At the gate, Janessa found it cracked open. She wedged the wheel barrow through with a grunt. The wood scraped her arms. She heard guards shouting behind her, but the distance had widened. For now.
Once outside, the world changed. The polished perfection of wealth ended. Trees crowded in. The air felt real, cool and earthy. The path was uneven, but it felt like freedom. Janessa’s breath came in sharp bursts. Her legs trembled. She pushed until she felt she would collapse.
Cody looked up at her. “You are shaking.”
“I am scared,” she admitted. “But I am more scared of leaving you in there.”
His hand found hers again. He held it like an anchor. Like a lifeline.
In the distance, engines roared to life. Vehicles. The search would not stop. Not immediately. Not until someone decided it was bad publicity to chase a crying child through the countryside.
Janessa slowed the wheel barrow near the edge of the woods. She could not push much farther. Her strength was faltering. She sank to her knees beside Cody.
“Listen to me,” she said. “I do not know what happens next. I do not have a plan. But I know you deserve better than that place. You deserve to be loved. You deserve to be seen.”
Cody nodded, tears spilling over again. But this time they were not the same kind of tears. These were tears with hope inside them.
“What if they catch us,” he asked.
“Then they catch us. But you will not go back unnoticed. I will not let them pretend you are invisible. I will make them hear you.”
He reached out and cupped her cheek with his tiny palm. “I am not invisible right now.”
She covered his hand with hers. “No. You are not.”
Branches snapped behind them. The guards were coming closer. The engines grew louder. Janessa stood, legs unsteady. She gripped the wheel barrow again.
“We go on,” she said. “Just until we cannot.”
And they moved. Slowly. Together. The night air tasted like fear and freedom mixed. Cody watched the trees overhead. He listened to birds rustle in the branches. He smiled as if this was the first time he had ever felt alive.
Janessa felt terror and purpose and love coil together in her chest. The world ahead was unknown. The consequences unavoidable. But for the first time since she began working in that mansion, she felt like she was doing something right.