he lightly kissed her bruised cheek.
"Night sweetie." She said as she tucked him in.
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