Lost

Missing

  Glancing over at him I noticed how attractive he was. He had long, dark curls and Piercing green eyes. He seemed so determined and strong.
  I sighed. We'd been on the road for an hour. Not a word had been said between us. "I'm getting hungry." I muttered.
  "Mhm" was the only thing he said. I scratched the back of my head, wondering what to say. Silence filled the air once again.
  "Why are you helping me?" He said, Shattering the silence. Why was I helping him? I had no idea.  Then I remembered how my father would hurt me. The way those men were going to hurt him.
  "What's your name?" Was my response.
  "My name is Harry." He said, his voice was so deep. 
  "I'm Samantha. It's nice to meet you." I said. My eye caught a road sign. "Welcome to the state of New York!" I said, reading the sign.
  "Samantha, please." He began. "I don't know you, and you don't know me. I'm clearly in trouble. Being with me is putting yourself in danger. Why? Why are you helping me?"
  I took a deep breath. "Because you need help." I replied. I looked over at him. "And so do I." He nodded.
  "Fair enough." Was his only response.
I pulled into a little diner around 7:30. We walked inside and were quickly seated at a booth. The waitress handed us a couple menus and went to grab some coffee.
"What will you be having today?" I asked Harry, as I scanned the menu.
He leaned back in his seat and glared out the window. "I'm not hungry." He said. I looked up at him. His cheeks were hollowed and his bones bare of flesh.
"You need to eat. Come on. My treat." I protested. He slammed his fist down on the table, anger glistened in his eyes.
"No! I don't need your charity!" He said, raising his voice. I shrunk back in my seat, closing my eyes. Waiting. Waiting for the burning feel of a palm hitting me square in the cheek. The way he was suddenly upset after being so agreeable was how my father was.
With my eyes still closed I felt a gentle hand touch a bruise on my face. "Someone hurt you?" Harry questioned, with his hand still resting on my cheek. I opened my eyes. Tears began to swell up in them, I was so scared.
Harry lowered his hand and placed it upon mine. "I'm very sorry to frighten you. I'm not used to such kindness and I had no right to return it with anger. I'm very great full to you for rescuing me. I'll never be able to repay you. Yes, I am quite hungry actually. Let's eat and then discuss the situation at hand, sound good?"
At first I was shocked at how so many words could come out of him. Then I relaxed. His voice was very soothing and soon enough my heart beat slowed to a normal time. I nodded in response and the waitress poured us some coffee while we ordered food.

  After scraping the last mouthful of food into my mouth, Harry began questioning me. "How old are you?" He began. 
  "18" I replied.   His eyebrows furrowed.
  "Why were you at that sketchy truck stop in the middle of the night?" He continued.
  "Funny, I was wondering the same thing about you." I said. Sipping on what seemed to be my tenth cup of coffee.
  "I thought I was safe there. I needed rest." He answered.
  "Do you have  a car?" I asked, hoping we wouldn't have to go retrieve it.
  "Yeah," he nodded, "but those jerks bagged it up pretty bad. I think it's totaled."
    "What's up with those guys any way?" I asked the question that had been on my mind since the beginning.
  He looked around, then stared off in the distance as if to remember some far off memory. "I guess it's quite simple, really." He said after a long pause. "About a year ago my mom got sick. After awhile insurance didn't cover the bills and I didn't have hardly enough money to pay a fourth of the cost. Let alone survive for myself. I went to the bank, but they laughed in my face. So, I went to Charlie. He was, what you call, an old friend. He often borrowed money to people in need. He lent me enough to cover expenses for my mom, for a while any way. Three months went by and I was unable to pay back a single penny of what I owed Charlie. Then six months. That's when stuff started happening. He'd come to my house in the middle of the night, asking for money. He'd threaten me. Every time it was the same. I couldn't pay it back.
  Eventually I had to flee. I said good bye to my mom and got in my car and left. I was on the road for five long weeks. Almost starving and Freezing.
  Then Charlie found me. I'm not sure how, but he did. He was going to kill me. Then take everything we owned. I was to week to fight back, and I was ready to die. That's when you swooped in and saved me. Now here we are."
I didn't know what to say. Or how to help. I just stared down at my empty plate of food. "I understand if you don't want to help me anymore." Harry finally said.
"No!" I blurted out. "I only want to help you more." He looked stunned.
"Why?" He asked. I only shrugged. "What's your story? Your only eighteen, don't you have a family?"
"Uh. Well, yes. I have my dad. I guess." I looked around the little diner. Not sure how to explain. "He's back in Virginia. I'd been saving my money for a while now, waitressing at a restaurant."
"You ran away?" Harry interrupted.
"Yeah. I guess." I muttered.
"He's who hit you?" He asked. I slowly looked up into his green eyes. They were filled with concern.
"My mom died when I was thirteen. That's when he started drinking. He lost his job. We had to move into a shitty trailer house in a sketchy neighborhood. Living off of food stamps and government checks. I got a job as soon as I could and worked hard at school. I was hardly home, but when I was it was a living hell."
Tears filled my eyes. I hated crying. It made me feel weak. I tried holding the tears back, but they kept coming. Why was I the one crying? Harry was in a bigger mess than me. He had a dying mother, that he loved and bad men were after him.
He slid into the booth next to me and placed his arm around me. "We are going to be okay." He soothed. Rubbing my arm gently. I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around him. Letting the tears fall.
"I'm sorry. I usually don't cry." I said, with my face still pressed against his chest.
"It's okay. Sometimes you just have to cry." He said. I sat back up and wiped my eyes.
"We should probably be going now." I said. He smiled.
"Probably." He agreed. After paying for the meal I stopped to glance at the bulletin board in the entry way, my eye caught a sign. It was a missing poster. My heart stopped. In big bold letters it read missing, and it had a big picture of me on it. It had my birth date , my height, weight, hair and eye color. It said to contact the police department with any information regarding me.
I looked up at Harry. He'd seen the sign too. Fear filled my body. "What now?" I asked. He shook his head.
"We keep driving."

  Dun dun duuuun! Daddy's not to happy! Comment and vote! Love you babes.
~J