“Kyle, stop!” I yelled, running after the truck. “This isn’t funny!”
My husband remained at the wheel while his brothers, Brad and Chase, leaned out of the windows with their phones held high, recording my panic.
“Good luck, Lena!” Chase shouted. “See you in 300 miles!”
Then the truck disappeared.
I stood alone by a nearly abandoned gas station, waiting for them to return. I kept telling myself it was just another silly joke and that Kyle would soon be back with that youthful smile that had once made me trust him.
But the road remained empty.
The building was called Cactus Jack’s Last Chance Gas Station. A faded sign warned that the next gas station was eighty-seven miles away. Beyond the single pump and the small convenience store, there was nothing but heat, desert scrub, and distant mountains.
Then I remembered that my purse, wallet, and 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 everything behind.
Inside the store, I asked the clerk if I could use the phone.
“The public telephone is at the back,” he said without taking his eyes off the television.
“I have no money. My husband left with my belongings.”
“They usually come back. Wait outside.”
The payphone was broken and no longer worked. I went back to the sidewalk and sat down in the narrow strip of shade next to the building.
It was then that I finally understood that the incident wasn’t an isolated prank. It was the latest cruelty in a pattern I had pretended to ignore for years.
Kyle and his brothers hid my car keys before an important interview, causing me to miss it. They placed a very realistic eviction notice on our apartment door and watched me tearfully pack before admitting it was fake. They made terrifying phone calls to me, ruined my clothes, and recorded my reactions whenever they could.
Whenever I got angry, Kyle told me to cultivate a sense of humor. His brothers called me difficult, and his mother said I should be grateful to belong to such a cheerful family.
Sitting in the desert, I admitted the truth.
I hated how they treated me.
The most painful thing was that I hated the person I had become by trying to please them.
Then I remembered that Kyle had borrowed an old phone that morning and put it in my jacket pocket. It was almost dead, but a message popped up before the screen went black.
Don’t get mad. It’s just a joke from the channel. We’ll be back later. Relax.
His brothers had an online prank channel and longed for fame. Kyle craved their approval so much that he turned his wife into a spectacle.
I made my decision before the phone completely shut down.
I wouldn’t wait for them.
I would disappear.
A van pulled into the station. A tired woman got out while two children argued in the back seat. I approached cautiously.
“Excuse me. Are you traveling north?”
He looked at me with concern.
“I can take you to the state line. Are you in danger?”
“I need to get out of here.”
Her name was Marcy. She let me ride with her for four hours without asking any questions. At one stop, she bought me water and a sandwich. Before dropping me off at the bus station, she gave me ten dollars and a phone charger.
“Whatever you leave behind,” he said, “don’t go back just because being alone scares you. I once stayed too long.”
“You saved me today.”
Marcy gave me a tired smile.
“No. You saved yourself. I just took you there.”
Inside the station, I charged the borrowed 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 else to go.
His response came almost immediately.
The key is under the doormat. You can always go back home.
I bought a one-way bus ticket with Marcy’s money, destroyed the phone’s SIM card, and threw it in the trash.
Fourteen hours later, I arrived at Aunt May’s small coastal town at dawn. She was waiting for me by an old blue pickup truck, her silver hair pulled back in a braid.
When he saw me get off the bus without luggage, he didn’t ask me any questions. He simply put his arms around me.
“I’ll take you home.”
I slept for almost two days.
Continued on the next page
