Dammit.
I pull into the grass and turn my car around. If I only had some freaking cell phone signal, I could look up the GPS. Maybe if this car wasn’t so old, it could have built in GPS like Ethan’s truck does.
I curse under my breath and try to let myself get angry, because if I’m not angry, I’m scared. I’ve never been this lost before. Never been so far away from home with no way of contacting the world. Tears spring to my eyes, but I push them back.
My phone beeps. Oh, thank God. My phone!
I put the car in park and grab for my phone, relief swelling up in my chest. Only, it’s not a message from Ethan. It’s from Mom.
I’m happy to have it, but, I need to talk to Ethan.
I read her message.
Mom:I don’t know if you’ll get this. My calls aren’t going through. On the news they said too many people are using cell phones so the towers are all jammed. Call me when you can. Love you!
I breathe in deeply and let it out. I text her back, and it looks like it goes through. My phone has one tiny bar of signal out of the five bars it usually has. I call Ethan a dozen times, but it never even rings. It just locks up and doesn’t work. I send him several texts. Some of them go through and some give me an error message.
At some point I look up and realize I’m parked on the side of the loneliest road in the world, and it’s so dark I can’t see over my headlights, and it’s actually kind of terrifying. I crank the engine and turn the car around, then try calling Ethan again. The call doesn’t connect.
A tear rolls down my cheek. I get the sudden urge to throw my phone as far as I can, but I hold back. Now, fear and anxiety are latching onto me, and all I want is to be in the light. Somewhere public.
I speed away from the metal gate, going back the way I came. I go even faster this time, and I make it back to the McDonald’s in just under an hour. It’s still closed, and it’s now just after midnight, but the streetlight is on. I feel somewhat safer here.
I turn off the road and park in front of the McDonald’s. Then, I get a creepy vibe from being parked here like a sitting duck, so I move my car and park on the side of the building in the dark, away from the single street lamp. The dark is usually scary, but here I can’t be seen.
I hold my phone in every possible direction, but I can’t get a signal again. I try not to yawn, but it doesn’t work. My eyes feel heavy, and my thoughts are scattered and in desperate need of a break. I stare up at the fast food joint in front of me and long for a cheeseburger so bad it makes my stomach growl.
I tell myself I will not cry.
It doesn’t work.
