The Art Of Us

30 • The Woman Who Never Breaks

The three men were in Fred's truck driving through town to get a sign of Alice. So far, they had no luck. It was almost impossible to see anything through the rain, which didn't make their search any easier.

"She's still not picking up, huh?" Fred asked FP, who was sitting next to him in the passenger seat with his phone to his ear.

"It's been hours, I am worried." FP put his phone away again and exhaled deeply. This couldn't be good.

"We'll find her." Fred promised. They had to.

"What upset her last night?" He asked her, hoping that maybe there was a clue of where she could be.

"She's scared... scared to he happy. Scared to lose everything she has ever cared for." FP said quietly.

He felt responsible for the way she felt and even more so for not being able to see how upset she still was.

"But what would walking away do to help her? This is so unlike my Mom." Charles said from the back, his own nerves and concern for his mother growing with the second.

"Fred, you know her best. Where could she be?" FP asked him, needing there to be more options.

"We've been everywhere. Pop's, the drive in, the Wyrm... Unless..." He looked sideways to FP, before finishing his sentence.

"Unless what?" He urged on.

"There is one other place she could be, but she must be crazy to go there in this weather." Fred said out loud.

"Where's that?"

"A secret spot at Sweetwater River. Not many people know how to go there, I'll lead the way."

Fred immediately turned the wheel to go to the other side of town, and no matter how hard he wanted to find her, he hoped she wouldn't be there. She really wouldn't be alright if she thought going there in this weather was a good idea.

It was still storming when the three arrived at the secret spot, and for a second Fred and Charles weren't sure what to do. But FP immediately made his way out of the truck, not caring that he was getting soaking wet in seconds. Fred and Charles followed his lead and tried to see something through the rain, which almost seemed impossible.

"ALICE?!" FP put his hands around his mouth to be as loud as he could, in a desperate attempt for her to hear him, if she was around. Sadly, it was nothing more than a loud echo through the woods.

"Look, she's there!" Fred pointed afar, where they could see a tiny silhouette of their Alice.

They quickly ran her way and noticed that she had been hiding in an old sewer pipe that had kept her dry. She hadn't heard them coming, which is why she looked up with startled eyes when she saw the three soaked men standing in front of the pipe.

"How did you find me?" She asked quietly, as she got up and got out of her hiding spot.

The rain immediately covered her with cold little drops, but she barely felt them. Not even when her skin was getting blue.

"Please come home with us, you're getting sick." FP pleaded desperately.

"I can't go home." Alice argued, trying to raise her voice above the rain.

"It's too much," She croaked out, her tears mixing with the raindrops on her cheeks.

"I used to be a Serpent Queen, a mother. That is what I am good at, what I can." She stated to plead, making FP, Charles and Fred look at her with soft but confused eyes.

"But now... I am a partner, a writer and the weight of being here for every single woman in this God forsaken town is weighing on my shoulders." Alice tried to wipe away her tears, but before she knew it they were wet again. She wasn't sure where her tears stopped and the rain began.