Promise at Devil's Bend

Her phone signaled a new text. At this time of night somebody better be dead! “F2F @ back door. No lights.” Jake, this better be good.

She eased the kitchen door open and jumped at his whisper, “We’ve got to leave. Now!”

“What no ‘Sorry to wake you up but I didn’t want to go crazy alone…’”

“Laura, trust me. We don’t have much time. Get only what you need in a book bag. Please!”

Hearing the fear in his voice, she rushed to comply.

Outside, he whispered, “Can you get us to the hollow tree in this moonlight?” She nodded and they began trudging up the slope. Twenty minutes later, they rested against the trunk safely screened by the drooping branches festooned with leaves.

“Always knew Dixon was a crook. Now I’ve got the proof.” Jake held up his phone and sighed, “And he knows it.”

“Sheriff Dixon will have a BOLO for you. There’s no way off this mountain now!”

“There’s one way, Laura—the train. It practically stops at Devil’s Bend.”

They waited on the bank of the sharp bend. After he heard the whistle, he helped her with her bookbag. “Once we’re out of the valley, we should be safe. No one gets the video until it’s uploaded to YouTube.”

She could only nod as she rocked from foot to foot.

He kissed her then said, “I promise I won’t let you fall.” He looked back at the approaching train. “We’ll jump on three.”

The timing was perfect, but Jake was too close to the roof’s edge as the train accelerated out of the curve. "I can’t hang on, Laura. I’m counting on you. I promise…..

Story submitted as is to meet contest deadline. Beginnings of a longer story?

prompt: leaves, train, whisper

11.19.10 Daily Flash Fiction winning entry- 280 words.