Away (7 page)

“Get off me!” I scream. I slap him across the face, hard, and then try to dig my nails into his eyeballs. It does no good. He grabs me and pulls me to my feet, keeping a firm grip. “Stop this! Stop this right now!” Jack starts shaking me roughly. “You stop!”

It feels like an earthquake is running through my body. I hear things crack as he jolts me back and forth. I feel as if my neck will snap. “Are you done trying to run? Are you done?”

I let out a whimper and he stops shaking me, breathing erratically. Sweat is running down his face and he grabs the back of my neck, saying, “Do you think I’m that stupid? Do you honestly think that I’m an idiot? I knew you were going to try and escape!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I say, terrified he’s going to shake me again, and this time do permanent damage. “I had to!”

“You don’t have to do anything but stay put, that’s all I ask of you,” he hisses. “I should’ve known better than to trust you. Not yet.”

“What are you going to do? Keep me prisoner until I give in? I won’t!” I say, shouting into his face.

He starts dragging me back towards the car. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Rose.”

“Is that a threat?” I ask as he opens the passenger door.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” he says, bracing himself against the door. “But I don’t think you understand the situation. Things aren’t what you think they are. You need a reality check.”

“Excuse me? I’m the one that needs a reality check?” I ask him. “You’re the crazy maniac who kidnapped me. Don’t even go there.”

“We’re not discussing this anymore. We’re done.” Jack reaches over, brings out a menu and throws it on my lap. “Here. We’re going to get dinner. I hope you’re hungry.”

I look at the pamphlet and roll my eyes, crumpling it up and throwing it out the window as the car starts to roll. “I’d rather starve before I’d eat anything you gave me.”

“I wish you’d stop being so stubborn,” he says angrily. “This would be so much easier if you didn’t fight me on everything.”

“What else did you expect? That I’d be a docile little girl who did everything you wanted her to?”

He sighs. “No. I guess that would be unreasonable.”

“You took me away from everything I cared about. You took me away from my mother!” I shout.

“All of that was for show,” he says. “It’s going to hit you hard, but soon you’re going to figure out that it wasn’t real, Rosemary. This life with me, it is. And soon you’ll see.”

“I don’t want to hear any of your crazy babbling. I’m sick of you,” I say. I turn away from him and the car falls silent as we get back on the highway. I knew I shouldn’t be speaking this way to someone who was my jailer, but what else did I have to lose? It was a stupid plan, but I hoped that somehow my words would sink into his brain and hopefully set me free.

*

I pull off the road into the nearest rest stop. It’s quiet save for the chirping of the birds and the sounds of the whispering wind through the trees. I hate having to stop, but I need to stretch my legs. They’ve been cramping up and going to sleep for the past half an hour, and if I wait much longer to move them I’ll hardly be able to walk later.

I go in circles around the rest stop three times, taking time between jogging and walking. When I’m positive that I’ve gotten enough exercise I go inside to look for a drinking fountain to quench my parched throat. I haven’t eaten or drank since I left this morning, and my hands are starting to shake. I’ll have to eat soon. I grit my teeth in aggravation. Why did my body insist on slowing me down when I had such an important job to do?

As I stand up and wipe my mouth I notice somebody left behind a jacket on the bench near me. Walking over, I pick it up and recognize that it’s the same jacket I bought Rosemary a few months ago, back when we went to the Toledo Mall after visiting Marcus. But was it hers? I lift the jacket to my face and recognize beneath the freshly washed cotton a faint smell of perfume, one that she always wore. I smell it again and I’m positive. This is Rosemary’s. She had been here, and not too long ago. I clench it tighter to my chest, longing for it to be her. She was so close! If only I had driven faster...

At least it meant I was going in the right direction. Clinging to the jacket I start running to my car. I had time to catch them, where ever they were going. I just had to hurry.

