The open sign blinked, sending waves of red along the wet pavement. My first piece of good luck since I woke up out in the trees. I wouldn’t have to break into the place.

The door swung open easily, hardly squeaking on its hinges. I popped my head in, not sure I wanted to take that next step. Sure, if it was some serial killer holed up inside I’d probably heal. But I still didn’t like the pain, and it would be a disaster if anyone found out about the whole indestructible thing. I’ve seen Heroes, I knew what could happen.

“Hello?” I called out. When no one answered, my gaze wandered. Food. All kinds of gas station food. Who knew that it could look like some major buffet? Chips, cookies, trail mix. Maybe they had one of those little hot dog racks. I couldn’t smell it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there, considering that my senses were a little overwhelmed right now. It didn’t matter. I’d even take that jerky off the rack up near the front.

I took a step inside and let the door shut behind me. “Hello?” I asked again. If no one showed in a second, they’d return to find their place cleaned out. I needed to eat. And eat a lot.

Scuffling started somewhere in the back. A baseball cap popped up from behind the rack of pork rinds. “Hi. Didn’t see you pull up.” The hat and voice belonged to a guy probably in his forties. I was still in the District of Columbia, right? Because this guy looked like something from a movie set way down South with the scruffy face, baseball cap, and matching vest. “What can I do for ya?” he asked.

Now that was a good question. Maybe I should have figured out a story before I’d walked into this place. I thought about going with “Oh, somehow I showed up in the middle of the forest, had a conversation with a tree and finally found a road, now I need to use your phone,” but that didn’t seem like a real plausible story.

The fact that I was wearing a dress, covered in muck, and reeking kind of gave away that there was an interesting backstory.

“I don’t really know,” I said lamely, moving over so a shelf of junk food hid me from the window and the door. “Can I use your phone to call my parents?” Please say yes, please say yes. What would happen if he told me no and sent me back out into the rain? Whoever had tried to kill me would get a second chance.

“Sure, come on over.” The guy, whose cracked nametag said Vince, moved past me and headed for the counter.

This was getting ridiculous enough I could almost believe I was having a nightmare. That would explain why I couldn’t remember ending up in the woods. Nina was always telling me I shouldn’t watch horror movies, that they’d give me bad dreams, but I never listened. That had to be it.

“Is the call long distance?” Vince’s voice brought me back.

Probably, right? But I had no way of knowing since I didn’t know where I was. And I didn’t know anything about long distance anyway. I literally never used the home phone. “Yeah?” It came out kind of weak, but oh well. Having my cell phone would be really nice right now. Where was it?

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Vince chewed on something for a second, staring me in the face. “Do you have a collect number?”

“Uh, no.”

“Who’s going to pay for the call then?”

“Ah…” no answer for that. “Can I use your cell?”

He stared at me for a second. “Don’t have one.”

My mind raced through all kinds of terrible scenarios. My favorite involved me being stuck here until I died of starvation, Vince standing over my emaciated body and eating pork rinds in front of me because I didn’t have the cash to pay for them.

“I don’t know. I guess I could just stay here til morning, then walk. Do you have somewhere I can sleep?”

Vince’s eyes bulged. “Oh no, we can’t have that. It’s fifteen miles to the next station and they ain’t open on Sunday. You wouldn’t be out of here til Monday.”

Sunday? This guy was obviously on something. It was Thursday. Oh well, it worked. He jerked an old phone from the wall and shoved it in my direction, cord trailing behind.

“Thank you,” I said, nearly ripping the phone out of his hand before he could change his mind. Would that shadow in the woods be willing to come out in public? Not that this was very public, but still. I didn’t want to find out. Punching in the familiar number of Nina’s cell, I looked out the door, straining to see anything in the night. Nothing.

Hopefully Nina answered. I didn’t want to take the chance of getting Dan by calling the home phone. Nina was definitely going to be the more understanding in this situation.

The phone barely rang before someone picked up. “Hello?” The winded voice on the other end was hardly recognizable. Whoever it was needed to take a breath.

“Nina?” I asked. Surely I hadn’t dialed the wrong number. But Nina always sounded perfectly in control. Ol’ Vince wouldn’t be happy about two long-distance calls if I had mis-dialed.

“Trisha? Trish? Is that you? Where are you, honey?”

Good question. I probably should have found out before I dialed. “Yeah, it’s me. Give me a second.” I turned to Vince. “Where are we exactly?”

Instead of bulging, this time Vince’s eyes narrowed. I liked the bulging better. Much less strange looking. “Not far from the entrance to Prince William Forest Park.”

“Prince William Forest Park, I guess,” I said into the phone, keeping my eyes on Vince.

“In Virginia?” I had to hand it to Nina, though her voice rose a little, she was keeping herself nicely under control. Hopefully that continued, even after they made it out here to get me. Wait, Virginia? “Just a second, honey.” Her voice faded. No doubt she was conferring with Dan. I’d always hated it before when she’d called me honey, but for some reason, it didn’t sound quite as bad right now.

“Dan says we can be to the park in thirty minutes. We were already out this way showing your picture around. What happened?”

Heat blossomed in my chest, the first warmth I’d really felt since I’d woke up in the woods. They cared. For real.

Sure, Nina had always said they did, but words were cheap. My mom had said she cared and look how that ended up.

“Just tell them where you are. You can get your lecture later,” Vince whispered loudly. “Joplin Road. You’re spending my money.”

“Who was that?” Nina asked. Apparently Vince hadn’t whispered quieter than her mom ears could hear.

“I can’t talk about it right now, Nina, as soon as you get here, I promise. I’m at…” I squinted at Vince’s name tag. “Vince’s Fill Up on Joplin Road.”

Another few seconds of conferring. “It showed up on my phone. We can find that.”

“Okay, see you soon.” Vince was making hang-up motions. Man, this guy was serious about long distance.

“No, wait! Can’t you just stay on the line? Do you have a number we can call you at?”

I paused, the thought of hanging up and losing my weak link to home and reality making my stomach roll. But there was Vince, looking even more grumpy. “No, can’t. See you soon. Please hurry.”