“Eva, what have I done to make you think I want to harm you right now? I’ve been nice. Asked questions about your night and given you compliments. I even offered you advice. That’s a lot more than most fathers do these days. I know your father is out of the picture. I thought you’d appreciate this.”
Thoughts flew erratically through her mind. She knew she only had a limited amount of time to free herself. Slowly and without moving the rest of her body, she walked her fingers to the window control levers on the door. She felt around for the raised edge of the door lock control pad. Without hesitation, she pushed the unlock button. With the command, all of the locks popped up as they released. Eva pulled away from her assailant and, leaning all of her weight on her car door, she tore at the handle and pushed it open. Her knee smacked the pavement as she fell sideways out of the car and onto the street. She scrambled to her feet and hobbled away from her car.
Poorly lit office buildings lined the street, all closed for the long weekend. The road was empty of cars and foot traffic, and it seemed like miles to the lively party she’d just left. Streetlamps sparsely dotted the sidewalk, each only casting a small circular patch of light on the ground below. Downtown Tulsa had never looked so dark and dead.
“Help!” Eva sobbed as the city she loved turned its back on her.
The car door creaked open behind her, and his shoes hit the pavement with a soft thud. “Eva, what are you doing? Weren’t we close to reaching some kind of common ground? I may not be as hip and young as you, but I think I’m okay. Nothing to run away from, that’s for sure,” he called.
The stiff shoes she’d taken from her mom made it impossible for her to gain any ground, and she tripped and fell to the concrete before reaching the curb. Two sets of straps came up from the sole of the shoe and wrapped around each ankle, secured in place by a small buckle. Her hands shook wildly as she dug at her feet to unclasp them, but the rigid straps only squeezed her feet tighter. “Please, please, please,” she begged before abandoning the effort to free herself from the bulky shoes.
Gravel dug under her fingernails as she clawed the street with her hands. Fighting the stiffness and pain in her knee, she crawled forward. Small rocks bore through the thin skin of her knees, leaving behind bloody craters.
His shoes grazed the ground with each step. The scratching sound of his soles on the street got louder as he marched closer. Her limbs shook as hope drained from her body.
Tears dripped into her open mouth. “Somebody help me!” Her raw throat felt like it would bleed from her screams. “Please!”
No one came to her defense. Tulsa’s vacant night remained black and still.
“Shhh, it’s entirely too late for you to be so loud.” His thick shadow crept over her body. “Settle down. Eva, this is happening and it’s not a bad thing.”
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, and she clamped her mouth shut to keep from biting her tongue.
His shoes stopped next to her, and his shadow felt heavy across her back. “Will you roll over for me? Please? It’s hard to have a conversation with the back of your head.”
She complied and rolled to her back. His image blurred through her tears, and she blinked rapidly to clear her eyes.
“There. That’s better, isn’t it?” He crouched down next to her and examined her knees. “They look pretty bad. We’ll have to clean them up so they don’t get infected. Don’t want you all scraped and dirty before we even get home.” He gently brushed away the gravel embedded in her knees.
Eva kicked and felt the power of another burst of adrenaline surge through her body. “Don’t touch me!” she shrieked and flailed her arms toward the face of her hooded attacker. Desperately, she scratched and dug at whatever her fingers touched. She pulled at the fabric of his sweatshirt before he turned his face away.
“I’m trying to help you,” he said, wrapping his hand around her swollen knee. He gripped her joint and pushed it toward the concrete. Eva let out a sharp squeal and recoiled.
“This played out so much differently in my head,” he said with a sigh. “Can I share something with you?” His grasp tightened around her knee. “I thought we would share some kind of connection, you know? Now I feel a little foolish. But I guess that’s why you shouldn’t make up what first meetings are going to be like. They never quite live up to your expectations.”
The muscles in the back of Eva’s knee stretched under his weight. She tightened her jaw and readied herself for the excruciating pain.
“That’s kind of how I felt the first time I met Lori.”
The mention of her mother flooded Eva with fear, and she forced her body to still.
“My mom?” The words came out as tiny squeaks.
“That’s right. I know so much about you.” He cleared his throat. “Now, what do you want to do about this little situation we’re in?”
“I’ll stop.”