Chapter 19:

Jonathon was at the door.

Kim stepped back, unsure of what to say. Before the words could come to her, she stepped too far and knocked down a lamp behind her. It smashed to pieces on the floor.

"Dammit!" she said, picking up the pieces.

Jonathon reached down to help her. Kim moved away.

"I don't need your help," she said coldly.

"You don't? I think you do."

Kim sneered.

"What makes you think that?"

Jonathon made sure she was looking straight at him.

"I know how we can save Edward,"

It took a few seconds for the words to hit Kim.

"H-h-how?"

Jonathon lifted his hand, looking at a watch.

"I'm sorry, Kim. I don't have time to explain. I'm going to save Edward. If you trust me, come along; I could use some help. If not, I'll do my best to bring him back."

Kim didn't hesitate to give her answer.

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The lights were out. Kim heard her shoes make an irritating noise against the marble floors. No sound was heard.

"Where are we?"

Jonathon didn't answer her.

"Hello? Officer? We're here."

The lights turned on. A man in blue uniform stepped out.

It took a moment for Kim to recognize him, but she did.

He was the officer who used to work in suburbia, Officer Jones. He was the only cop who showed pity for Edward and tried to help him. Thanks to him, Edward survived that night from so long ago…when everyone else seemed to be after him.

She remembered it clearly; the mob was walking towards the mansion on the hill-when suddenly-a gunshot stopped everyone in their tracks.

"He's dead. Everybody go on home."

It wasn't until she saw Edward alive with her own eyes that she realized there were actually people in the world who weren't judgmental and actually wanted to help.

"Hello, Kimberly. My, what a young woman you've become!"

Thank you. But if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"

"I read all the horrid news back home. I decided to quit my job, come work here."

"But why?"

"I don't know. There's just…something about him, isn't there? Now I'm a man of the law, and my job is to punish the unjust. So naturally I always see the nastiest, greediest sorts of people. But, on those rare occasions, when I see someone genuinely sweet and wrongfully judged…I…I just feel protective. I mean, I don't have kids, so those people that depend on me for help…they're in a way like my children. But I bet you're anxious to see Edward so I'll get him."

He stuck his head out the doorway and motioned to someone.

A dark figure appeared suddenly and Kim felt like her world could just shatter.

There was Edward.

Before he could do anything, Kim ran over to him, putting her arms around his waist. She felt her body shake violently from her crying, her tears soaking the terrible fabric he was clothed in.

"I thought I'd never see you again! I thought…Oh God…I thought…"

She couldn't say anything else. She didn't need to.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but-"

Kim released her grip from Edward.

"Come on, this way…"

They were led down a long hallway, until finally they reached a door.

They walked out into the parking lot, and electric fence, with police everywhere.

"Get in the car" Jonathon opened the back door of a criminal transporting car for Edward and Kim.

"What's…what's going on?" Kim said as she noticed something bizarre.

She saw that Jonathon took off the trench coat he was wearing to reveal a police uniform underneath. He put a police hat on and Jones signaled for a fellow officer to come over.

"Can you give me your badge? I need it for a night."

"Sure thing."
Kim didn't understand anything. There were other officers okay with this!

Jonathon leaned over into the car and explained everything.

"Though Officer Jones wanted to help out of the goodness of his heart, unfortunately, not everyone was the same. I bribed everyone else."

"Where'd you get the money?"

"I got paid by the media when I revealed the truth about Edward. As a precaution, I'm dressing up as an officer in case I get pulled over on the road. Therefore, I can just say I'm driving Edward to a different prison. I'm going to use that officer's badge since he looks somewhat like me."

Kim nodded her head at the plan. Maybe…maybe this could actually work out.

Jonathon got to the steering wheel and they took off into the night.

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Kim's heart finally beat a little slower now that she was with Edward. She rested on him, gently running her hands through his hair, a feeling she had missed for such a long time. None of them spoke.

A security guard near a toll-ticket collecting booth suddenly stopped the car.

"Hold it right there. What's happening here?" he asked, pointing his pen at Edward.

"He's a rowdy prisoner, this one. I'm taking him to a more…private facility." Jonathon said, holding up the false badge.

"Alright but…who's the girl? If this guy is such a criminal, why is she sitting with him?"

Kim hit her fist against the side door. What was she going to say now?

"She's a certified officer…she's making sure this delinquent doesn't escape from the back."

"Oh?" The officer opened the side door, coming close to Kim.

"I don't see a uniform!" he said, pulling her out.

The officer called another cop.

