Haven Hill: Chapter 15

by the Author of The Widow in the Woods

Here’s where the story left off last time.

First things first.

Kate grabbed a couple of Ariel’s old backpacks, which she had thankfully stashed away instead of tossing. A My Little Pony Backpack and a purple pack with frolicking kittens would hold their getaway gear. What Kate packed didn’t have to get them far. She had a secret.

Into the packs went Lifestraws, empty water bottles, and a couple of sealed pouches of dried fruit. She switched small flashlights on to check the batteries, and those followed. Wool socks, personal first aid kits, lighters, and some extra bandages rounded out the gear. Two black Arcturus ponchos were pulled out to be worn over the packs – they didn’t want to be out in the dark, dark woods with adorable beacons.

She stared for a long while at her supplies, wishing fervently for her Glock. She yearned for an axe, but that was upstairs in the screen porch storage closet.

Wishes weren’t horses, and beggars weren’t riding. She would have to make the best of what she had.

A machete, a large knife that could be strapped to her waist over her pajamas, and a larger hammer could serve to defend them. They weren’t guns, of course, but she was fueled by mama bear rage, and she was utterly confident in her ability to wield those makeshift weapons with ferocity.

She stuffed her feet into her pink, fuzzy slippers, thankful she’d chosen ones with a slightly hard sole that she could wear out on the screen porch on chilly mornings. “Some warrior,” she thought with a slightly hysterical giggle.

She gently shook Ariel’s shoulder and put her fingers to her lips in a “shhh” sign. Ariel sat up, instantly alert, and nodded. “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.”

“Wakey, wakey, out we breaky,” Ariel replied with an impish grin. Kate hugged her fiercely. This was her reason why, the reason behind everything she did. She would not fail her daughter. She instructed Ariel to don the backpack adorned with colorful, dancing ponies. The girl stuck her book into the bag and put it on. She covered up with a poncho, stuffed her feet into her Yeti slippers, and tightened up her ponytail. Ariel wore the same look of resolve that Kate imagined she had on her face.

Now it was time for the next step of her plan. She used the knife on her hip to cut strips of duct tape which she applied directly to the glass of the only window in the basement. She quietly moved a stepladder to the high window and tossed a blanket from their bed on the floor below it. She took another blanket, liberated from her supplies, and applied rolled up duct tape to that, then secured it to the glass.

Taking her hammer, she struck the padded glass. There was a small thunk but certainly nothing that would wake up Logan. However, she was going to have to hit it a lot harder than that to break the window.  She donned heavy work gloves and swung the hammer with all her might. It still didn’t shatter, but she heard a soft crack. She swung again, and was rewarded by the loosening of the blanket and tape as the window quietly gave way. The duct tape prevented it from crashing to the floor. Another swing in the other corner, and Kate was certain the glass was thoroughly destroyed.

She stepped to the side and carefully pulled away the blanket. The duct tape sagged but held all the shards of glass. She wiggled it to pull the glass from the frame, and smiled when the pine-scented breeze entered the basement room. Success. Carefully, she folded over the duct tape shield so that the broken glass was in the middle and put it aside.

She used her heavy gloves to pull the last few shards of glass out of the window frame. She didn’t want either of them getting hurt or leaving a trail of blood that could be easily followed.

The blanket she’d put on the floor to catch any glass that fell hadn’t been needed for that purpose, so she used it to pad the bottom frame of the window.

“Be careful,” she warned Ariel in a whisper. “There’s still a little bit of glass I couldn’t get out of the frame.”

Ariel nodded, determination writ large on her face. She climbed up the stepladder and wriggled through the window, backpack and all. There was a grating sound as she made her way through, and her poncho briefly caught on the rough top of the window frame. But then she was out, breathing free air.

Kate knew she would absolutely not fit through that window with all her gear, so she handed the poncho, backpack, machete, and two hammers out to her daughter. She was going to arm Ariel with the smaller of the hammers. It was a much tighter squeeze as she labored her way through the gritty sill, but finally, she made it out into the grass with her daughter.

Quietly, she donned the kitten backpack and covered it with the poncho. She desperately wanted to peek through the living room window to make sure Logan was still sleeping and not lying in wait for them in the dark forest, but she was more likely to get caught that way, in the event he was getting up to go to the bathroom or just happened to rouse from his sleep and glance out the window. She squelched that urge, picked up her hammer and machete, and headed toward freedom with her daughter.

“Where are we going?” whispered Ariel so quietly that she could barely be heard. “It isn’t safe to try and go down this mountain to Mr. Slocum’s in the dark.”

“That’s why we’re not going down the mountain,” Kate replied softly. “We’re going up.”

She turned Ariel’s shoulders to face a steep path behind the cabin. “This way. This hill is our haven, and it will protect us. Trust me.”

“Off we go, me and my Yeti slippers, straight up Haven Hill!” Ariel smiled bravely in the darkness.

“Off we go, little warrior,” Kate smiled back.

Quietly, the two made their way to the path and disappeared into the trees, the glowing moon lighting their way.

About Daisy

She is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X.

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