“Al? I-is that r-really you?” I stammered into the phone. I was out of bed now, pacing, eager to talk to her on the phone for the very first time.
Her voice was gravellier than I’d expected, and she sounded scared. The fact that Al was scared, scared the hell out of me. But then she started talking, started explaining herself, and everything fell in line.
She’d taken my daughter.
“God, Al, I fr-freaked the f-fuck out. I c-called the cops and everything. I th-thought Martin took her.”
“He didn’t, but I needed you to call the cops. We need them to have an excuse to search his apartment, you know? They’ll find the blood and the shoes in the backseat. That should be enough right there to make a jury distrust him. And, now he knows where you are, so you must get going. That police woman called him and so did you. It won’t take long for him to track you down, he could already be on the way,” Al said. The fear in her voice was gone, replaced with stone-like seriousness. “You still there, Nova?”
It still feels strange hearing her say my real name.
“I g-got to g-get the hell out of here. He’s c-coming, you’re r-right. Is she okay? P-please say my baby’s okay. I d-don’t want her to be too scared.”
“She’s fine, I promise. Rachel left the truck in the spot. You remember the plan we discussed, right?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, remembering. “In the w-woods, near the tree th-that looks evil and twisted, I have to d-dig up the c-containers. Sp-splatter them around, dr-drop the t-teeth I saved on the floor, and th-then p-put the containers and my cell phone into the d-duffel bag.”
“You put the rocks in there, right? The heavy ones from your garden? It needs to be heavy, you know? We need that bag to sink, so that no one finds the cell phone or the containers…” Al explained.
“It’s lined with the r-rocks,” I assured her. “Now where’s the v-vehicle again?”
“Parked less than half a mile down the road. Keys should be in it. And there’s a map to where you’re going and a new cell phone in the glove box. Just drive, okay? Don’t stop to dump the bag until you’re at least two states away.”
“Okay. Th-thank you, Al. How long will it be t-till you c-come t-too?” I asked, my voice shaky with emotion. I love her. When I imagined falling in love, I never expected it to be this intense, this unbelievably painful and good, all at the same time. And so different than how it was with Martin…
“I don’t know. I’ll need to stay a while, so it doesn’t look too suspicious. We don’t want them to connect us somehow. But we’ll talk as soon as you get to Krissy’s house okay? I know you don’t know her well, but she’s my daughter so you have to trust her. You can stay with her and her husband as long as you need. You need to get going now. I love you.”
“I l-love you, too,” I choked. I held the phone away from my head and forced myself to press ‘end’.
Immediately, I sprang into action, pulling on my jeans and a pair of boots. In the laundry room, there were gardening supplies. I grabbed a small shovel and brought it with me.
As I pulled the duffel bag across the back lawn, chills ran up my spine. I stopped pulling and looked all around me, spinning in circles, unable to shake the feeling that I was being watched.
Through the woods, I kept my ears perked as I located the twisted tree Al told me about. Supposedly, she had scoped out the property and cabin when she found the ad in the paper. She’d come out here at dark and buried the containers of cow blood for me.
The fact that I was standing somewhere Al had been made me want to lie down on the ground and cry. But I kept going, thrusting my shovel into the hard, cold soil at the base of the tree. The cannisters were full of dark, rosy liquid and in the moonlight, they sparkled and shone, as I loaded them into the rock-filled duffel bag. It was so heavy on the way back, that I was panting and sweating.
Back inside, I closed the door behind me. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that Martin was close and coming soon. It wouldn’t take him as long to reach West Virginia as it did me…I imagined him in his truck, foot to the floor and eyes ablaze as he charged across the country to find me.
In the living room, I unlatched the bloody cannisters. The blood came out faster than I thought it would, forming a strangely circular blot in the center of the room. It reminded me of one of those inkblot tests they used to use back in the day.
What do you see, Nova? What does this look like, and what does that say about you?
I knelt on the floor next to the massive blood puddle and I tried to wipe the blood around and spread it out wider. Next, I retrieved the broken teeth from a Ziploc bag in my kitchen drawer. Because of Martin, I’d lost three teeth. When he smacked me or squeezed my face, they just got looser each time. Originally, I’d saved them hoping I could get them fixed. But now, I was putting them to a better use…
I grabbed the duffel bag from the floor and took one last look at the cabin. “Thanks for your help,” I told it, for once not struggling to say the words. Then I slipped out the front door, leaving it unlocked behind me.