Chapter 9
My first thought is,who the hell is texting me this late?My second thought is,why the hell am I sleeping in my car?
It’s funny how your brain data dumps everything when you fall asleep, and you’ll wake up all groggy and normal for a second. Then you realize you’re not at home in your bed, but sleeping uncomfortably in your car in the literal middle of nowhere.
I yawn and stretch my limbs as best as I can back here in the cramped space. Then I grab my phone. There’s one teensy little bar of signal, and I’ve had that for a while now, but my texts still didn’t work. Now I see Ethan’s name on my phone and my heart does a little flutter. That’s what woke me up just now, the sound of his text.
Ethan:Can’t sleep. You awake?
Ethan:Also… is this working?
I grin and sit up, checking the time. It’s just after four in the morning. I have other texts, too. Some from April, a couple friends who were bummed about the party cancellation, and one from my mom that just says she loves me and hopes I’m safe but that she won’t keep clogging the phone lines with texts.
I go to reply and then recoil at the disgusting shape of my left hand. It hurts, I know that much, but I’m not sure why. I turn the flashlight on my phone and aim it toward my hand. The entire top of my hand is swollen, itchy and purple. There’s two tiny little red dots that looks like some type of bite from an insect. Holy crap. My hand looks like a rubber glove that’s been filled with water.
I poke at the swollen part and it hurts. It’s not terrible, but like muscle soreness and a huge bruise all rolled into one. I sit up and shine the light on my phone all over the backseat, looking for whatever did this to me. But it’s long gone.
I had to sleep with my car’s windows cracked a few inches to keep it from getting too hot in here. Something must have flown in and stung me. Luckily, I’m not allergic to bees or anything, butwow.
My hand hurts like hell. The more awake I feel, the worse my hand is. I touch all over the rest of my body to confirm that I’m not covered in huge purple swollen bites, but this is the only one. I examine the holes closely, but there doesn’t appear to be any kind of stinger I should pull out. Whatever happened, I have to just wait for it to heal now.
I turn off the flashlight on my phone and climb out of the backseat, then sit back up in the driver’s seat where it’s more comfortable. Remembering my text from Ethan, I look back at my phone, relieved to see that it still has signal. I wonder if phones are working now because most people are asleep and aren’t over-working the cell phone towers. I take my chances and call Ethan. The phone rings, and the sound is like a glorious tune straight from the heavens.
“Hello?” Ethan says, sounding just as excited as I am.
“The phone works!”
“Finally. I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
Technically, he did, but I’m grateful for the lack of sleep if it means talking to my boyfriend instead of being so very alone. I tell him no. “You’ll never believe what happened to me,” I say. Then I tell him about my hand as I hold it up over the steering wheel to look at it in the soft glow of the nearby street light.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asks.
I shrug. “I guess? I mean, it’s not like taking over my whole body or anything.”
Ethan groans. “I wish I was there with you. No, I wish you were here with me. I wish we were at the damn hotel right now. This is a nightmare.”
“It’s okay,” I say, trying to comfort him. I can hear the stress in his voice, and although my hand is hurting pretty bad, I don’t want him to worry. Then I get an idea. “So if you’re awake and I’m awake … Why don’t we hit the road now?”
“You want to?” Ethan’s voice is quite a bit happier now. “That’s kind of a great idea. I don’t feel like I could sleep anymore right now. I’m just ready to be in De Sota.”
I nod eagerly. Behind me, that nice family I met with the RV is still parked, their generator humming softly. But there’s not another person in sight. I bet the roads are clear too. “What better time to drive than when everyone else is gone?” I say.
“Perfect,” Ethan says. “First we have to figure out where you are.”
With another stroke of luck, my phone is able to load Google Maps. But, with a stroke of particularly bad luck to balance it out, Ethan and I are able to figure out exactly where we are.
Sixty five miles away from each other.
And Ethan himself is only forty miles from the hotel. I’m the one who accidentally took a wrong road at some point and have been driving west instead of north. I’m so freaking embarrassed, but Ethan stays calm and tells me it’ll be okay. Together, we look on Google maps on our respective phones and work out a route for us to meet up with each other. I tell him he should go back to sleep and I’ll come to him, but he hates the thought of me being alone and wants to find me as soon as possible so we can drive together again.
I can’t say no to that. When you’re lost in the middle of nowhere, it’s kind of super romantic to hear your boyfriend insist that he’ll drive out of his way to find you.
I take a lot of screenshots of each turn I have to make, just in case my signal goes out again and I’m stuck with no map. Then we say our goodbyes and hit the road, me heading east and him heading southwest until we’ll meet up at a Walmart in a town that’s big enough to have one.
Once again I’m back on the road, but this time I know where I’m going. I cruise for about half an hour and then there’s a car in front of me. Soon, there’s a car behind me, too. Then, I’m officially stuck in traffic on this two lane road.
Luckily, the speed limit is 40 and that’s exactly what we’re going. These other people on the road aren’t stopping traffic like what happened on the interstate yesterday. I keep my spirits up and I drive, checking my GPS constantly to make sure I’m not accidentally taking the wrong turn again.
