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She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, hoping the call would go away. It did. After a moment of guilt, she opened the lid of the container and fished a plastic fork out of the bag.
Her phone blew up again.
Fuck.
Maisie.
“Shit. Damn. Hell.”
Picking up the phone, she said, “Hello?”
Half expecting her sister to roll into a rant about running out of money, losing her job, or accusing her of taking her purple cropped T-shirt before leaving town, it wasn’t her fault it was in the laundry pile she had scooped up at the last minute, she waited.
Instead of ranting, she was surprised when there was silence.
“Maisie?”
A sniff, a hiccup, and then a watery, “Birdie?”
Her heart started to beat in double time. “Maisie, are you there? Are you all right?”
“No.”
“Maisie, where are you?”
A brief silence.
“Um, I’m at the 7-Eleven. The…the one on the corner from our apartment,” she choked out. “I’m hurt. He…he hurt me.”
“Who hurt you? Creed?”
Again, silence, except for a few breathy sobs.
Suddenly, a voice came over the phone. “Hello, ma’am? This is Raj. I work here. Your sister, she’s been banged up pretty bad. I tried to call an ambulance but she insisted on calling you instead.” The man lowered his voice as if to not cause Maisie anymore pain. “Her eyes are nearly swollen shut, her legs are covered in bruises, and she’s barefoot. She must’ve walked on some glass because they’re bleeding all over the floor. I don’t think she has any broken bones. Maybe her jaw. It’s hard to tell because she won’t let me near her, let alone touch her.”
Birdie’s hand covered her mouth in shock, thinking through next steps.
“Do you have someplace you can take her, just until I get there?”
“There’s a storage room. I can take her back there and give her some wet paper towels to clean herself up with, but if my boss finds out, I’ll lose my job.”
“Please do that. And thank you. I’ll be there as soon as I can. The person who did this could be looking for her, so it’s important that she’s somewhere safe. And hidden.”
“Okay,” he said, sounding conflicted. “Just get here as soon as you can. I work the night shift, but after that, she has to go.”
“Okay, I’m leaving now. It will take me a little over three hours to get there. Let me talk to her,” she said, standing and grabbing her keys next to her and then scrambling over to a stack of clothes in the corner, looking for a pair of clean socks, underwear, and anything else Maisie might need.
She knew he handed the phone over to Maisie when she heard her sister’s muffled sobs. “Hey, Maisie, Raj is going to take care of you until I get there. Do everything he says. Okay? Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” she said, sounding as if it were a physical effort to get the word out.
“It’s going to take me a few hours to get there.”
“Okay.” Through a weak sob she said, “Please come…quick. I…I’m afraid he’ll find me.”
“Raj is going to take you to a back room to keep you safe. Just hold tight, okay?”
Silence.
