Chapter 3 - The Run That Ended at the Gate
Emily sprinted across the backyard before anyone could react.
Her flower crown flew off.
The fake pregnancy bump slipped lower beneath her dress, making her stumble, but she kept running.
"Stop her!" Alex shouted.
My brothers took off after her.
She shoved over folding chairs, crashed through a table covered with gifts, and burst through the side gate into the quiet neighborhood.
By then, the first police cruiser was turning onto our street.
Emily didn't stop.
She ran straight into the road.
A delivery van slammed on its brakes, missing her by inches.
The driver leaned on his horn as she darted across the street toward the wooded walking trail behind our subdivision.
Officer Daniel Ruiz jumped from the patrol car.
"Police! Stop!"
She ignored him.
Within seconds, four officers were chasing her through the narrow trail.
The rest of us stood frozen at the edge of the yard.
My mother kept repeating the same sentence.
"This isn't my daughter."
Nobody answered.
Alex quietly walked over to me.
"I never wanted today to happen like this."
I looked at him.
"The punch..."
His face filled with guilt.
"I knew the padding would absorb it."
"You could have been wrong."
"I know."
"You terrified all of us."
"I did."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I also knew that if I tried to expose her any other way, she'd disappear before the police arrived."
I wanted to hate him.
Part of me still did.
But another part understood exactly why he had taken such a terrible risk.
Ten minutes later, one of the officers returned.
"We lost her."
My father leaned against the fence.
"What do you mean, you lost her?"
"The trail connects to three different streets."
Another officer approached with a radio pressed to his ear.
"We've issued an alert. Every patrol unit is looking."
Just then, Alex's phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
"What is it?" I asked.
He slowly turned the phone toward the officers.
A text message.
From Emily.
You stopped one plan. You can't stop the next one.
Attached was a photograph.
It showed the entrance of Memorial Women's Hospital.
The photo had been taken...
Less than one minute earlier.
Everyone realized the same horrifying truth.
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Emily wasn't running away.
She was still heading toward the hospital.
