Finding Anna

Chapter One Anna slammed her hands down on the steering wheel and let out a number of obscene profanities before finally calming herself down enough to pop the hood on her old Honda Civic. She climbed out, flipping her hood over her head and ran around to the front of the car to see what the problem was. Her knowledge of cars was minimal to non-existent. She shook her head. “It was just serviced, it cannot be broken,” she whined. Not now, not after all this time. She slammed the hood closed and looked around. Broken down in the middle of nowhere, somewhere a few hours outside of Seattle, wasn't her idea of a fantastic Thursday morning. Having already tried to call for help she didn't have a clue about what to do now. Not only was the service real crappy, but her phone battery went dead five minutes ago too, and the car wouldn’t start so she could plug it in to charge. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and stared at the cheap cell she bought at a gas station a few days ago. The phone was an old school Nokia. The kind where if she were to drop it on the floor, the floor would likely break before the phone. She smiled at the stupid joke and looked at it again. It was old and crappy, but up until now, it worked. She went to shove the phone back into her pocket but missed, and it dropped to the ground. "No!" Anna dove for the phone but it hit the ground, bounced once, then landed in a puddle. It took less than a second to pull it out. Quickly pulling the back cover off the phone and the battery and sim out to let it dry she groaned. "Just my luck," she muttered before shoving the whole thing into her pocket and zipping it back up. "Will have to deal with that later." Anna looked at the car again. The car had just been serviced, and she couldn't even turn it on so the dash lights and that would come on. Confusing! Did that mean it was an engine problem, or something else? She asked herself. Maybe it was a problem with the whole car, and this was a sign to say that what she was doing wasn’t going to work. It didn’t work last time or the time before that, so why would it work this time? She shook her head, tossing aside the dark memories she’d been pushing out of her mind since she left LA ten days ago. She couldn’t go there, it was too dark and would do nothing to help her now. Taking a deep breath, she looked around at her surroundings again. The heavy rain that had been in the area for most of the night has held off for the past half hour, but Anna had a sinking feeling it would start pouring again soon because of the dark clouds coming over fast in the sky. The last service station she passed was too far away to walk back to before it would start raining again, and she didn’t know how far the next town was. I could wait for someone to come, this road would have to have people traveling to work on. But if they were on their way to work, would someone stop to help? Anna turned and walked back to the driver side and climbed in. Closing the door harder than necessary, she rested her head on the steering wheel and let a few tears slip down her cheeks. She thought about how things managed to get so screwed up, but not being able to figure out when or why it happened made her head sore from over thinking the situation. Looking up into the mirror on the visor above her head, she caught small glimpses of the bruise around her eye that was almost healed. It looked just like dark rings a tired face would get. And the cut lip was still sore, but it was healing. Anna looked at her left ear, too afraid to remove the band-aid that covered over where her earring used to be before he tore it out. The jacket and scarf did well to cover the nearly healed scratches and bruises on her arms and neck. Anna smiled, feeling thankful that it was winter and she could get away with wearing scarfs and coats. She was thrilled to be away, but would be even happier when the marks were all gone. They wouldn't all be gone, but it was something Anna had come to accept. No one had ever laid a hand on her before she met him, her parents didn’t even spank her or her siblings when they were naughty. Home, Anna thought. She just wanted to go home to her parents, but he would find her there too easily. She couldn’t risk it. “You alright?” “Agh!” Anna screamed at the sound of a male voice talking to her and tapping on her window. How didn’t she hear him? Her heart raced as she stared at the stranger. He was a little older than her and had a messy look about him, but he likely had a phone and could call someone to help her. What if he knows him though? She asked herself. Different state, he doesn't know him, and you need help! She sighed, knowing there was no choice but to try to get help from this stranger. She wiped her tears away and rolled down her window and gave him a small, shy smile, "My car, it broke down." “You call for help?” He nodded to her. She shook her head, “I tried, but service sucks, and then my battery went dead and I can't start the car to charge it." She shrugged off her response. She left out the part about dropping the phone in a puddle because saying it aloud wouldn't do anything to fix the situation. He nodded, “Let me have a look.” It took ten minutes for the stranger to look around under the hood of the car before he came back and said she'd need to get it looked out because there was nothing he could do to get it running here. She fought back the heavy sigh, not wanting to look weak of disgruntled after he'd already interrupted her crying before. Anna nodded, "Okay, do you by any chance have a phone I could borrow to call for a tow truck or something? I don't even know where I am!" She whined the last part, and caught his smile as she waved her hands around in exasperation. He was decent looking, she mused. He had a strong jawline and features, dark hair that looked like it needed a severe brushing, or cutting; maybe even both, blue eyes, and he was tall. A decent foot taller than she was. She spied a small tattoo on the side of his neck and tried to get a better look at it. She missed out though as he flicked the collar of his coat up in an attempt to keep warm. “Your about twenty minutes outside of Bellwood, I’m heading in there to work. I can give you a lift and organize a tow truck if you like?” Anna's breath caught in her throat and she struggled to answer. The offer was so kind and hard to refuse, but she knew taking a ride with a stranger was likely the worst idea possible. The last thing she needed was to be kidnapped and murdered. She shook her head, "Thank you, but if you would just let me call a tow I'm more than happy to hang around and wait for -" “Don’t want to take a ride with a stranger, I understand. But you might be waiting a while. I’ll drop you off in town at a local motel that’s cheap, and I will give you an update on your car at the end of the day, I promise.” Anna thought for a moment. She didn't want to refuse the best offer of help she has had in… she couldn't remember how long, actually, so she nodded. “Alright, let me just get my bag.” "I'll be in the truck." He said before turning and walking back to the black pickup he pulled up in. It was old, a little faded, and didn't have tinted windows, which was something to be grateful for, Anna thought. She quickly grabbed her bag and wrote down the trucks number plate and left it on the driver's side with her name, and details that her car broke down and this vehicle were giving her a ride to Bellwood. Better than nothing, right? She closed the door and put the key in the door to lock it. It was sticky, but she managed to secure the car and get the key back out again without breaking it. She sighed and felt a few tears wet her cheeks. Anna had such a lovely car and had to leave it behind when she ran away this time. She loved the little Ford hatch, but couldn't take the risk by trying to escape with it after what happened last time. She shuddered thinking about what would happen if he caught up with her. Would he finally kill me after threatening it for so long now? She wondered.