On The Run
They were lovers, secret passionate lovers who had left their families and spouses behind. Left their professional careers, given up everything to be together. They had no plan; they just knew it had to be. Ava a lawyer and Nigel a cardiac specialist. They had met on the tube one night, five years ago drawn together like leaves in a windstorm, entwining with each other, feeling the sensation of having known each other for years. They were soul mates. At first they had tried to keep this attraction at bay but it was fate, their destiny.
This day they had planned for the last year, the day that they would be together. For both of them it was a day of sorrow and joy, as Ava kissed her young daughter goodbye and put her on the school bus, as she packed the sandwiches for her husband -a powerful judge in the big city courthouse. Nigel, as he went about his daily business of seeing his sick wife off to the rehab center for the day and texting his grownup children that all was okay. Ava was heartbroken to be leaving but she needed to be with Nigel, it was something that she needed to do to make herself whole. They were going to meet up at the ferry and go across the channel to France, there they would catch the train to Germany. They needed to get as far as possible, as quickly as they can, trying to cover their tracks before their absence was discovered. Nigel came from an influential family, and they would want to find him. If it was known that he ran off with a judge’s wife, a hundred years of tradition and power would come crashing down. He as an heir to a multitude of well-known companies and they could not afford a scandal.
They met on the ferry, staying apart but aching to be in each other’s arms, not wanting to draw attention to themselves in case they were recognized when the news broke.
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At last the ferry reached the border post, and they kept the distance between them. Custom control was not problem, both used the excuse of travelling for work as a reason to be in France, giving false addresses to put people off their scent. They walked to the train station coming together at the ticket booth, holding hands and longing for the moment when they could be one. The tickets were ejected into their eagerly waiting hands and they turned away from the machine seeking out a place to sit quietly and wait for the train. They made their way to an enclave on the platform but their steps were brought to an abrupt halt as two burly men confronted them. Without a word, they reached for Ava and grabbed her upper arms with strength. Nigel was held back by another man who pushed an object into his side. This all happened without words and within seconds. Ava tried to call out but was threatened to be quiet otherwise Nigel would pay. She realized then that her husband, as powerful as he was had had her followed and he had suspected for months that something was going on. Nigel and Ava’s eyes met, helpless and confused but knew that they loved each other and their connection was unbreakable, they would find each other and be together for eternity.
Ava was shoved into the back of a grey utility van, which sped off into the depths of Paris. As the train pulled into the station and the doors open, Nigel was pushed violently inside the carriage with the words echoing behind him “Forget her, or your family will suffer!” The train sped off to Germany with the broken man crumpled into a bench, his heart broken as he wondered where his Ava could be.
Ava was in disbelief and shock, her husband had orchestrated this. He wanted her back! But she was wrong, he was betrayed and did not want her back. He did not want anyone to have her. Ava was sold to a prostitution ring in Saudi Arabia. Nigel would never find her, he reached Germany hoping that Ava would come to him. But she never did.
Nigel ended his days selling hot dogs in a public park, waiting for her and living in hope that his Ava would come. Ava had become a sex slave to an Arabic prince and when she reached the age when she could no longer perform her duties, she was thrown out into the streets and ended up a beggar.
By WJB, February 2023
Inspired by the February 2023 Creative Writing Club sessions on Short Story Writing.