Something crunches underneath my foot as I run. I stop and look down, noticing a crumpled up piece of paper. I go to step over it but as I do so there’s a weird tingling in my stomach. Bending down, I pick up the paper but my heart falls as I realize that it’s not a note, just a menu for a pizza place named Frank’s Town.

Frank’s Town. That sounded ridiculously familiar. Where had I heard it before? Then it clicked. Rosemary was
always
talking about Frank’s Town Pizza. Whenever I took her out for pizza anywhere else she constantly went on about how Frank’s Town was the best in the world and how it was the only good thing about having to go see her dad, because that was the only place he was allowed to see her at without a lot of supervision.

I bite my lip. Maybe I’m getting desperate. Frank’s Town was a ways away from Detroit. If I go there and I’m wrong, I’m losing valuable time. But what exactly was I supposed to do? Scour the entire Metro Detroit area until I found her? That would take months without any leads.

I hit the steering wheel in frustration. It takes me two seconds to decide. I get off at the next exit and turn east. Looks like I’m going to get pizza.

*

In ten years, nothing about this place had changed. There was still the smell of baking bread and tomato sauce wafting through the door. The small salad bar was still in the corner, the grapevine wallpaper hadn’t been replaced, and it still only had thirteen tables. Even the coloring I had done as a child was still hanging above me and Jack’s “regular table.” But even at the same time as it hadn’t changed, it was completely different. This wasn’t home anymore. Even though I had been here hundreds of times, I might as well have never been here at all. Not after what had happened today.

The only people in here are Jack and I. It’s so late at night that they’re an hour away from closing. I see a waitress grabbing menus and silverware as we sit down in the same seats we always used to. Jack and I didn’t even have to ask each other. We just did it.

“What can I get you to start off with?” the waitress asks, glancing back and forth to both of us. This is the same woman that used to wait on us ten years ago. All of it is making my head spin. “Just water,” I tell her.

“I’ll have coffee, Dolly,” Jack says, taking the menu from her lightly.

The woman’s face becomes confused. “Wait a minute...” she peers at my father’s face, then lights up. “Jack McGowan, is that you?”

“It sure is!” Jack says, laughing. He shakes her hand and she turns to me. “And beautiful Rosemary? The last time I saw you, you were no taller than my hip!”

Jack glances my way, and I know it’s time to act. “It’s me,” I chuckle nervously. “Just out for dinner with...dad. We haven’t been here in forever.”

“Then I’m guessing you’re gonna be wanting your usual, right?” she asks, holding up a notepad.

What was my usual? I have no idea. “Uh...give me a minute to look over the menu,” I said, holding it up fairly. I bury my nose in its pockets but cannot stand to read over the sound of my father and Dolly gossiping and catching up on the times.

“What brings you back around here?” Dolly asks.

“Oh, you know. Rosemary just decided to come visit, and we were in the area so we figured why not stop in,” Jack smiles.

The lines on the page are so blurry I’m wondering if I need glasses. Shutting the menu with a snap, I stand up. The conversation halts and both look at me. Forcing out a laugh, I smile at them and say, “The usual sounds great. I’ve got to go to the bathroom, sorry...”

I walk as fast as I can away from the table and into the one room bathroom. Locking the door, I sit on the toilet and begin rocking back and forth, my hands in my hair. I can’t do this. Smile at the waitress and act like nothing’s wrong, act like I was out for a visit with dear old dad. How did I expect myself to sit another half hour at the dining table, when freedom was no more than a few words away?

“Rosemary? You alright in there honey?” Jack asks as he pounds on the door.

Gasping for air, I squeeze out, “Yes Dad! I’m just not feeling well...I think it’s because I’m hungry!”

“Well we’ve come to the right place then,” he chuckles. “Don’t take too long, food’ll be out soon!”

I stand up. I have an idea. When we go to say goodbye after the meal I’ll hug Dolly, and then whisper to her that I’m in trouble. It’ll be so natural that Jack won’t even notice. Then she can notify the police, and they’ll find us in no time. I wash my face and fix my hair. I have to appear as normal as possible, so Dolly doesn’t think me insane. I plaster a smile on my face and step out of the bathroom.

