Page 28 of The Sound of Silence

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I barely feltthe coolness of the early autumn night air as I staggered up to a gas station located in the middle of nowhere. The bottoms of my feet were torn up, my body screamed in pain, and I couldn’t stop trembling. I needed help. I had no phone and no money. The only thing I had were the clothes on my back and my purse—devoid of all the cash I’d squirreled away over the last six months. I didn’t even have shoes. My only saving grace was a payphone at the gas station. I almost couldn’t believe my luck. I hadn’t seen a payphone in ages and prayed it still worked.

As I dialed the operator and requested a collect call, I fretted over whether or not this was yet another stupid move. Calling anyone was risky—everything would be a risk from now on but I didn’t have a choice. When Teddy’s voice finally came through the line, I couldn’t disguise my relief. I was stranded, and since finding out Ethan was somehow tracking Natalia, I needed Teddy like I’d never needed anyone else before.

“Teddy!”

“Gia! What’s wrong?”

“Ethan found me,” I choked out. Just verbalizing it caused the trembling in my hands to worsen. “I was afraid to call Nat because I think he’s watching her.”

“What do you mean? How the hell did he find you?”

“Look, I can’t explain how or why, but I had to leave quickly. All of my stuff is still at the hotel. My clothes, my phone, my cash…”

I couldn’t continue. The sobs I’d swallowed before making the call burst forth.

“That fucking bastard is crazy. Where are you? I’m coming to pick you up. I knew we shouldn’t have left you at that damn hotel. You can come back to my place and—”

“No. Not your place. He’ll know to look there too.”

“Gia, what do you want me to do?” He sounded exhausted. It was understandable after the night he’d just had because of me.

“I’m so sorry to drag you into this further…”

“No, no, don’t say that. That son of a bitch will never hurt you again. Where are you? I can’t help you if I don’t know where you are.”

Despite the fatigue in his voice, there was also an urgency that gave me the strength to carry on. I took a deep breath.

“Near some random highway,” I said, suddenly afraid because I truly had no idea where I was. It was dark and I wasn’t sure if I’d run north, south, east, or west. I just ran in a zigzagging path in case Ethan followed in the direction I took off. I quickly looked around for identifying landmarks.

“What highway, Gia?”

“Route 71, I think. Yes, I can see the road sign. I’m at a gas station with a convenience store. The sign just says mini-mart and has a huge chicken on it. It’s the only thing around as far as I can see. I can’t be more than four or five miles from the hotel where you dropped me off.”

He was quiet for a moment, as if he were trying to picture what I was describing.

“Okay, I should be able to find it. My ex-wife still has some clothes kicking around here and you’re about her size. I’ll bring what I can as well as some cash.”

“You don’t have…” I almost said he didn’t have to bring money but stopped myself. I literally had nothing. I had no choice but to accept. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s only money. Just lie low. It shouldn’t take me too long to find you, then we can figure out a safe place for you to go. But Gia… Nat is going to ask questions when she can’t reach you on the Tracfone. What do you want me to tell her?”

“Tell her the phone’s gone and not to attempt to contact me.” I paused, took a deep breath, and thought about how easy it had been for Ethan to track my location tonight. “That means you too, Teddy. It’s too risky. Once I figure out where I’m going, there can’t be any more contact. I need to disappear for a while. I’ll call you both once I think it’s safe.”

He sighed and fell silent.

“Okay,” he eventually acquiesced.

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. The thought of giving up the only family I had was soul crushing.

“Thank you, Teddy. For everything.”

“I’ll see you soon. And Gia?”

“Yeah?”

“You will be okay. I promise.”

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