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I try to stay near the back of the gas station and spot two truckers smoking a cigarette near the bathroom. A girl is also sitting on the sidewalk on a phone with a backpack next to her. I hug my arms to my body as I try to avoid the two guys and as I near the girl she looks up at me. Her eyes take me in and widen.
“Hey, uh, could I use your phone? I’m uh, lost. My car broke down. I just, uh, I need to call someone.”
I’m a horrible liar and shivering uncontrollably as tears burn my eyes. She doesn’t seem to believe me at all but without a word she hands me her phone. I dial the only number I know by heart and on the third ring I’m about to cry when someone finally picks up.
“Hello?”
“Bee?”
“Jesus Christ. Kate. Where are you—“
“Kate?” I hear as Colt takes the phone from Bianca. “Don’t hang up. I’m tracking you now. If you aren’t safe to talk, say that you feel sick.”
“I’m— I'm okay. I just don’t know where I am.”
“Allensdale,” the girl sitting on the sidewalk tells me. “Off highway 378 at the Circle K.”
“Who is that? I’m looking it up now.”
“A girl is letting me use her phone. I have to give it back—“
“Don’t move from where to are,” Colt says firmly and I’m surprised to hear such a demanding tone from him.
“Wait! Kate!” Bianca says and I hear a fumble as grabs the phone. “We’re coming okay? It says two hours away. We will be there in half the time. I promise okay? I love you, Kate.”
“Love you too, Bee.”
I give the phone back to the girl, thanking her, and awkwardly back away to stand off to the side. My skin crawls at the idea of being so out in the open right now.
“Hungry?” The girl asks, turning and eyeing me.
I shake my head, my stomach feeling like a pile of rocks are in it.
“Thirsty?”
I hesitate and she smiles softly at me. She reaches in her backpack and holds out a water bottle to me.
“Come sit. The blood on your face and clothes is kind of glowing under that light.”
My face burns and I quickly sit down beside her as I take the water.
“Thank you. For the water and for the phone call.”
She shrugs it off. “Looks like you could use some help,” she says before eyeing me head to toe. “I’ve been there.”
I offer her a forced smile.
“I’m Imogen.”
“Kate.”
It falls quiet and she fidgets with her phone silently as though debating her own next steps. I’m grateful she doesn’t ask me any questions and offers me just the simple comfort of sitting with her as the minutes slowly tick by. She doesn’t ask any questions about the state I’m in and instead talks more to herself. A few people that walk by look at us curiously but I try to keep my head down and my knees to my chest to hide the blood on me.
Edgar’s blood.
My heart feels like it is being strangled and my chest aches.
“Hey,” Imogen says and nudges me by the time the sky is covered with stars and my eyes are fighting to stay open. “They your friends?”
