PART 1 — ABANDONED IN THE DESERT
His laughter still sometimes appears in my nightmares, sharp and cruel under the roar of an engine. But that scorching afternoon five years ago, when a silver pickup truck disappeared after a curve in the Arizona desert, it was the loudest sound in the world.
“Kyle, stop!” I shouted, running after the truck. “This is not funny!”
My husband remained behind the wheel while his brothers, Brad and Chase, peeked out the windows with their phones up, recording my panic.
“Good luck, Lena!” Chase shouted. “See you in three hundred miles!”
Then the truck disappeared.
I was left alone next to an almost abandoned gas station, waiting for them to come back. I was repeating to myself that it was another silly joke and that Kyle would soon return with that youthful smile that had once made me trust him.
But the road remained empty.
The building was called Gas Station Cactus Jack’s Last Chance. A faded sign warned that the next gas station was eighty-seven miles away. Beyond the only supplier and the small convenience store, there was nothing but heat, desert scrubs and distant mountains.
Then I remembered that my purse, my wallet and my phone were inside the truck.
Kyle asked me to buy him an energy drink. Since I thought we’d only be there for two minutes, I left it all behind.
Inside the store, I asked the dependent to let me use the phone.
“The pay phone is in the background,” he said without looking away from the TV.
“I have no money. My husband left with my belongings.”
“They usually come back. Wait outside.”
The pay phone was damaged and it was no longer working. I went back to the sidewalk and sat on the narrow swath of shadow next to the building.
That’s when I finally realized that the incident was not an isolated joke. It was the last cruelty in a pattern that I had pretended to ignore for years.
Kyle and his brothers hid my car keys before an important interview, causing me to lose it. They placed a very realistic eviction notice on the door of our apartment and saw me pack through tears before admitting it was fake. They made me terrifying phone calls, ruined my clothes and recorded my reactions whenever they could.
