I Walk the Line ♤ (gxg)

chapter 13: phone home

They were back in the confinements of the hotel room with six locks on its doors.

"I brought your phone along," Willow casually stated, reaching into her own bag to hold up August's iPhone. "But you can only use it when I'm watching you. I assume you probably have somebody to text to tell them you won't be coming home for Christmas." The tone in her voice was threatening, her eyebrows raising to let August know that her words were a command, not a suggestion.

August thought about her dad and Daisy who hadn't crossed her mind since she had been so busy trying to stay alive. "But... I'm supposed to be flying to Texas on the 24th," she whispered. "That's five days."

"Yea, I can fucking count," Willow snapped. "But you will not be leaving here in five days," she darkly spoke, agitation growing in her as the girl didn't immediately comply.

"I have to see my family," August pleaded, her voice cracking.

Willow simply stared at her, her austere eyes giving her an answer.

August's eyes fell to the ground defeatedly. "Can I at least text someone?"

"Make it snappy." Willow handed August her phone, staying close behind her and watching as she frantically unlocked her phone and went to her messages.

Hey, Dad. Just letting you know it's quite lonely up here haha. The campus is quiet when everyone's on break

I'm sorry, kiddo! Keep yourself busy until you come down. I wish you could've gotten an earlier flight.

Yea, me too. Tell Daisy I love her. And I love you too.

The holidays making you sentimental or something?? Haha, we love you too, Auggie. So ready to see you x.

Tell Daisy not to eat all the Christmas cookies before I get there

You know there's no stopping that cookie monster!

Tears welled in August's eyes. She didn't know if that would be the last time she ever talked to her father. She hated that she would be missing Christmas with her family, and she hated that she might have never gotten the chance to say goodbye.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as cold hands yanked the phone from her grip. "Why didn't you tell them you weren't going to be there on Christmas?" Willow asked, annoyed at the girl's texts but also curious about who Daisy was. "And who the fuck is Daisy?"

"My sister!" August snapped, turning around to stare in rage at the woman who was keeping her hostage and not allowing her to spend the holiday with her family whom she hadn't seen since her semester started. "And I didn't tell them because it would break their fucking hearts to know I wasn't coming home for Christmas because some demented, batshit crazy lady is keeping me hostage at some weird hotel in the middle of Utah where a bunch of weird, gross-looking men stare at me like I'm a piece of meat!" Her voice cracked as she stepped towards the woman, fists balling. The rabbit was thumping in her ear. Her sudden-found bravery quieted him.

Willow's eyes widened at first. She never knew a 5'3" girl could look so formidable with her short brown curls and her soft sweater that nearly touched Willow's own leather jacket as she bowed up against the woman.

But she regained the coolness in her eyes and in her tone. "I've never had a fear of children and some smart-mouthed one who's been reading her little book of insults isn't going to make me start fearing them." She turned, putting August's phone back into her bag. A coldness was now instilled between the two, incited by August's harsh words. Willow reminded herself that she couldn't try to be friends with her hostage.