Out of Time

Prologue


"Jane, hide. Hide and don't come out until I tell you to, okay?" Before Jane could manage to say okay to her older sister, she was steered into a closet and had cloths dumped on her. Jane's sister closed the curtain that served as the door, and Jane peeped out through a hole in the cloth. Jane watched her sister run from the room as the front door slammed shut.
There wasn't a sound, until their father roared, "Ye' horrible child!"
SLAP!
"Where is supper?"
SLAP!
"I come home expec'n to find something half way decent to eat and there is nothing!"
SLAP!
Jane heard her sister sob for a moment and then her sister spoke, "T-t-there is n-nothing to eat daddy."
"Are you contradict'n me!?"
SLAP!
"Where is yer' disrespect'n sister? eh? did ye' hide her again? Oh, ye better pray ye didn't."
Jane's heart accelerated at the thought of being discovered again. Yesterday she had received such a beating, and she didn't care for another. Heavy booted feet stomped into the bathroom across the hall. She heard the curtains being pulled back, "Awe, ye found a new hid'n spot eh, sport?" Jane heard him say this to her sister. Jane knew that her sister hated the nick name Sport, and Jane also knew that her father had that malicious glint in his cold blue eyes. Jane said a soft prayer that she wouldn't be found again.
SLAP!
My sister is so brave, Jane thought. I wish I could be brave. Jane's father had just entered the room she was hiding in. Jane's eye left the little hole in the cloth as Jane burrowed deeper into the dirty cloths on top of her. She could hear him turning things over, throwing her few precious toys across the room, and stomping about. Butterflies began to flutter about in her tummy. Jane closed her eyes.
"Where is she sport?" Jane's father had softened his voice. "Where is she? I just want to hug my little girl." Jane reopened her eyes, and looked through the hole in the curtain. Her sister had bruises dotting her face, her delicate arms were red and swollen. Please don't tell him...please don't say anything.
"She's run away daddy," Her sister lifted her chin slightly. "She did the right thing! She got away from you!" Jane saw her father's face turn red, "She ran away! Why you..." Jane's vision was blocked by her father's large frame. She heard her sister cry out, repeated slaps and punches were thrown, tears ran down Jane's face. Hide. Hide and don't come out until I tell you to, her sister's words echoed all around her head, as her father continued to beat her sister. It seemed like hours had passed by, and yet, it was only a few minutes. Her father's breathing became labored, and Jane could barley make out the shallow breaths of her sister. Their father staggered out of the room, and crashed onto his bed in a drunken doze.
"Sissy?" Jane whispered cautiously.
"Jane...Jane. Come here."
Jane scrambled out of the closet. Her older sister laid there curled up, and she started to cry.
"Shhh, hunny, shhhh, you'll wake him. Come here."
Jane curled in the shelter of her sister's arm.
"Jane...,"her sister's breathing was coming in shallow gasps, "Jane, you have to...have to run away."
"What about you?" Jane wept openly.
"Shhh, I'm not coming...with you. I'm going...on....my own adventure. "Her voice became softer.
"Sissy!"
"Shhh, hush now..."Her hand reached up to stroke away a tear from Jane's face, and fell before her hand completed the journey.
"Sissy! Sissy!" Jane began to shake her sister, "Take me with you! Take me with you!
No, no, don't go. Not like Mommy. I want to see mommy too!" It wasn't fair! Her sister gets to see mommy, and she stays here.
Here.
Jane looked around her. Her father asleep, sprawled
across the bed, the hopelessness of her home, and her older sister dead. A pistol lay next to the bed. How easy would it be to see mommy. Silently she crept toward the pistol, picked up the cold metal, and crawled back to her sister. Mommy, do I get to come home? Jane raised the pistol to her temple; her small chubby fingers had difficulty fitting into the trigger. Jane squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing. Jane opened her eyes. She still had the barrel pressed to the temple, and yet, nothing happened. Numbly, Jane put the pistol down on the floor. She stood up, went to her room, and got her mother's locket out of her sister's shoe box. Jane opened the locket, she saw her beautiful mother gazing back at her. Jane went to her mattress and lifted it, a picture of her sister lay underneath. She tore it so it would fit into the locket, then hung the locket over her neck. You have to run away. Again, her sister's words rang inside her head. She got a sheet and reverently covered her sister, then went to the front door. Jane took one last glance of her home, then left it forever.