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My grandmother’s voice stabs in shrill splinters through the door. “Are you alright?” The hint of irritation there tells me she doesn’t really care if I’m alright, but she’s making sure I’m still here.
“I’m okay. I’m sick. I just need to sit here for a minute. You don’t want to come in here, trust me.” I add, standing at the commode and flushing it again for effect. “As soon as things stop spewing from my body I’ll be back to entertain you.”
I hear her huff and walk away as I take a deep breath and run my fingers through my hair as I move put my glasses back on.
“Jesus.” I drop my head and lock my elbows, hands on each side of the sink, trying to get my bearings. “This week sure took a turn,” I mutter under my breath, turning on the faucet then leaning down to suck in some water and swish it around in my mouth before spitting it out.
It tastes of metal and Sulphur but at least it’s an improvement over the taste of vomit.
As the waves of nausea subside there’s a ringing in my ears, but outside the small window above the commode I hear the guy’s voice.
He must be walking around the cabin, but he’s still on the phone so I close the lid and stand up on the seat, pressing my ear to the bottom of the window so if he looks he can’t see me.
The words are unintelligible until he comes closer and I hold my breath, listening.
“You don’t need to know where she’s going. She’s safe, going back to her family. She ran away three years ago and they’ve been searching for her. Stephanie is a troubled girl. I don’t know exactly what she’s told you but I don’t think you really know her, Stanislov. She will be taken care of I assure you. Her grandmother is here to take her home if you do as I ask. But that’s not important, do you have my requests secured?”
Silence as my heart is in my throat. All my lies are unraveling.
I can’t imagine what Daddy is thinking right now. Besides the insanity of everything else going on, now he’s going to figure out almost everything I told him about myself is a lie. My world is crumbling under my feet.
I’ve finally found something I didn’t know existed. Someone that feels like they fit me in a way I never dreamed. Someone that trusted me. Told me the number one rule was never lie to him and I couldn’t even trust him enough to open up when it really mattered the most.
And now those lies have caused all this.
No way he would want me back now. Everything I am was built on lies and once the trust is broken, as Stas said, things are never the same.
It was only a matter of time before a guy like him would get bored anyway with a girl like me. I think I was delusional to believe he would want me, just me, forever.
I listen as the man starts talking again. “Good. My courier will be waiting for you. And it will be just you. He sees anyone else, he gets spooked or he gets picked up after the meeting and I’ll see fit that she doesn’t make it back to her family. And her end will not be quick.”
A beat of silence then he continues. “You weren’t that hard to find. You are no match for me. I had your place staked out days before we met. Your Malcolm slipped and I took it from there. When I saw you with your precious girl, well what a twist of fate that was. Your hand was dealt. Fate has a way of closing circles in life. Let’s just say, when I get what I want, others will as well.”
I don’t know what that means, but I know it means he’s been watching us. I hear him walking away and I shove the heels of my hands on the window frame. I stifle a grunt as it makes a cracking sound from the layers of paint that have it stuck in place.
Doing my best to keep it quiet, I thud my fist on the corner then grab the tarnished brass handle and push up with a grunt. To my surprise it shifts and opens a crack. I push harder and again it moves. It’s three-quarters of the way open.
I stop and listen for a moment, hear the sound of the front door of the cabin closing and know I only have a minute or two before one of them comes to check on me.
With another grunt, I grab the outside of the window frame and put one foot on the back of the toilet. The porcelain makes an unhappy crunching sound under my weight and I pull my other foot up onto the edge of the sink, trying to disperse the pressure.
