Page 101 of Preying Heart
I’m so car sick or am I still pregnant?
I retch into a plastic bag and moan, leaning my forehead against the window.
The truck I’m riding in has no shocks and there’s a strange, metallic smell, warm and sticky. My head throbs, and I have no idea how I got here.
I’m sitting on a hard bench seat with another woman. Some cowboy is driving, and no one is talking. It’s dark, and I can’t seem to focus. My brain is blurry, like I’m dreaming or stuck in a looping nightmare.
The cowboy tells me what to say and makes me repeat it. Over and over. The woman in the middle says nothing. Is she sick? I am, and it stinks of vomit in here.
After I don’t know how many miles, the truck lurches to a stop.
The cowboy wants me to say my lines again. I can’t remember. He pushes the woman into me and says, “Get out.”
I can’t wait to get out. I throw the door open and fall in a heap onto wet grass. My face slides into mud, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t really care.
Rough hands grip me by the arms and lift me. The woman screams for help.
There’s a slap, and she shuts up.
I know better than to fight.
I comply.
It’s the way to survive.
I walk like a zombie, stumbling in the dark. The ground is mucky, and I can’t see through the thick fog. I’m alone. Wandering off the edge of the earth into a damp cloud. Rehearsing my speech. To who?
Did they leave me? The cowboy and the other woman?
Lucy. My friend.
I have no friends. No one is near, but I don’t know where to go.
Come back! I’ll do as you say. No, no, don’t comply. But I’m scared. Don’t leave me alone.
I sit down on a log. My head is spinning, and I’m trying to remember what I’m supposed to say.
The cowboy told me he’d be back, and I have to say something—to Slade.
Slade’s my brother. Yes. I have to tell him.
Footsteps slog in the muck. Someone’s coming. Two people.
“Are you okay? Remi, it’s you.”
“Slade, over here!” I reach my hands up to feel for him.
He plops down on the log next to me, but he doesn’t hug me. He leans up to me. “You have something to tell me. What is it?”
A boot heel prods me, and the cowboy whispers roughly, “Say it right and I’ll let you go. I know about your boyfriend and your girlfriend. I have your girlfriend tied up. If you screw up, she dies. Your boyfriend will be next to die.”
Who is he talking about?Someone is in danger. A boy and a girl.
Allison was my best friend. Darrell was my boyfriend. Am I still in high school?
I tried out for a play. The drama club. I know my lines.
“Okay.” My voice is croaky. I’ll never be selected. I take a breath, and two.
