If It's Easy.

Chapter XVIII

Fear is what I felt. More so than any other time in my life. "I can't believe this!" Tracy yelled through the receiver. My ears hurt from his loud baritone. He'd just answered the phone minutes before. "Lici, what the fuck man, I can't believe you..."His voice trailed off as I heard him yell something to someone in the background. I could only hope it wasn't Andre, or worse Aunt Wanda. "Lici?" He came back to the phone. "Listen, sit tight, I'll be there as soon as I can." It was nearly one in the morning, and there I was.

Stranded.

My only reaction came in a low utter. I was becoming too tired to speak after wandering for hours in the cold, unforgiving dark. After awhile I'd began to notice just how rural my surroundings were. After Stuart drug me out the car, it all hit me. To my left was an endless plain of grass, cows were scattered about behind a wooden fence. Until then, I hadn't even realized a place like this even existed in Minnesota. A true nightmare. This for sure, would go down as the wildest night of my life, I'd thought over and over. If I made it past that night. Even after I'd stumbled upon a phone booth it'd took me twenty minutes to find an address on an old rickety establishment.

"What's the area code?" He'd asked minutes before. I couldn't even tell him that, all I could give him was the address I'd found on an old bar. All I could do was hope that, he'd be able to find me.

I found a small growth of land on the ground and placed my jacket over it. As I sat down, the fear I'd been brushing off crept back to me. It was scary quiet, and my arms were freezing. The only noise came from cicadas and owls that were too close for comfort, but annoyingly out of sight.

Believing that I was there was the hardest thing. I kept thinking that I'd wake up in my bed in any moment. Stuart was right, I did know him and he wasn't crazy. Whatever took over him in that car, was not something I'd come to expect from him. Maybe it was all the frustration finally getting to him. Stuart was under so much pressure from school, his family and God knows what else. I could relate to some of his stress, but then again, I wouldn't have left him stranded on the side of a dark road. No matter how much pressure I was dealing with. Not even when I was the angriest I'd ever been with him, I wouldn't have the heart to do it. Maybe that was a weakness of mine, being to kind to the wrong people.

I'm sure I felt my heart jump to my throat, when the phone rang behind me. I forced myself up, shaking the chill of my impending frostbite off.  I trudged over to the booth as quietly as possible. Not wanting to disturb x whatever might've been watching me. The loud creak the door made, and the slam it caused upon closing, ruined any chance of staying calm. My heart was racing as I touched the phone.

"Hello?" I spoke slowly, as I held the phone so close to my face I could feel my breaths.

"Licia." Aunt Wanda's familiar voice came through, bringing a bit of comfort with it.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing girl?" She asked, I could hear sleep in her voice. "Where are you?"

I sighed as she waited for my answer. Fear made it harder for me to form a coherent thought. "All I have is the address."

Wanda hesitated before speaking, she sounded like she wanted to say something else. "Tracy left awhile ago, said he was going to look for you." She asked. "Are you safe."

"Yes..." I said, pausing to look around for any sign of Tracy. "I'm fine." My fingers nervously tapped against the hard plastic in my hand.

"Did you call Jackie?"

"N-, Yes." I lied, putting on an earnest voice, as I tried to sound convincing.

"Did she pick up?"