"Isn't she a little too pretty to be a cop?"

"Yeah, I guess we'll have to give her a body check!"

They jumped on top of her.

"Get off me, you bastards!" Kim screamed, punching one of them.

"Oh…you little-"

The officer never finished his sentence. He just looked down at his chest, which was oozing with blood now. The throbbing pain made him kneel down in horror.

Edward wiped the blood from his shears and motioned for Kim to get back inside. Jonathon drove off like a madman.

The two officers struggled to get up, but eventually managed to get in their car.

And thus began a chase.

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"We're going to get killed!" Kim yelled as the car passed through a detour containing numerous trees and an approaching cliff.

"No. I have an idea to throw them off."

Jonathon stopped the car. They were a few feet away from a cliff, with only rocky waters below them.

"On my mark…push with all your might!"

"What?"

"We're very close to home; we can walk the rest of the way. But we need to hurry or else we won't succeed in throwing those horrid men off of our tracks."

Kim nodded. What else could she do?

"Ready…set…go!"

They pushed harder than each one of them could have imagined, and the car raced off the cliff, plunging into a dark, watery death. The three looked down as bubbles surfaced on the water, ensuring that the car was sinking.

The moment of silence was interrupted by a loud honking noise.

"They're coming!"

They ran back into the nearby woods, trying their best to move as far away from the police as humanly possible.

They could hear a few profanities coming from the cops who stopped their vehicle to see if, in fact, their prey was dead.

The woods were conviently dark and kept the three fugitives camouflaged well.

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"We're almost there," Jonathon said, eyeing the mansion on the hill, silently shining in the full moonlight.

Edward and Kim stopped in the muddy forest tracks. So that was home. That was where they were destined to spend the rest of their lives together.

"Come on, we should hurry, before day break. Otherwise the whole town will see us."

They sped up, ignoring the sounds of crickets and owls surrounding the crippling trees of the forest.

Instead of entering the mansion from the entrance located directly in suburbia, they used the secret back entrance, a pathway coming straight from the woods.

Helping each other climb over the black iron fence and stumbling over the rocks and ivy all over the soil, they finally made it to the mansion.

Before stepping in, Edward stopped and looked at the topiaries in the front yard. He hadn't been there so for so long, the bushes lost their shape from neglect. All the elegant-looking animals he carved so carefully out of the leaves and branches were now simple plants without form. But the most malformed was the giant hand that sat in the middle. The bushes near the fingertips grew very long, extending forever and ever. The bush now closely resembled one of his scissorhands, ghastly and frightening when reflected in the moonlight. But then he observed a raven gently perch itself onto a branch. Following it was a dove, coming close to the raven.

He then looked back at Kim, standing there, staring at him with her giant brown, doe-like eyes, and his strong urge to trim everything two seconds ago completely disappeared.

She was going to live with him. She loved him. And he'd never have to change.

"Edward…"

The new emotions in him felt so…overpowering. A million thoughts raced through his head, making his body numb. The shapes around him twisted and turned nonstop, filling his mind to the brim with confusion.

"Edward!"

He felt himself tip over, falling into darkness.

But not complete darkness.

"Oh my God," Kim said, lifting his unconscious form up, surprised at how light he was.

"Let me help-"

"No, it's fine. I want to lift him myself."

She held him close to herself, and with his body trailing on the ground, she carried him through the gothic-style wooden doors, into the dawn of their new life.

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"I'll go to your mother, let her know you both are alright. I'll make sure she visits you in the morning."

"You aren't going to stay?"

"No. This home is for you and him to share."

"Oh. Thank you…for everything…I'm sorry for-"

"It's alright. Well…I guess this is good-bye."

"Good-bye. We'll be eternally grateful."

Jonathon descended down the spider web infested stairs, down to suburbia, forever out of their lives.

Kim turned her head to Edward, who was lying near the straw chair and newspaper clippings in the attic.

She smiled at his peaceful face, glowing beautifully from the light peaking through the holes in the roof. She suddenly felt a strong desire to sit by him.

So she did.

She quietly placed herself next to him, putting his right arm over her shoulder, nuzzling her head on his neck.

His eyes suddenly opened, a dark contrast with the pallor of his skin.

"Kim?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"
"Staying with me…loving me…giving me a chance…"

She raised her body up, alert.

"Edward, you don't ever have to thank me for that."

The more he stayed with her, the more he trusted and believed her.

He turned his face, letting his lips gently graze her cheek.

"I love you."

Those words…they always seemed to shatter the past.