Page 2 of Before Eve

Sucking in a breath, I sit up and look out the back window.

“We’re good,” she assures me in a calm voice. But her death grip on the steering wheel tells me she’s just as scared. In the rearview mirror, I take in her familiar round face. She gives me a forced smile that makes her dimples sink in. “We’re good,” she says again.

I have to focus. I don’t have time to be scared.

“I bought size six in jeans and small for the T-shirt,” she tells me. “Hope it all fits.”

I unzip the duffel bag she placed in the back. Inside are the clothes plus running shoes. Quickly I change. “They do.”

Brynn keeps driving, taking as many turns and back roads as she can. Neither of us speaks. Almost as if we think someone might hear us and drag me back. Tense seconds tick into minutes and hours later she pulls into the parking lot of a Greyhound bus station.

“Your bus leaves at four-thirty.” Over the seat she hands me a ticket, and I note her shaky hands. “Remember to head east toward Boston and change buses as often as you can along the route.”

I grab her fingers and squeeze them. “It’s okay,” I tell her, though I’m not sure it is.

She nods. “I found you a potential job as a roadie. It pays cash and keeps you moving. Plus…it’s music.”

“Music…” I don’t bother asking what kind. It doesn’t matter. Just the thought of it makes me relax a little.

Brynn hands me an envelope. “Your new ID is in there, along with two hundred in cash. I’m sorry it’s not more.”

“Brynn, that money was supposed to go toward—”

She waves me off. “You are much more important.”

“I’ll pay you back, I promise.”

She waves me off again and nods to the envelope. “That fake driver’s license looks real to me. Just be careful with it. Try to use it the least amount possible. Don’t take any chances. Remember to operate in cash only. You’ll find scissors and dye in the duffel. Do your hair as soon as you can to match your ID.”

In the shadow of the car, I stare at Brynn, taking in her curly dark hair and gentle expression. As I do, everything in me pangs, wondering if I’ll ever see her again. “Thank you, Brynn, for everything. I love you.” Those words shouldn’t feel like claws scraping down my throat, but they do.

“I love you too. Now go,” she says, reaching over the frontseat and giving me a friendly push. “I don’t want all our careful planning to go to waste.”

I want to hug her, but if I do, I probably won’t let go. I’m sure she’s thinking the same thing, so I quickly grab the duffel bag and get out.

She sticks her head out the window as she pops the trunk. “There’s a surprise in there for you.”

I shoot her a confused look. “But you’ve already done so much!”

She makes a shooing motion with her hand, and I walk around, raising the hatch to find her guitar. I suck in a breath.

“Take it. Please. You’ve played that thing much more than I ever have.”

Lifting it out, I hug it to my chest. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” She gives a reassuring nod. “Laura, that is your guitar.”

I hug it tighter, thinking of all the times I played it and lost myself. My best friend, my only friend, is amazing.

“Now listen, this is your chance for a new life. As of right now, Grayson no longer has power over you. You remember that.” With one last wave, she pulls off.

I stand, duffel bag in one hand, guitar in the other, my guts twisting as my lifeline drives away.

After her taillights have disappeared, I head into the brightly lit bus station, and keeping my head ducked, I rush across and into the bathroom. There are only two stalls, and I pick the handicap one so I’ll have room and privacy.

Brynn, my lifeline, is gone. The rest of this is up to me. I look at myself in the mirror. I look scared, yes, but also elated, and it’s the latter that bolsters me.

Taking the scissors, I hold out a long clump of my blond hair…