My chest is tight as the blood red sunset sinks into the California sky. A thick orange filter blinds the city as I grip my steering wheel tightly. My muscles are tensed from all the stress I was feeling. I glance at the digital clock on my dash to read 7:30, the time Kyla was supposed to be at Layla's.
My knuckles are white from the tight grip I have on my steering wheel. Hoping to relieve some of the pressure inside I grip the wheel stiffly. I search around for any police cars because technically I was committing a crime.
This was technically kidnapping even though I refused to see it that way.
I pull into the parking lot of a Target knowing that I needed a few things before I left the city. I needed some supplies for Kyla like food, clothes, blankets, and a few other necessities that came along with caring for a baby.
I park the car and retrieve Kyla who is busily talking and babbling to herself while playing with her stuffed bunny she always carries around. I adjust her on my hip and hurry into the super Target. I needed to be out of here as quickly as possible with zero detection.
"Dada?" Kyla tilts her head pointing to the big store with people pushing carts pouring out of the doors.
"Yes baby?" I answer as she then goes on to babble away in her own little language. Asking various questions I don't fully understand unless she points to what she is referring to.
As we come through the entrance of the Target the audio and electronic section is set up on out left side, Now or Never playing in unison through TV speakers.
Kyla points to that section and dances in my arms moving from side to side as she dances to the beat of the song. Her chocolate brown curls bounce around her face and compliment her rosy cheeks as she smiles at me. I slid her into a cart and search around for the baby isle.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Oooooow!" She sings along as I throw blankets, bottles, binkies, clothing, and food into the cart. A small mound of things piles up in the middle of the cart as I just throw things in carelessly.
I pace over the furniture and pick up a play pin for Kyla that would serve as a bed for wherever we stayed next. I knew wherever we stayed most likely it wasn't going to be supplied with a crib or toddler bed. I can feel my pulse quickening the longer I spent in here, I was on edge thinking about how I could get caught.
I felt like every single pair of eyes was on me. I felt naked under everyone's glances even if it was a careless one. I knew I was being irrational with all this anxiety in my bloodstream but in a situation such as mine where I am running from my life, I felt justified in my thoughts. After all even though I hated saying it, what I was doing was considered illegal.
I wasn't sure if I was even being looked for at this point but it had set me off. I couldn't trust anyone.
Once I make it to the cash register I made sure to pay for everything in cash. I couldn't leave a paper trail, if I was going off the grid and living a life on the run there was no room for errors. I had to make sure each move I made was precise and well thought up, there couldn't be any trace of me.
Sooner or later I would need a new vehicle, I knew my license plate could be tracked and that would be a dead giveaway to my whereabouts. If the traffic cams picked up my license it would all be over, I needed a change of vehicles as soon as possible.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Kyla chants still singing along to the song that had ended long ago. I load everything into the car and lift Ky out of the cart and place her into my arms as she continues to repeat the same words.
Being reunited with her bunny friend as I buckle into her seat her blue eyes look at me momentarily. "Dada? Ah ow ow!" She demands wanting to listen to the Now or Never song.
