The Trap

Far Away

A month had passed since the fateful night when Shannon found out about everything. A month trying to reach her but never getting an answer back. A month since Cari had a good night of sleep without missing and thinking about her, without hating herself for hurting her and seeing the sorrow look on her face every time she closed her eyes. She had lost weight and dark circles stamped a face that barely saw the sunlight in all that time. She needed to find a way to get Shannon back. At that point, she felt like her life depended on it. She couldn't keep going like that.

She was outside Shannon's house, waiting for her to come back home to beg for her forgiveness, to kneel in front of her if necessary, she was determined to do whatever it took to get a chance to talk to her. The night was falling and there was still no sign of her, just like the last five nights she waited for her in that same spot. She never came home after work. 

She felt like a stalker doing that, but she was desperate and running out of options. Being honest, she didn't even know what she was going to say once she came face to face with Shannon, but it didn't matter at that moment, first she needed to find her, then she would think about what she would do next.

She felt her eyes heavy as she sat in the driver's seat of her recently purchased car. She smiled remembering the little argument she had with Shannon when she insisted on borrowing one of hers instead of letting her buy a new one about a month and a half ago. She was glad she didn't let her convince her, because that would be another point against her now that she knew all the things she did in the past. 

She came back to reality when she saw the front door opening from the inside. Her heart suddenly started beating faster as soon as she noticed it moving. She didn't see anybody get inside since she got there two hours ago. She was already getting out of the car when she saw that the person leaving the house was Sarah and there was no sign of Shannon around. She took a moment to decide what to do; maybe Sarah would have the answers she was dying to know, maybe she could help her out and tell how she could talk to Shannon or where she was right now. Anything would help at that point. She waited for her to get out of the property and approached her.

"Hi Sarah."

She was startled when she heard Cari's voice, raising her head and seeing her for the first time.

"Cari, oh my god! You scared me!" She said breathing in and out with her hand on her chest.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were so distracted."

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to her. I've been waiting for her every night but she never comes home and never answers the phone. Can you please tell me where she is?"

"Cari, you've hurt her enough already, please stop, just go home."

"Sarah, please, I just need to talk to her, just once, and then, if she decides to not forgive me, I'll leave her alone, I promise, I just need one chance to tell her how sorry I am."

"She's not here, and you won't be able to find her anywhere around."

"Why? Where is she?"

"She's not in the country right now."

"What?" Cari felt her head spin for a second.

"She's doing voluntary work in South America, and she won't be back for at least another couple of months."

-

Two months. Two more long months away. Cari was about to lose her mind. She was somewhere thousands of miles away, without proper communication, in God knows what conditions, helping people that didn't even had basic human rights. 

She probably wasn't even thinking about her, she had more important things to worry about at that moment. But she would wait, no matter how long, she would wait for her to come back. By now, she would have to figure out a way to find herself again, to find a purpose that it wasn't entirely based on getting Shannon back into her life. That was the only way to keep her sanity safe.