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
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
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