SHEOL

3

Our first stop was about three hours away from our police infested home at a truck stop that doubled as a gas station on the side of the highway. Mother had kept the radio on since shortly after our conversation, trying to catch word of our names, or any details about our apartment. So far, nothing.

We cautiously parked the old Buick next to a pump and went inside. I had never been inside of a gas station, let alone a truck stop. There were aisles of junk food and brightly colored snacks throughout the place, as well as a line of refrigerators on the back wall, filled with sodas and energy drinks. Mother let me roam around for a bit while she had a chat with the attendant.

“So,” she said through her grotesque smile. “I wanna fill up my tank.”

The attendant, a tall Middle Eastern man returned the grin. “Yes, what pump are you on?”

“Pump three.” She answered.

The man punched a few things into the register and gratefully took her money. He then tried to engage in a bit of small talk. “So, what are you two lovely ladies doing out here?” He asked with his thick accent.

My mother bit her lip and smiled faintly. “Oh, we're just taking a little vacation to, um, El Paso. All of our family lives there and they wanted us to visit.”

The man grinned. “I've never been there, but I'll have to check it out. Would that be all for you, miss?”

She glanced backwards at me. I was unaware of her, I was too busy trying to figure out what I wanted to buy.

“October, what are you going to get?” She hollered, making the man cringe slightly.

I smiled and picked out a bag of my favorite potato chips and handed them to her. Though I was only three and wasn't able to read, I could recognize the logo on the package.

He rung up the bag of chips and handed it to us. “Have a nice day, you two!” He chirped. My mother muttered something under her breath. When I asked her to repeat it, she said it was too obscene.

Once we pumped the gas and dashed, she quickly turned the radio on once more. It had been more than a few hours since we had left and there was still nothing.

“Strange,” she said to herself. “You'd think it would be on here by now.”

I didn't respond, because my mouth was stuffed with artificially cheesy snacks. Just as she finished her sentence, however, a breaking news report fled through the speakers.

“Hello, everyone, this is an important news announcement.” The woman’s voice was cracking because we were slowly fleeting out of range. “We have just gotten word that there has been a large drug bust in the east San Francisco Bay area. The owner of the apartment that was infiltrated is a young woman named Ivonne Haas. She is about five-foot-two and weighs roughly eighty pounds. She has blonde hair and brown eyes and most likely has a three-year-old girl with auburn hair with her. She is armed and dangerous-”

“Armed and dangerous my ass!” She laughed. “You just said I'm five-foot-two and eighty pounds, who's going to take you seriously?”

The broadcast continued, though it was crackling even further. “If anyone sees a suspicious young woman like the one described, they are asked to call the San Francisco Police Department immediately at four one five-” Mother shut the radio off.

“Momma, we're famous!” I squealed with delight as I clutched my stuffed penguin even tighter.

She wasn't very amused. “October, we're going to have to get off this damned highway and stop at the nearest store. It's gonna be risky, but it's better that we disguise ourselves now than wait until it's too late.”