His Lifeline

Chapter 23: Friendly Customers With Ulterior Motives

Monday afternoon, I was beyond shocked to see the votes on the board for the contestants. The graph on the whiteboard had three parts. On the far left were the names of the competitors who got accepted. Then in the center was the number of votes the contender got from the judges, and then the last column had the number of ballots from the audience.

I was beyond surprised to see my alias on the board. I was even more surprised to see that three judges out of six had voted for me. Thankfully my audience votes were around average, and I only had around ten. Minus the four from my party were six people who chose me over their own contenders, and I was grateful to them. Annabeth was shaking; she was so excited. I was honestly quaking in my boots.

Now I couldn't cut ties with Annabeth. I had to maintain my distance and not cut it off. I couldn't do the Band-Aid treatment, and it was stressing me out. It was like Gabe and the glass bottle all over again, Slow and Steady, none of that easy suffering.

I came back to reality as Annabeth waved a hand in front of my face.

"Hey! Rusticitas! I was asking if you had an idea for the song you wanted to play. Since this is the big one, I didn't want to choose for you." Annabeth said, exasperated placing her hands in the black hoodie she was wearing.

Yes, it was my hoodie. Yes, she didn't give it back, and yes, she refused to allow me to take it. So I was stuck with my blue one until tonight when my other black one finished drying in the dryer.

"Um, I actually have an idea for what to play. It's kind of been my therapy song for this semester." I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away, embarrassed.

"I see. Care to share?" She asked tentatively. I grinned goofily at her and said, "Nah, you'll know it when Mrs.Fin announces it" Annabeth huffed playfully and pretended to storm off. I poked her shoulder when I caught up and remembered tomorrow was the day her assignment was due.

"Hey, did you finish your building?" I asked softly. She looked up at me, surprised.

"You remembered its due date?"

"Um, yea," I rocked back and forth on my heels as I looked away.

"Well, I did finish, and thank you for helping me perfect it."

"Your welcome" we stood in silence until an alarm went off on my phone, signaling when I had to leave for work.

"Bye, Annabeth, I'll see you tomorrow," I waved as I rushed out of the school. I ran into the convenience store and pulled on my green apron.

As my shift dragged on, I twirled my pen in boredom. I heard the doorbell jingle as someone entered, but I just waited until the customer came to the register.

"Hello, may I have a hotdog, please?" a man asked, and I smiled to myself. Friendly people always got a check in my book. I usually had to deal with annoying teenagers and crazy old men.

I walked over to the rollers and picked up the hot dog. Setting it on a bun, I handed it over to the man. As I stuck my hand out, I typed the cost of the hot dog into the register. Suddenly as the man took the hotdog, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him over the counter.

Then he whispered, "Trails' gone cold," then releasing me, he slammed a ten on the counter and left the store, saying in his friendly voice to keep the change.

I stood there as I rang up the register, shaking—his words echoing in my mind.

Trails' gone cold.

That could only mean that the debt collectors couldn't find Gabe. But that's ok; I had his away phone number now. I could give it to them, and they could track him.

I tried telling myself it would be ok, but I couldn't seem to calm down. My paranoia hit me hard as I struggled to do everyday cashier things during my job. I didn't know when they were going to attack, and I was fucking terrified.

When my shift ended, I hung up my apron and sprinted home, not stopping until I entered my room. The entire time I looked over my shoulder and pushed my legs as if something or someone was chasing me.

I sat, staring at any shadows that moved as I laid there against the wall of my bedroom, knowing that to keep Annabeth out of this, I would have to go to school tomorrow, which meant leaving my safe place. Which, in turn, meant constant danger.

I took a deep breath. I'll be fine. I've just gotta make it through tonight—one hour at a time.