I can’t do this,
I think as I see Jack smiling at me from the table, giving me a friendly wave as I draw closer and closer.
I’m about to have dinner with my kidnapper of a father. This is insane.

Dolly comes out to refill Jack’s drink and she’s smiling at me as she does so. She has no idea what’s going on, even now.
I can’t do this,
I think once again, but as soon as I do so I hear another voice whisper beside me,
Yes you can.
Noah’s watching out for me, staying by my side. I need him to give me strength, to get me through the rest of this. Pretending he’s right beside me dissolves some of my fear. Noah would never let anything bad happen to me. I sit down and force myself to be still as I look at the tablecloth, the paintings on the wall, anything so long as it isn’t my father.

“You took a long time in there. Are you feeling well?” he asks me, pretending to be concerned. It’s not enough to fool me. I laugh and say, “I don’t know, how would you feel if a crazed maniac captured you for no good reason other than he wants to be selfish?”

“None of that here,” he says, and he actually looks nervous. “Just please have dinner with me. We don’t want to cause a scene that we have to clean up.”

Clean up? A frightening thought crosses my mind. Would he actually
hurt
Dolly, to prevent my escape? Is that why he had the gun? Did he even have the gall to use it? “You wouldn’t,” I say.

“I would do anything for my daughter,” he says. He goes to reach for my hand but I sharply jerk it back. He looks hurt, but I don’t give a damn. I want to hurt him as much as he has hurt me.

“If you would do anything for me you would’ve spent time with me when I was growing up, not kidnap me when I’m a full grown woman,” I spit at him. “You had no time for me all these years, and all of a sudden you want to get to know me.”

“You don’t understand,” he says. “Your mother kept me away from you. I tried everything I could to see you, but she turned the police against me.”

“So you capture me instead of trying to contact me yourself? You’re ridiculous.”

“I admit that these are extreme measures-”

“Extreme? You’re a lunatic!” I shout.

He sharply hisses at me and says, “Quiet! I don’t want to leave here!” 

“Why shouldn’t I be loud?” I say, and I raise my voice, hoping someone in the kitchen will hear me and get the message. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Rosemary,” he says as a warning, and he opens his coat just slightly enough so I can see the handle of the gun. I bite my tongue, forcing my voice to go lower as I say, “You lost your chance a long time ago, and after what you’ve done I’m not giving you another one. Not now, not ever.”

“Here you are!” the happy voice of Dolly sings over us as she puts down a hamburger for Jack and what looks like ravioli for me. A familiar smell reaches my nostrils and I remember...spinach cheese ravioli, my favorite pastime dish here at Frank’s Town.

“Can I get you anything else?” Dolly asks cheerfully.

A phone, the police, maybe a kitchen knife so I can get out of this myself,
I think, but I force myself to stay silent as Jack says, “We’re good. That’ll be all we need.”

“Well you just holler if you’re in need of help,” she says as she begins to walk away. I look down at my dinner and my stomach lurches. I haven’t eaten in over twenty four hours. I know I’m starving. But even as I go to pick up my fork my stomach wriggles and flips. I feel nauseous and hungry at the same time. Jack looks at me expectantly and asks, “Are you going to eat?”

I pick up a fork and cut into one lightly, putting bits into my mouth slowly. Jack begins devouring his meal and I stare at him, watching the carnage and feeling quite like that hamburger at the moment.

“So tell me this,” I ask, barely done with one ravioli as he’s more than halfway through his meal, “How exactly did my mother keep me away from you? You had visits with me all the time when I was little.”

“I did, and I always enjoyed them. They were the highlight of my week,” he says.

“Yeah. And you know what? You stopped coming.”  I put down my fork and glare at him. “There were times I waited and waited and waited for hours, for you to show up and you never did. I was a little girl and you abandoned me I don’t know how many times. But now all of a sudden I’m so important to you.”