Page 21 of Soft Tissue Damage
I get out of the car, and I hear him sigh as I close the passenger door behind me.
I’ve screwed up.
Justine gave me thorough directions on how to get to her new apartment, but I’ve still managed to take a wrong turn. Now I’m wandering around an unfamiliar area with a potted fern that’s a housewarming gift tucked under my arm.
Take the subway south and get off at Fenrick. Take the first left when you get out at the station, then right at the fork…
None of the directions made sense when I came out of the station, but I followed them as closely as I could, and now I feel completely turned around, and I don’t knowwhere I am. I glance at a sign over a shuttered shop. Fenton Liquor.
Fenton, not Fenrick.
My heart sinks. I must have gotten on the subway going the wrong way. I don’t have the best sense of direction, and I’m not the best at navigating public transit.
Panic flashes through my stomach when I notice that there are men staring at me as I walk along the darkened streets. They stand in clusters of twos and threes, leaning on their cars, smoking cigarettes outside seedy-looking bars.
I pull out my cell phone and check the map again, but the service is bad here, and the little blue dot that’s supposed to tell me where I am keeps jumping around. I turn on the spot, trying to get it to tell me where I am, but it accomplishes nothing and I’m signaling to everyone far and wide that I don’t know where I am.
I call Justine, hoping she can help me find my way back to the subway, but she doesn’t answer.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see two men veer toward me from the opposite side of the street. They have their hands deep in their pockets in a way that makes me wonder if they’re holding weapons, because they couldn’t possibly be cold in this mild weather. My panic rises as I call Leon.
“Hey, babe. How are you?”
I can hear the sound of a car, so he must be driving. My words come out in a rush. “I think I went the wrong way onthe subway. I wanted to get off at Fenrick, but I ended up in Fenton.”
“You’re in Fenton? Yeah, you’re totally on the wrong side of town,” he says with a laugh.
Despite my fear, I feel a spark of annoyance. I thought it was obvious I’m afraid, and yet Leon is laughing at me.
A deep voice beside Leon says, “Did Elena just say she’s in Fenton?”
Mr. Grant. I feel my insides shrivel up in embarrassment. I want Mr. Grant to think I’m a smart, capable young woman, and that I’m responsible enough to look after his daughter. He probably has zero tolerance for young women doing stupid and careless things like getting off at the wrong subway station.
“Yeah, Dad,” Leon says with a gusty sigh. To me, he says, “Babe, just turn around and head back the way you came.”
Leon knows I don’t like being called “babe.” It sounds careless, which is exactly how I don’t like to be treated.
“I don’t know where the subway is, and the blue dot on my map keeps jumping around.” Am I being whiny and demanding? The men approaching me are getting closer, and the fear I’m feeling is very real.
I hear Mr. Grant’s voice over the line. “We’ll go get Elena. Give me the phone, Leon.”
A tiny bud of hope blooms in my heart.
“Dad, are you for real?”
“I said give me the phone, Leon.”
“But we’re going to the game.”
There’s the sound of a truck engine shifting down in gear and scuffling noises. Leon exclaims, “Dad, what the—”
A car door slams, and then a voice that’s not my boyfriend’s speaks into my ear. “Elena? It’s Cullan.”
Did he just throw Leon out of his truck? I hear the engine race as it picks up speed.
“Where’s Leon?”
“He was being argumentative and wasting time. I’m coming to get you.”
