Empty

My truck rolled to a stop as the arrow passed the E on my gas tank.  I knew it was coming and had been hoping to make it a little farther from home before running out of gas.  Justin wouldn’t find out I was gone for another hour and a half.  If I was lucky.  I had been planning my escape for weeks, but I apparently didn’t plan for the idea of getting gas.  I had suspicions Justin kept the gas low in the car for this very reason – if I ever did get the nerve up to leave, I wouldn’t get very far.  Access to gas stations was limited as our tiny rural town was slowly dying.  In a town where everyone knew everyone else, everyone knew Justin and knew the control he had over me.  But in a town where people valued their privacy, they did nothing. 

I grabbed my bag out of the backseat and headed toward the nearest house.  But not before checking the bruises on my face.  I poked them a few times to make sure the tears would come when they were needed.  All the bruises were self-inflicted, but it was the only way to send Justin to jail where he belonged.  I just hoped I was far enough out of town to find someone new or someone who didn’t know Justin.  That way, I would be taken seriously and the police would be called.  Otherwise my brother would end up killing someone else.