Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Kaliah groaned in disappointment. “Did you try your phone again? Maybe one of us can get a signal.”
Everyone in their car, looked at their phones. There were zero bars on Kaliah’s and from the twisted lines of frustrations etched in the other women’s faces, it was the same for them.
“Well, one of us is obviously going to have to walk to get help and it’s not going to be me. And the two of you look like a couple of hot messes.” Nicole folded her arms and pursed her lips.
Three pairs of eyes landed on Kaliah.
“Fine, I’ll go.” Of course they’d pick the girl with the bum leg. She grabbed her purse and phone and got out of the car without argument. It should have bothered her that once again, they expected her to be the one who was put out. But this time it didn’t matter. The less time she had to spend with them the better.
The only downside was her aching leg, which was starting to hurt a bit from the being slammed against the car door. When she was younger, she had been in a car accident that had left her right leg badly scarred and slightly shorter than the left one. It caused her to walk with an awkward gait. She couldn’t run very well, and walking long distances irritated it but dealing with her aching leg was better than being stuck in the car with people who clearly hated her.
She kept checking her phone to see if she could get a signal, but no such luck. A half hour passed when the little bit of hope she’d been clinging to slowly dwindled.
As it got darker, the woods seemed to thicken, and the sounds of wild animals in the distance, cried out, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. To make matters worse, not a single car had been sighted since her hike began. She found that odd and scary.
With no street lights lining the road to guide her, soon it would be too dark for her to see and she didn’t know what she’d do. Would she be mauled by a bear or would some hillbillies pop out of nowhere to torment her. Neither scenario was appealing.
“Just keep going, Kaliah,” she spoke into the impending darkness.
The farther she went, the louder the animal sounds became. She hummed to drown out the noise but it did no good.
She wondered if anything happened to her, would anyone miss her? Maybe her parents might pretend to care at her funeral but beyond that would she be quickly forgotten? It wasn’t that her family was horrible but her parents seemed to be much more engaged in her older sister and younger brother.
Kaliah and her siblings weren’t particularly close either. Growing up, they were athletic, popular and belonged to several clubs. Though she loved her family and wished they had a better relationship, it was like living among a bunch of strangers.
Since moving out on her on, she got an occasional call from her mom but she’d often go months at a time without hearing from any of her immediate family if she wasn’t the one to initiate the communication.
“How sad is my life,” Kaliah said to no one in particular.
She pulled the sweater she’d brought with her, closer around her body and shivered as the night wind blew around her. Her teeth chattered and the ache in her leg deepened as the cold hit her.
On the brink of giving up, a pair of bright lights shinned from a distance. Kaliah shielded her eyes as they got closer.
Headlights!
For a moment, she contemplated whether she should flag the car down. It could very well be a psychopath behind the wheel. But when the fury of the strengthening wind blasted her face, she threw her misgivings away. Stranger Danger be damned, either way, they were screwed if she didn’t find help soon. And this was the first vehicle she’d seen in over an hour.
She waved her arms in the air, hoping they wouldn’t drive past her. As the car got closer, she noticed it was a battered old pick-up truck. The driver appeared to be an older man in a blue baseball cap but she couldn’t make out his face.
To her relief and fear, the vehicle slowed down until coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Her heart sped up as the window eased down.
“You’re a long way from home aren’t you?”
Several age lines were finely etched into the old man’s face, placing him somewhere around seventy by her estimation. He seemed pretty harmless but looks were often deceiving. Seeing she didn’t have much of a choice, Kaliah approached the truck. She clutched her purse close to her, ready to swing it if necessary.
“Ugh, yes. Me and my frie— traveling companions got into a bit of a fender bender a couple miles back and now the car won’t start. We haven’t been able to get any phone service so I’m hoping there’s an exit nearby so I can get us some roadside assistant.”