The bus reached its first stop and the girl in front of them departed. Anna watched as she descended the steps from the bus with a real attitude. But as Anna looked to see where she was heading she saw nothing in the distance. This looked like a ghost town and she felt panicked for the strange girl. As the bus pulled away from the stop Anna craned her neck to look behind her and saw the girl stick out her thumb. A car stopped beside her immediately. It seemed like such a cruel and peculiar world. Carl meanwhile followed her gaze and looked out the back window.
“Kids these days are in all sorts of trouble. Try not to think about it,”
“That’s not right though. That’s not normal,”
“Just try and focus on us and the here and now,” Carl squeezed her hand.
But it wasn’t working. She couldn’t quite shake the image of the lost girl getting in a stranger’s car. Something about the situation screamed that she wouldn’t get back out. Anna shivered at the thought despite the warm sun beaming through the windows.
“Are you cold?” Carl asked.
And he took his jacket off and wrapped it round her.
“Thanks,” she spoke weakly.
And she pulled the jacket around her frail body and lay down on across the back seats. Letting sleep take hold of her worries she let her eyes close.
~
When she woke up the sun was dipping down over the hills. She looked out the window to see the bus pull into another bustling station and soon the sign revealed it to be San Antonio. Looking over to Carl she saw him fast asleep against the opposite window. She nudged him with her foot and he woke with a start.
“We’re here,” she yawned and sat up.
“Urgh…. Fuck,”
“You ok?”
“Yuh…. Just weird dreams,” he scrubbed at his eyes with his fingers.
“Well forget about them, we’re here!” Anna giggled and stood up while grabbing her things.
“You seem in a better mood,” Carl kissed her cheek.
“Sleep can make people reborn,” she shrugged and waited for the people in front of them to depart.
As they stepped out into the station Anna felt the night descend on the city and she wondered what that meant for the couple. Another night meant another place to hide.
“So tell me,” nudged Carl playfully. “This plan of yours… Why’s it so secret,”
“It’s not secret… I just… I dunno I’m just not entirely sure it’ll work yet,”
“So it’s not really a plan then,” she rolled her eyes and readied herself for another night in a random hotel.
“No… no. Don’t be so quick to judge,” he smirked and placed his hands on her waist. “Now I want you to trust me ok?”
“Ok,” she nodded and they kissed.
“Now I want you to wait right here, on this bench. And I mean it. Don’t move an inch,”
“What? Where are YOU going?”
“I’m going to find someone…. I think. I’ll be two minutes,”
“Carl I don’t like this one bit…. What’s going on?”
“Please…. Just give me two minutes,”
She thought for a minute then relented. “Fine… But promise you’ll come back,”
“I told you already I’ll be back. Now please……” his eyes were pleading with her desperately.
“Fine….” and she slumped onto a metal bench that was somehow even less comfortable than the bus seats that she still ached from.
She watched as Carl disappeared into the crowd and out the station into the city center. If she wasn’t sure she would have guessed that he was ditching her, that he was trying to run away and leave her behind. After all how well did she know him? They’d only met four days ago. She nibbled on a nail and kept her eyes fixed on the distance. Every second she waited the more she was certain he wasn’t coming back.
“Fuck,” she mumbled into her sleeve. “He’s not coming back,” and tears came to her eyes. “Oh God please….. Come back,”
And the reality of the situation hit her. She was alone and lost in a strange city and the only person she trusted and who her entire life depended on, had disappeared into the city. She felt like a lost child as she swung her legs from the bench. What would happen if he never came back? A thousand scenarios ran through her head in a panicked sequence. He was the one with the money. All she had were the clothes on her back and what she held in her pockets. She twisted her fingers into the tight jeans pocket on her thigh. She had one stick of gum left and she placed into her mouth, her last worldly possession. Fiddling with the wrapper in her hand she crumpled it a dozen different ways as she tried to expel nervous energy. When that didn’t work she threw it to the ground and it accidentally hit an old lady on the shin.
“How rude, how very rude,” the old woman had a dried, shrunken face like a gnarly weasel and she glared with hatred at Anna.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there,”
“Tsk….” the old lady rolled her eyes. “Kids,”
And Anna was confused at that last remark. She wasn’t a kid at all! Although the more she waited the more she felt someone at the bus station could take her into an office and talk through a microphone. They’d report her as a missing child and her parents would run into the office to collect her.
But of course there were no happy endings or simple procedures for a lost adult. The best case scenario would be if someone kind took pity on her. Her eyes were still fixed in the distance. She was looking out for Carl’s tall stature and blonde hair and she longed to see his buzz cut through the crowd. But it didn’t come.