Destined

Forty Eight

Maddie was still visibly shaking. Be it from fear or the cold, I wasn't sure. I was driving to our third ATM twenty minutes later. The first one was out of cash, the second managed to spit out the three thousand she had and now it was my turn. I still had that fifteen thousand that Vince had paid me, looks like it was about to be used.

I parked outside a convenience store and shut down the engine. I looked over at Maddie who was silently crying.

"I'll be back soon," I hopped out of the car.

A few people were in line before me, a girl dressed as a milk maid, a grim reaper and well I'm not sure what the third guy was dressed as. I looked out of place because I wasn't in costume. My phone rang as I joined the line.

"Vince," I answered.
"Where are you?"
"Convenience store, I'm fine. I'm just helping Maddie out, don't worry. How's Liz?" I asked.
"The doctors are still pumping her stomach. Tyler, Talia and Matt just got here,"
"Tell Talia I'm fine, and we'll be there as soon as we can,"
"Kristina, I don't like this, what's happening?"
"Babe, I need you to trust me, I promise I'll tell you everything soon,"
"Promise me you're okay,"
"I'm okay, I promise,"
"Okay," he sighed. "Please stay safe,"
"I will, thank you,"

By the time I put my phone away, I was the only one in line. I quickly went up to the machine and withdrew fourteen thousand since I couldn't withdraw the whole amount. I called Terrance and told him to come to the convenience store. Better to do this in public. I rushed back to the car and shoved the money into an envelope adding onto Maddie's money. She gasped in surprise at the money I had.

"Krissy, why do you..."
"It's from Vince, long story, are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded, "I'm really sorry about this,"
I shook my head, "What are friends for? Are you ready to tell me what happened?"
She sighed, "Roger and I were secretly seeing each other again. He thought it would be easier, you know. No pressure from his mum, or anyone else. And then, a few days before he died, I found out I was pregnant," she sniffed. "I couldn't believe it, I mean, we'd been careful, I guess not as careful as I thought. The day that he died, I went to the diner to tell him I was pregnant. I knew he was there with his teammates after the game. I texted him to meet me in the parking lot, and when he came, I told him what was happening," she stopped and looked out the window as a bunch of people in costumes ran into the store.

"He didn't skip a beat, Krissy. He just dropped to his knees and asked me to marry him. Can you believe that?" She laughed sadly. "And me, being me, I said no. I got angry actually. We got into it, Roger and I always got argued like an old married couple. I told him I wanted to terminate the pregnancy, while it was still below three months. But I needed parental consent because I'm below twenty one. I couldn't let my dad know, I just couldn't. So I went the other route, the illegal route. Found some guy, Terrence who had the pills to do it. No questions, no nothing, just two thousand and it'd be done. But stupidly, I gave him my actual number to contact me, and my name, I should have gotten a burner. But I thought I would never see him again after our transaction. That wasn't the case. He somehow figured out who I was, where I went to school and who my dad was.

"And once he realized that, that my dad had money, he started blackmailing me. This was months later, and at first, I didn't know he knew, just that he wanted more money. I ignored him as long as I could, until one time a month ago, I saw him as I was leaving class. And I knew I couldn't keep ignoring him. If he'd found my school, it was only a matter of time before he found out who my baby's father was, which I guess he eventually did. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. Ask one person who I am, who I hung out with, and there you go,"

She stopped again and fumbled with her hands for a brief moment before looking back at me.

"I told him I'd pay him, he'd asked for five thousand originally, but then he refused, said I'd toyed with him long enough, and now he wanted more. I panicked and ignored him again, trying to figure out what to do. And then he showed up today and here we are,"
"Maddie," I said and stopped not knowing what to say.