The Innocence of Disaster

Chapter 13

 ADI'S POV

 It was darkness again. Darkness, darkness, darkness. The pungent smell of fish was a rank staleness in her cramped corner, and every rock the truck tumbled over seemed to be an earthquake that shook her where she sat. The constraints on her arms and legs were bruising her skin, rubbing against her flesh, but the only thing she could feel was her desperation for Harry's love.

Adi realized that the caliginous space made time disappear like a magician's trick. She didn't know how many hours had gone by, or if a day even passed. The only thing she knew in the unsureness of it all was that Harry would find her.

***

She rocked and shook to the beat of the truck, until suddenly it stopped. Adi closed her eyes, unsure if they would have to adjust to blinding brightness or the pronunciation of her death.  Suddenly she heard the creak of the trailer doors opening, and she flinched. It was Carter, and thankfully it was night outside, or perhaps early morning. Gas station lights glared in her face, but their shine was more pleasant than the magnitude of the sun's.

Carter got in the trailer and cut off her constraints, but when she was about to get up, he held her down.

"These people will not help you." He said brusquely.

Adi looked at him confused, squinting from the light that soaked up the darkness around her.

"These people here, they will not help you, so don't try and run away. Don't try and get help. They fear people like me, and they know saving your life means riskinig their's. No one here will help you."

Adi nodded, and something in her believed him. She knew she was still in South America, and she had gone to mission trips here before and learned that desperate people only helped themselves and the ones they loved. They knew no love for Adi.

Carter grabbed her by the arm; he was surprisingly gentle, not forceful like before. He led her into the gas station. The sight of something other than darkness and the feeling of something other than desperation made Adi realize how badly she had to go to the lavatory. 

Carter led her to the restroom and told her he'd be waiting at the door. She near ran to the toilet, which was dingy and looked as though it had been abandoned. After relieving herself, she looked in the mirror. Her normally flamboyant hair was a messy tangle of knots on her head. Her muscle tee was stained with dirt and damp from the slime of dead fish. The bags under her eyes were a dark shade of violet. She wasn't a far shot away from being as unkempt as the toilet she just used. She didn't even bother with her appearance; she just shook her head and walked to the door.  There she found Carter waiting for her. He handed her a shopping bag and told her to get back in the restroom. His voice was so discreet she could barely hear him.

"I want you to use everything I gave you in the bathroom, and take nothing with you when you get out. Hurry up."

He shoved her back inside and she wondered who he was trying to hide this from, and her mind wandered back to the powerful looking Hispanic man from the warehouse. Carter was definitley intimidated by him.

Inside the bag Adi found soap, a brush, beef jerky sticks, a banana,  a clean shirt, and a bottle of fruit juice. They weren't enough, but they were defintley something. Adi wondered why Carter was being so kind to her. She knew she needed to brush her hair, but she didn't need a brush to survive. She thought his only objective was to keep her alive. There was no point in being nice to her.

Adi washed  her body with soap and sink water, then brushed out the countless knots in her hair. She took a hairband out of her jeans pocket and tied her hair in a loose bun. She put on the shirt, it was oversized and said "Me encanta Paraguay". She felt a sense of security now that she finally had an idea where she was. Then she remembered. The band was supposed to be going to Paraguay for their next concert. Now she knew what Carter was doing.

That crazy mother fucker, she thought.

But as she began to eat the banana her thoughts diminished, she realized how hungry she had been.