Her name was Marcy. He let me travel with her for four hours without asking me for explanations. At one stop, he bought me water and a sandwich. Before I left at the bus station, he gave me ten dollars and a charger for the mobile.
“Whatever you leave behind,” he said, “don’t come back simply because being alone scares you. I stayed too long once.”
“You saved me today.”
Marcy gave me a tired smile.
“No. You saved yourself. I just took you.”
Inside the station, I borrowed the phone long enough to email my mother’s sister, Aunt May. I hadn’t spoken to her in three years because Kyle had convinced me she was controlling.
Can I stay with you? I have nowhere to go.
His response came almost immediately.
The key is under the doormat. You can always go home.
I bought a one-way bus ticket with Marcy’s money, destroyed the SIM card on the phone and threw it in the trash.
