Little White Lies

Chapter 5

"Are you sure you and Bianca are friends?" Eric asked as Candice withdrew five grand from an ATM. He was keeping watch next to her on the crowded street in Sacramento, looking uneasy as she piled the cash into a small duffel bag they just purchased. "How is that card not hit the limit already?"

They had brought everything Candice wanted to and more in the past hours, dashing across San Jose after a hasty bus ride down from Sacramento. While they weren't sure whether they were followed, no one had bothered them yet and Candice had grown bold. Their next bus ticket was bought with cash, with another pair of tickets to San Fransico brought with the credit card. That should be able to throw whoever was chasing them off for a little while.

"I'll make it up to her," Candice replied. A dress from Bianca's wardrobe easily cost twice that, but Candice didn't expect Eric to understand.

"Come on, we don't want to miss our bus. We still need to get you a phone," Eric said as Candice hastily zipped up the bag and slung it over her shoulders. She had stuffed some down her bra and panties, too, for good measure, and Eric exclaimed and averted his glance.

"You should keep some on you, too, just in case," Candice instructed, stuffing him a handful of bills. Eric jolted, no doubt to protest, but they were on the street so Candice huffed at him and shoved harder until he relented.

The two of them hurried down the street in search of a shop that sells unregistered cell. It wasn't as easy as they made it out in the movie, as most places required them to provide a lot of personal information, one that Candice would rather not give. If they could track her purchase of the phone, that they would trace it and defied the purpose of buying it.

Finally, before they were about to give up, they got a deal at a corner shop that sold sim cards. The man was clearly ripping them off, but they weren't left with a lot of option. In fact, it was such a close call that they practically ran to the bus station.

"Maybe you should ditch your old phone," Eric suggested. Candice had transferred the photos to Eric's and her new cell, and she clutched at it protectively at Eric's words. The phone was expensive and her lifeline. She wasn't going to just throw it away.

"I'm serious, they might be able to track the phone even without the sim card," he continued. Candice narrowed her eyes at him, but it made sense. She had purchased the iPhone along with the sim from the provider, and it would make sense that they could track it with the find your phone function.

Candice handed over her phone reluctantly, reassuring herself with the thoughts that everything was backed up. Her new disposable phone was a crappy flip phone that could barely show a photo.

Eric tapped away on her phone to reset everything, and Candice's mind immediately tries to remember if she had left any incriminating photos inside. She didn't think so... maybe it was a bad idea to take them in the first place...

Before Candice could finish her thoughts, Eric had slipped her phone into the bag of a woman just walking past them. She had to cover her mouth to stifle her squeal.

"Ssh, it's perfect," Eric shushed her and pointed at the bus the woman was getting on. It was headed to San Fransico.

Brilliant.

They had barely made it to their bus and both sighed in relief as it rolled out of the station.

"We should be good, for now," Eric mused aloud. Candice nodded. But now was not the time to relax. They spent their bus journey setting up Candice's new phone and going through the documents again until Candice felt like she might throw up.

"Do you-do you see your parents?" Eric asked tentatively, his face a mask of kindness. Candice took several deep breaths to combat the nauseous feeling. It was clear that one of the two men on the stage would be her father, but she couldn't make out her mom among the dozens of casualties photographed.