Rolling Stone Savior. (Discontinued)

Chapter Four

Abigail’s little sanctuary was harder to leave than I expected. The next morning, I peeled myself tiredly from the ground, finding that I had dried cream cheese from last night still lingering on the corner of my mouth. I wiped it off with disgust, looking around frantically to check for any rodents. A mouse could’ve crawled over my face without me even knowing it.

“It’s about time you woke up. We have to make moves soon.” Abigail said. She had an almost-empty bag of potato chips above her mouth, shaking the remainder of the crumbs out so she could eat them. Daylight was pouring in from somewhere, but it didn’t seem to be the window. That’s when I remembered the gate being open. The light was coming in even all the way back here.

“What moves do we have to make?” I asked with an accidental trace of irritation in my voice. I wanted Abigail to see how grateful I was for the favor she did me, but it’s been a while since I’ve gotten such good sleep. I wanted my rest to last longer.

“During these early hours, a lot of trucks come back here. We can’t be here now.” Abigail responded calmly. I sighed deeply before standing up and grabbing hold of my bag.

“No,” she stopped me, “you won’t need that. Just come on.”

I shrugged and followed Abigail to the front of the loading bay. As we walked, the faint noise began to grow. Soon we were at the very front and making our way out of the gate, almost getting run over by a Snapple truck.

The sun was blazing up in the sky, causing me to squint slightly. Abigail didn’t seem bothered by the sun; she continued to stride at her quick, confident pace. I had to skip a little to keep up.

Once we were a few blocks away from the mall, Abigail finally slowed down. I wanted to ask her where we were headed, but instead remained quiet to let my thoughts prosper.

What was the look on my parents’ faces once they came home and saw I was gone? I would like to think they had expressions of dismay, but I knew well that wasn’t true. They were probably mildly shocked, since they didn’t believe I would actually have the balls to leave. But once it settled into their minds, they would be thrilled to be relieved of the burden of…me.

Unless I’m right, and they actually are sad. I used to think that they actually really had love for me, even if it was deep down in their hearts. Because if they didn’t care about me as they claimed, they would have thrown me out or even killed me a long time ago. My parents aren’t the type of people to consider the consequences of doing such things. They would get rid of me any way they could if they really wanted to.

But there’s no way to know the truth now. That aspect of my life is gone.

“A little birdy told me that the church was having another pantry today, just because Monday’s pantry was so successful.” Abigail said, interrupting my thoughts as we approached the same church from yesterday. I was glad she interrupted my thoughts. I didn’t really like to think about my old life too much.

“That’s good for us, I guess.” I replied somewhat absentmindedly.

Before we even reached on the pantry’s short line, a woman who was standing outside the church conversing pleasantly with the pastor gawked at Abigail like she’s something foreign. Abigail exchanged a dramatic confused and annoyed expression with me, and I suddenly began to think she was pretending. The woman came closer, and widened her eyes once she got a better look at Abigail.

“That’s that girl, Pastor! The sinner from yesterday!” The woman shrieked. Just as the pastor came over to check into the situation, Abigail grabbed my hand roughly and pulled me down the block. We ran at top-speed—well Abigail ran, while I struggled not to fall—while the woman kept screaming. Abigail briefly let go of my hand to knock the Bible out of the woman’s hand, and then we were back at it again.

We ran for blocks and blocks until finally stopping by a duplex house. When we stopped, Abigail sighed and then snickered loudly. I stood with my hands on my knees, my heart pounding and my lungs burning. I felt like throwing up.

“What the fuck was that?!” I screamed at Abigail as soon as I mustered up the strength.

“Wasn’t that just…exhilarating?” She replied. She continued to laugh.

“I don’t find this funny! What was that lady talking about?”

“Nothing. She just caught me when I first ran away one time. She tried to bring me back to my parents. But I eventually got away from her.” Abigail said with ease. I still wasn’t satisfied.

“Well why was she talking about something that happened yesterday? And why did she call you a sinner?” I asked furiously. I was mostly mad because Abigail mad me run so fast, so unexpectedly.

“Stephanie, would you just forget about it?” She snapped suddenly. Seeing the surprised and angry expression on my face, Abigail laughed again to calm me down. “Look, you know how living in the streets is. There will be bumps in the road, as usual. But we just have to disregard things like that. Okay, no pantry for us today. So what? Don’t you have a spot we can go to? That same restaurant you got the food from.”

Unlike what I expected, Abigail’s words actually calmed me down. I sighed, content with the normal rate at which my heart was beating now.

“Okay.” I nodded. “We can go to my restaurant.”

Abigail smiled. “That’s my girl.”

                                                     * * *

It felt good to revisit the restaurant I’d been to. It brought back good memories—rare memories—of when someone treated me kindly. As we travelled on sore feet through the Monterrey Park area, a faint possibility rose in my mind. What if I don’t remember which restaurant it is? What if that restaurant is closed now, or closed down for good?

Hell, if they closed down, it’s because of me. It seems like I carry around bad energy with me anyway.

For a brief moment, I wondered if Abigail is part of the bad energy I carry around with me. Was Abigail really a good friend, or were those bad feelings that I sometimes get about her actually true?

I dismissed those thoughts once I saw the bright restaurant come into view. Just as Abigail grabbed me before, I took her wrist and ran with her into the restaurant. My heart warmed when I took the sweet smell of all the soul food, but fell a bit when I didn’t see the woman who served me.

I walked timidly up to one of the other employees. “There’s a woman that works here. She served me the last time I came. Is she—?”

“Annetta? She’s off today. She’ll be back by tomorrow.” The kind man said. ‘Annetta’ was gone, but this man was good for now. Before I even opened my mouth to order something, Abigail stepped in.

She named only two things from the menu. I gave her a questioning look. What about me?

“I ordered that stuff for you. I’ll take care of myself. Just keep your eyes on that man.” She whispered in reply. Then she wandered off to the farther side of the restaurant, leaving me alone to watch the man attend to other customers.

Sooner than anticipated, the man placed the two food containers into a bag and handed it to me with a smile. He went to get the free soda I received with that order, so I took the chance to glance over at Abigail. To my surprise, and confusion, she was filling up an extra-large food container with a variety of orders. She was probably paying separately.

The man placed my Pepsi in the bag and handed it to me. And then I looked back at Abigail to see if she was paying, but she just walked out before me.

And then a horrifying thought came to me.

Abigail just stole.