His Runner

Rose

We had been traveling for 5 days now, switching between buses and cars. Zigzagging all over the country, hoping that with how random it was, they would never find us. Only stopping at cheap hotels for a few hours of sleep for myself. Everyone was tired. I wasn't sure how much more the girls could take. I wasn't sure how much more I could take. Conner was just loving being held all day. This kid clung to me like he was afraid I would never pick him up again.

We were slowly reaching a final stop on the bus, and I am still not sure if it was safe to stop running yet. But we need a break. I decide to get off at this stop instead of getting on another bus. We could stay here and try to find a hotel. I am still amazed at how well the kids have done. My anxiety has been overwhelming, but the little hugs and snuggles they have been giving me are keeping me grounded.

"Grab your bags, girls, we are getting off here," I say. They hurry with excitement knowing they can finally get off the bus and hopefully stop running, at least for now.

As we get off the bus, I realize how cold it is outside. We have traveled far up north and I'm not even sure where we are. I know this is the last stop this bus is making before it turns around to go back down again. I get the kids off the bus and wait for the bottom doors to open so we can collect our bags. Once I have them, I rush the kids inside to get warm and figure out how to find a place to stay. I tell Sara to go through the bags and find sweaters. We don't get cold weather like this down south, so we only have lightweight jackets.

I take a minute to look around to figure out where we are. The building is small and looked more like an old cabin. It looks like it is right out of a western storybook. I look at some pamphlets on the wall and see we are in a town called Paintsville. Such an odd name for a town, but whatever. When the people at the front desk leave, I walk over to talk with the lady there. She was friendly and offered a warm smile to us.

"What can I do for you?" she asks.

"I need to know where I can rent a car. I would also like to know where the nearest hotel is; I couldn't see any on your map over there," I ask.

"Oh dear, well we just rented out our last car an hour ago. The closest place is about 30 minutes away. Hotels are also in that direction. The one that was here by the station got shut down," She says looking sadly at me.

"Oh geez. What can I do? I don't know anyone here. Is there a taxi I can call or an Uber?" I say with a little panic in my voice. I don't know what to do now. We can't go back the way we came because the bus won't leave till tomorrow anyway.

"Well, there is no taxi around here and the only Uber we have is Jack, and it being a Friday at 5 pm he has probably already started drinking." She says with a little laugh.

"What are you doing in Paintsville anyways?" she asked.

Since we have been traveling for so long, I have a story made up for our reason to travel. I look at her name tag and see it says Rose on it. She is an older lady who I am sure would make an amazing grandma to someone. She had mostly grey hair, but you could tell when she was younger, she had dark hair. Her kind eyes were bright green, even for her age, her eyes looked young. You could tell she was a happy person by the smile lines around her eyes. She just had an aura of kindness.

"We are passing through on the way to see family up further north. We ran into car trouble and must make do with buses for now," I tell her.

She raises her eyebrows and looks sadly at the kids. "I'm sure that has been hard on them, poor dears," she says sadly.

"Well, I can help give you a ride to town to find a car if you would like. I'm sure you could find one there. My shift ends in about 15 minutes if that helps." she says. I look at her with shocked eyes and she just smiles at me.

"I know it's hard to trust strangers sometimes but now and then you just got to have faith," Rose says with so much understanding in her eyes. I almost burst into tears.

"Are you sure you can do that; you don't even know me? Will my children be ok in the car?" I say still on the verge of tears.

It's been a long few days and people who travel on buses aren't usually the nicest of people. Plus, I never really left pack lands, so I wasn't expecting humans to be so nice to strangers. It's funny to think that someone who is almost 24 knows nothing of the outside world. I can feel the kindness from her, and I feel no lying or uneasiness from her. She reaches out to grab my hand and I immediately feel warm and calm down. I feel at peace.

"Of course, dear! We keep booster seats in the office just in case parents don't have any for buses. I'm sure we can find some to fit." She says so sweetly.

I don't know what it was, but I just knew I could trust her. And just like that, Rose becomes my new and only favorite human.