Stranger No Danger

Stranger No Danger, Part 2

I whipped my head around to see my stranger peering down at me, sweat trickling down his face. I burst into tears of relief as he sat down in the seat next to me.

"Thank god," I gasped. "I didn't see you so I thought I'd have to travel by myself in this town I don't even know."

He patted my shoulder apologetically. "I'm so sorry, I barely made it onto the train in time. The police call was taking so damn long, they were asking all of these questions I didn't know the answer to. I ran all the way from the hotel."

He paused to catch his breath, obviously still winded from his own journey to the train station. "They seemed pretty pissed that I told you to take a train and get as far away from here as possible. Like yeah I get it, maybe wasn't the best idea but that's what I would have done. I just gave them your name and that you'd be leaving on the earliest train from Juniper."

He handed me a pack of tissues from his pocket. I laughed, giddy with relief, and took a moment to wipe my tears.

"Here, this is from the hotel." He handed me a cold water bottle and I downed half of it in one swig, suddenly realizing how thirsty I was.

"What's your name?" I asked the stranger once I regained my composure.

"Arlen," he replied.

I nodded and made a nervous joke, "Would've been pretty lame if I didn't know the name of the person who saved me."

He smirked and took a swig from his own water bottle.

"Thank you though, seriously," I murmured, looking down at the floor. "I don't know what would've happened to me if you hadn't been out there."

He shook his head. "Of course, I'm glad I was out there too. I was actually thinking of calling the cops after hearing what those guys from your room were saying."

I looked up, wanting to know more. "Did you see something happen?"

Arlen furrowed his brow. "So, I checked into my room at around half past midnight. And maybe like 30 minutes later, I heard a few of these guys' voices in the hallway, saying stuff like 'is this really the most secure location' 'we gotta make sure nobody sees them' 'how long till we get out of here', just shit like that..."

I shuddered and he gave me a sympathetic glance.

"It was just honestly kind of sketchy and gave me that, you know, gut feeling that something wasn't right."

I gazed up at him as he continued telling me what he knew.

"I guess they all left except for the guy that was outside your door like you told me. I didn't know what to do. I knew if I made a 911 call there was a good chance they wouldn't take me seriously... like can you imagine that, hello 911 there's these guys saying weird things outside my hotel room at 1 in the morning? They'd say, go to bed and sober up." 

I smiled slightly. 

He combed a hand through his curly brown hair. "Anyway, I went outside at some point, probably half an hour or so later, to get some fresh air, and see if I could hear what was going on in your room from my balcony. 'Cuz at that point it had been quiet for a while," he explained.

"And that was when you saw me come out." I nodded, slowly piecing the story together. "Um... where are we? I'm from Los Angeles, California..."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're in Northern Oregon right now."

I gulped and exclaimed under my breath, "Fuck."

The train rattled on, with the cabin lights dimmed to allow passengers to sleep through the night. We sat in silence for a bit. I didn't know whether it was the savior complex or whatever but I felt myself becoming drawn to Arlen. I didn't want him to leave my side because I was terrified of what could happen if I was left alone.

"Alright, well... can you tell me what happened, from your end?" Arlen encouraged gently.

I blinked and paused for a few seconds to try and remember. "I was walking in the park near where I live... it was like, I dunno, 8 in the evening? I just remember seeing that woman come out from nowhere and approach me, and didn't even say anything. And then like... those buff men also came and started beating me up and restraining me."

I looked up at the ceiling in concentration. "I think she injected me with something... that's all I remember."

"What day was this?" Arlen asked.

"Um... July 10th."

His jaw dropped slightly. "It's July 13th now."

I stared at him in shock. "I was knocked out for two days?"

He nodded gravely in response.

"Well... at least that time frame makes sense," I joked nervously. "There's no way they could've made it all the way to Northern Oregon from Los Angeles in 5 hours." 

"Yea," he huffed in agreement, then looked at me.

"Listen," he said, adopting a more serious tone. "There's been a lot of human trafficking going on lately, I've heard stories. On the news they say they put some sort of tracking device on their victims. Is there anything on you that wasn't there before, like a piece of jewelry or technology?"

I patted my body down, and felt a small Apple watch-like device on my ankle. My heart sank deep into the pits of my stomach as I raised my leg to expose the small tracking device. Arlen's face fell and I felt myself begin to panic again.

Seeing the terror fall across my face, he placed a comforting hand on my arm and quickly reassured me, "Hey, don't worry Michelle, you're gonna be fine."

I suddenly remembered almost being caught by a henchman in the hotel lobby. Dread filled every cell of my body as I realized why I hadn't been chased down the street; they could find me no matter where I went. Arlen's demeanor darkened after I briefly summarized what had happened.

He looked over his shoulder and asked, "Do you know if this train has any stops other than the final one?"

"Yes," I replied quietly. "The attendant that sold me my ticket said there's five other stops."

Arlen frowned and paused for a few moments to deliberate. "Okay, that's good. I think we need to get off like two stops before Whitehorn Creek. We need to get far enough away first. Leave that anklet thing on the train, and let them 'track' you to Whitehorn."

My eyes widened at his quick thinking. "That sounds good," I agreed.

A cold shudder ran through my body as I considered what might have happened if I hadn't known about the tracker. Thank god he made it onto the train, I thought to myself, watching this incredible stranger that I was beyond thankful for bend down to take the anklet off.

A rush of emotions and the understanding of what had happened overwhelmed me, and I began sobbing quietly in my seat. This is fucking humiliating, I berated myself as Arlen wrapped an arm around my shoulders in an attempt to comfort me, but I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. He rubbed my shoulder and murmured a reassuring thing or two as I let myself cry. Poor fellow passengers. Imagine hopping on a train at 2 in the morning and hoping for some rest before your stop, just to hear some girl having a breakdown. Thankfully I stopped crying right after Amden, where not a soul boarded or exited the train.

"Are you gonna go back to the hotel once I get to a police station?" I asked Arlen at some point.

He looked at me in disbelief. "Absolutely not," he objected. "I'm staying with you the entire time. In fact, I'll stay with you until you can get back to Los Angeles."

I didn't respond but felt my heart swell with relief and happiness. I wouldn't be alone in this terrible endeavor.