Free Patiently I Wait by J.W. Stephens

all alone.
    “Everything is going to be okay,” she whispered to herself.
    She was going to find a way to get out of there tonight. She wasn’t going to give in and risk Dan hurting her anyway, even if she did what he said. There was no way he was just going to let her leave, risking her telling the police. She couldn’t wait until the morning, she was going to leave tonight.
    As she was planning her next step, the door opened abruptly.
    “Megan! What are you doing in here? I don’t want to see you now, or ever again. Please, get out of here!”
    Megan didn’t act as if she heard anything Shannon said as she quietly shut the door behind her. Shannon repeated herself with an even louder voice. Megan cut her off by putting her finger over her lips.
    “Shut the fuck up Shannon, I’m going to get you out of here!”

CHAPTER TEN: BREAK FREE
    Shannon was hesitant as she didn’t know if she could trust Megan or not. She had been lying all along so why would she want to help now? Something inside of Shannon was telling her to trust her, at the same time, she didn’t want to go along with another part of Megan and Dan’s plan if that is what was going on.
    “How do I know you aren’t lying to me again Megan?” she asked, holding back tears. “How do I know this isn’t all part of the plan?”
    “Baby, listen to me,” said Megan, begging Shannon to give her a chance to talk. “I went along with Dan’s plan to get back at you for hurting him. I didn’t know how wonderful you were, that I would fall in love with you. The plan was to fake it and get you hooked, but that isn’t how it went. I’m sorry for everything, but we have to get out of here. Dan is going to try to get what he wants and he may not let you go afterward. I don’t want you to get hurt Shannon.”
    “Okay Megan, I believe you,” Shannon said, kissing Megan on the forehead quickly. “What now? Do we call Julie and get her to come get us?”
    Megan shook her head sadly. “We can’t do that Shannon. Julie is in on this as well. She led you right to us so we could all benefit. We are going to have to stay away from her or she will tell Dan exactly where we went the first chance she gets.”
    Shannon couldn’t believe what Megan was telling her but really didn’t have an option in the matter.
    “Are you saying Julie has been in on this since day one?” she asked, covering her face, overwhelmed with emotion.
    “Yes Shannon,” said Megan, regretfully. “I am sorry that this has happened to you. Time is of the essence, we are in the middle of nowhere and there are not many folks around for miles. Cell phone service won’t allow calls out from here and we can’t take the car. I’m not sure what we can do, but we certainly cannot sit around here.”
    “How far is the walk back to civilization?” Shannon asked, thinking in her head about the next step they should take.
    “About ten miles, give or take,” Megan replied, knowing it would be a stretch to walk that far and not get turned around in the darkness of night.
    “Well, I don’t really think we have any other options Megan. We are going to have to try.”
    Megan nodded, knowing Shannon was right. The only problem was getting out of the cabin without Dan hearing them.
    “Where can we go once we get out of here?” Megan asked, as if Shannon knew anything about the area.
    “We could go back to your house and leave from there!” Shannon said, almost as if Megan should have been the first to think that.
    “Well, there lies another problem. That house isn’t mine Shannon.”
    “Well, if it isn’t yours, whose is it? Also, where do you live if that isn’t your house,” Megan asked, confused about the situation even more now.
    “It’s Julie’s house. Her parents bought it for her before they moved away to Australia. I live here, with Dan. We acted like that was my house so we could set everything up in terms of the plan we had all worked out.”
    Shannon was stunned at