Riding Blind

Chapter 7

The cold poisonous liquid hit my throat.  It calmed me even further than where I was a moment before. I was already at the last glass off the bottle of Chardonnay I had hidden in my fridge. I knew eventually I'd crack it open in the past few days. 

The memories of the past seemed to be so far away at that moment. It was exactly what I wanted to accomplish. That was....until my phone dinged.

Hey. It's Trixie.

The text came through with an unknown number. My heart once again bounced out of my chest.  This was not the time for such a thing to happen.

if this is Trixie, what's the last thing I said to you?

I was immediately suspicious. But only she would know.

Come with me

She was right. 

Me: are you ok?
Trixie: yea and no.  But I should have taken your offer.
Me: what's going on?

I waited for what felt like forever for her to respond.

Trixie: it's getting worse here.  They're adding things. All the girls are freaking out. Obviously me too. I can't live like this anymore.

Her words scared the shit out of me.  I never in a million years could have imagined things could get any worse in Vegas than they already were. But then a sudden panic came over me.

Me: does he know where I am?

Her answer couldn't come fast enough.

Trixie: no. After he noticed you were gone, and what happened with Marco, he questioned all of us. Mostly me. I told him I had no idea where you were. But I mentioned that little town in California. Told him you always talked about wanting to live there. Because of all the summer trips you took with your family there as a kid. After that, he stopped asking.  I assume he's been trying to find you there. But we haven't heard a thing since.

I took a deep sigh of relief.

Me: delete these messages the moment you read them. I'm assuming this is a new phone?
Trixie: yea. He doesn't know I have it. It's a prepaid. I'm going to use it once I figure out how I'm going to get out.

I jumped up from the couch. All The wine I had  drank vanished from my system. 

Me: let me know when you do. I'll come get you.

I laid my phone on the coffee table. As I did, I noticed the picture of us in the box that sat there. I picked it up and glared at it. We were so young. Naive. Happy. So unaware of the darkness we were only months away from being thrown into.  Tears started to fall onto the glass of the frame. Tears I didn't even know were coming from me.