Needles

3

"Help! Help us!"

She sobbed as she held her brother's backpack in her arms.

"Help us!"

A young man with blood oozing down his face stumbled out of his pickup truck and gaped at the fiery wreck.

"Please help me, Mister..." she pleaded from afar.

"Shit... Shit!" He ran back to his pickup and sped down the road until he was long gone.

She continued sobbing for help.

***

Genevieve slowly opened her eyes as her phone's alarm rung to the beat of a metronome.

Different day, same shitty dream.

It was six in the morning and she had to hurry if she wanted a good spot on the bank of the river. She stepped out of her panties and threw on a black two-piece swimsuit before stepping back into her shorts and shrugging her jacket on. The sun was as intense as it was yesterday. She tossed her backpack over one shoulder as she exited her room and locked it behind her.

"Mornin'." She heard a voice behind her and turned to its direction. "Oh. Good morning." She said sternly. It was the guy who took her room. David carried a brown paper bag in one hand and a coffee in the other. "Quite the commotion last night, huh?" He half grinned and Genevieve furrowed her brows innocently. "Commotion?" She tilted her head, pretending she had no idea what he referred to. She mentally cursed herself for letting herself be discovered like that and was already thinking about asking Mister Jindal to give her another room.

David raised a brow at her, quite impressed by her poker face. "Yeah, didn't you hear it? Some old hag walked in on a hooker and her client in the middle of their transaction." David snickered at his own joke. "Oh yeah," Genevieve nodded, secretly relieved, yet still certain she was heard. "I heard that. But I believe she was an escort." She half smiled and propped her sunglasses on her face before walking off to her Buick. David watched her as she strutted away and eyed her from her head to her boots. "God damn," He mumbled as he imagined her spread on the motel bed.

He hurried to reception where Mister Jindal argued on the phone in another language. "Hey, Mister," David pressed his hands over the desk. Mister Jindal raised a finger at him as he continued to bicker into his phone. David huffed desperately. He turned to the bell over Mister Jindal's desk and repeatedly rung it for his attention. After 15 rings, Mister Jindal slapped David's hand down against the bell in annoyance. "Yes, Mister, Sigman." He added monotonously with the phone moved away from his ear. "Where's Garcia off to?" He turned back to the glass door and watched the Buick drive away, leaving a trail of dust behind. "The river bank. To swim."

- "But where?" David inquired. "I don't know, Mister Sigman." Mister Jindal sighed in exasperation and went back to his phone call. David exhaled and exited the office. "It's a long river. I better start looking. I'm gonna need to do it in style, too." He smiled to himself as he headed to the back of the motel for his pickup truck.

    Genevieve drove down Smokestack Avenue and onto a bumpy trail towards Dead Man's Float, a little beach right by the river and the 95 bridge from California to Arizona. This was her Dad's favorite location. It was always very empty here, but that was because everyone would go to the shores on Nevada's side. There were much more businesses and casinos on that side that the population on the river banks were always so crowded, whereas in Needles, a little town with old motels and firms, was always so unpopulated. Right on the other side of the river, Arizona residents had the river right on their backyard and they held picnics and parties. Genevieve muted it all out. She undressed to just her swimsuit and walked towards the smooth gravel of the Colorado River.