Never Late, Never Away Chapter 2010
She picked up the rod and stood beneath the window. She began plotting a viable escape path.
She waited for ten minutes to make sure that her kidnapper was truly gone. Steeling herself, she picked up the rod and hooked it on one of the thin slants on the window. This window only had two thin slants, with a narrow gap in between. Joan would never have thought of escaping through the windows if not for her slender frame.
“Ah!” She fell off the rod on her first attempt.
She fell off the rod countless times. Each failed attempt chipped at her already limited stamina.
She didn’t know how many times she’d failed before she finally managed to get up to the window.
The window was really high. If she jumped from this height, she could fracture a good number of bones or even die. Yet lady luck seemed to be smiling upon her today. Instead of solid ground, there was a calm river before her.
Not too far from the river was her kidnapper. He appeared to be gloating while he was picking berries.
Splash!
Joan jumped into the river before she could change her mind.
Her kidnapper turned around at the sound. Perplexed, he surveyed his surroundings.
I swore I heard something just now. But why isn’t there anyone here? He started swearing as he ate the berries he had picked.
“F*ck! Dumb jerks and their stupid pranks!”
Joan was swimming frantically toward the other side of the river at that very moment. She wanted to find Dustin and Lucius as soon as possible. She fainted from exhaustion just as she pulled herself onto the riverbank.
“Miss, wake up!” A man was shaking her by her elbows.
I’m really tired.
In the hospital, Joan lay on the bed with her eyes shut. She had been hooked up to an IV drip, and she looked utterly exhausted. It was raining cats and dogs outside the hospital, with frequent flashes of lightning and thunder.
“What a poor woman. She’s covered in injuries,” the nurse sighed, shaking her head at Joan’s state.
“Maybe she was abused.”
A few curious onlookers had gathered in front of her bed to speculate on her condition, though they didn’t linger for long.
“I need a family member to sign off on this!” the doctor shouted.
No one came forward. The people crowding Joan’s bed were all strangers.
“Or whoever brought her to the hospital?” The doctor sounded somewhat displeased.
Joan opened her eyes at the loud and unfamiliar sounds. In her hazy state, she tried to figure out if she had escaped successfully.
“Where am I?” she croaked weakly.
“Don’t worry. You’re at the hospital,” a woman comforted her while she stroked Joan’s hair.
What a poor woman!
Meanwhile, Gabriella was enjoying her coffee on the sofa in her living room. She flipped through a magazine with her right hand.
Suddenly, the cup slipped from her grasp.
Damn it! What’s wrong with me today? I almost fell down when I got off the bed, and then I choked at lunch. I can’t even enjoy a cup of coffee in peace.
Ring! Ring!
She immediately answered her phone when she saw the caller ID.
“What did you say? She ran away? What did I hire you for, then? Go find her! You better find that damn woman even if you need to dig her out from her grave!”
It was the fourteenth of September. Dustin was waiting patiently at Joan’s bedside. “Joan, wake up.”
“Larry,” she mumbled in her sleep.
Dustin’s gaze dimmed at her words.
“Mom, why won’t you wake up?” Lucius shook Joan’s elbows gently.
Still, there was no reaction from her.
“Dr. Silverman, that was so careless of you. How could you let her jump from such a height? Do you know how dangerous that is?” one of the nurses chided.
Luckily some of the staff in this hospital knew Dustin or he would still be looking in circles for Joan.
“How is she? Anything serious?” he asked urgently.
“She suffered a lot of injuries. It’ll take time to heal,” the nurse answered.
Dustin tightened his grip on Joan’s hands. His heart ached at her condition.
Suddenly, Lucius left the ward and headed for the reception. Dustin didn’t realize that Lucius had left the room. All his attention was on Joan.
