“When was the last time you ate?” he asked.
She wiped her mouth with a napkin and swallowed. “I had a few bites of pizza yesterday,” she said. The thought made her lose her appetite, and she put the sandwich down, pushing it away from her as if it were now infected by the memories.
The greasy pizza sitting on the table.
Jayson laughing.
And then, the screaming.
“Hey, hey—are you okay?” Elijah said. Now he was somewhat alarmed.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been caught in the nightmare of what had happened to her. It was almost as though she’d blanked out—but now she was swimming back to awareness again. Her entire body was tense, like a coil of wire.
“I’m all right,” she whispered.
“Come on, let’s take this stuff to go,” he said, grabbing the food and putting it in a paper bag, picking up the two cups of coffee.
Caelyn nodded, stood up and the two of them walked out together.
***
About an hour later, they were driving through New York City, and getting close to the bus station.
Neither of them had talked quite as much after the rest stop. Caelyn was still reeling from the experience she’d had when Elijah had asked her that simple question about when she’d last eaten, which had elicited those awful memories and emotions.
She wondered how long it would be before she’d be able to think back on last night with anything less than pure terror. Maybe it would take her the rest of her life.
Rather than talk, Elijah had put the satellite radio on some kind of radio talk show. The name of the show was Geeks and Gear or something like that. It was a couple of guys talking about computers and other techie stuff. She was surprised that Elijah listened to stuff like that—he seemed more like the kind of guy who would listen to sports radio or angry rap music.
Regardless, she found the voices on the show soothing, and even though she didn’t care what they were talking about, it was sort of nice to just sit and not really focus on anything.
Elijah was content to do the same for a long while. She appreciated that he seemed to understand and respect when she was too overwhelmed to have much interaction.
But finally, he did talk again. “We’re hitting Chinatown,” he said, pointing ahead at the street. The signs on the buildings were mostly in Chinese now, and of course many of the people were also of Chinese descent.
“Is that where the station is?” she asked.
He nodded. “They have the best, cheapest fares around here,” he told her.
“Oh.” She looked out the window and watched as they drove through the city streets. A feeling of loss was starting to creep up on her now. She realized that Elijah and this SUV had become a safe haven for her over the last few hours. Somehow, she’d started to really trust him.
It didn’t make sense.
Nothing made sense anymore.
The minutes passed by a bit too quickly for Caelyn’s tastes. She suddenly wanted to hold onto her time with Elijah, to slow it down, make it last somehow. But before she knew it, he was pulling into a small parking lot and stopping, his face grim.
“Here we are,” he said softly.
She looked at him and smiled. “Here we are.”
“We can sit for a few minutes if you want. The bus won’t be leaving for a little bit still.”
“No, I don’t want to keep you,” she said, trying to smile. “You’ve already gone way above and beyond for me, Elijah. I appreciate it.”
“I wanted to,” he said, his eyes locking on hers.
She wanted to say something then. She wanted to say that they should keep in touch, exchange numbers, anything. But she couldn’t seem to find the words. Her throat locked up. “Thanks again,” she managed, and then opened her door and got out, making sure he didn’t see the wetness in her eyes.
Caelyn walked towards the door of the station, bag and purse in hand. She told herself not to look back and was able to stick to her decision.
Once inside, she went to the window and said she wanted a one-way ticket to Orlando, Florida.
The ticket came to just over ninety dollars with tax. It was about a third of her money—gone in one shot.
The teller pointed to a bus sitting out front, parked on the street, and told her that she could board it now.
Caelyn walked to the bus outside and showed her ticket to the driver, who was standing beside the bus. “Go ahead,” he said, not smiling. His eyes were dull, his mustache gray and wilted.
As she went up the steps to get on the bus, she looked quickly over her shoulder at the parking lot and didn’t see Elijah’s SUV. He was gone.
The bus was less than half empty, and Caelyn took a seat near the back, sitting by the window. She stuffed her travel bag under the seat and put her purse on her lap. The seats weren’t exactly roomie and comfortable, but at least she’d be safe for the rest of the trip.