There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“You’re getting too involved, Blakely. She’s not a stray cat you put out cream for.”
He let out a long sigh. “That’s my point. We’re kinder to stray animals than we are to people.” The phone cut out, ending their conversation.
Todd slammed the car into reverse and drove in the direction of the first shelter on his list and growled, “Sonofabitch, where the hell did she go.”
Myra walked down the crowded street, looking at all the faces. Unlike her village, where people smiled and waved a greeting, everyone here seemed in a hurry. She smiled and said a quick hello to some of those who passed by. Only the elderly returned her greeting, the others sent her puzzled looks or avoided her eyes altogether. The constant hum of the town deafened her ears. The cars driving by at such a fast pace, both fascinated and amazed her. One step into traffic and she quickly realized the cars wouldn’t stop to let her pass. She followed the crowd and learned what the lighted signals meant and when it would be safe to cross the street.
Myra, buzzing with excitement, realized she was alone in a crowded town. No one asked where her family was, or where she was going. Simply walking a busy street in her time could prove dangerous. No one here appeared to mean her any harm.
For the first time since she’d arrived, she relaxed and enjoyed the freedom of exploring this fascinating time.
She passed places of business that sold everything from clothes to household wares.
Furniture stores and places to buy food, both ready to eat and not, were on every corner.
She wandered aimlessly for quite a while before she asked a shop clerk for directions to one of the addresses on her paper. He sent her a puzzled stare.
He eyed the band she wore around her wrist from the hospital and stepped back.
He thinks I’m mad.
“The mission is down on central.”
“Where is that?”
He pointed her East. “Four blocks that way, take a right. You’ll see it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Whatever.” His eyes followed her as she exited his shop.
Once outside, Myra removed the hospital band and stuck it in her sack.
The Mission was a stark white building covered with letters and symbols. Inside, a woman sat behind a desk, her skin the caramel color of the social worker at the hospital. “Can I help you?”
“Aye.” Myra looked around at the people sitting in the chairs scattered around the lobby. The smell coming from their un-bathed bodies nauseated her.
Their eyes watched her movements. “I was told you provide shelter here.”
The woman took in the full length of Myra’s body. “We do. You need a place for the night?”
Myra nodded and glanced over her shoulder and noticed a man staring at her. He was scarcely more than a lad; the markings on his arms had names and numbers along with pictures in dark colored inks.
She had never seen such a sight before. She looked up at his face, noticed the smoking stick hanging from his mouth. His tongue licked his lips as his eyes raked her body. Frightened, she forced herself to turn her back on the man.
The woman had her sign a registry, and then laughed when Myra wrote down ‘Jane Doe’.
She led her to a large room littered with cots. A curtain separated the men’s side from the women’s.
“You can put your stuff here, but if you have any valuables I wouldn’t leave them.”
“There are thieves here?” Myra clutched her bag closer.
“You’re kiddin’ right?” She didn’t wait for an answer and went on. “They just finished up lunch. If you’re hungry I’m sure they’ll find something for you. Otherwise dinner’s at six o’clock.” The woman left and returned to her desk.
Myra sat on the cot and looked around the room.
So many of those she watched were sick in their minds. Some talked to themselves while others rocked back and forth.
Women with small children stared desperately at the blank walls, hardly existing in their miserable lives. Children, knowing no better, bounced on the cots and played with broken toys and forgotten boxes. These people have nothing.
As night approached, Myra became more aware of the people around her. The men from the lobby who watched her throughout the day now stalked closer.
She opened her mind to catch glimpses of the men’s thoughts. None of them tried to hide. All of them meant her harm. A tremor of terror washed over her. She wouldn’t last the night in this place if their lustful, evil thoughts came to be. These men were thieves. They would use her and take her things. Even if she did survive, her belongings would be gone before the sun rose, and with them her ability to go home.
She took her bag, made her way to the bathroom at the front of the building, and kept her eyes to the floor.
It was dark. His first three stops at local shelters were futile. No one had seen the woman from his picture. Her frightened expression on the paper had him worrying over what she looked like now. Jane Doe was in trouble. He knew it. He scanned every alley and every street. Nothing.
He changed direction to the south side of town, the side of town even the toughest of the tough didn’t go unless they had to. Drug dealers and prostitutes made their living on these streets.
He tried to think of what might be going on in her head. She wouldn’t know this side of town wasn’t safe. Then again, maybe she did. Doubtful.
Her big brown eyes and her words flashed in his memory. “I don’t know where to go.”
So he searched, and would search all night if he had to. She was out there somewhere. Alone.
Night fell in around her. The deafening sounds from earlier in the day diminished into a dreadful eerie silence. The occasional car drove by, headlights shining in her path. The hum of machines that heated the buildings attempted to fill the silence but failed. Only the soft pat of her feet hitting the pavement kept her company.
She slipped away from the mission shelter almost as easily as she had the hospital earlier in the day. The trouble was she didn’t know where to go. Where she would find safety?
She walked the deserted streets. The cold night air oozed into her bones. “Where are those warm nights, Tara?” I’ll keep walking. It will keep me awake and warm.
Piercing cold prickled up her back and made the hairs on her neck stand up. Myra felt the eyes long before she saw the face.
Cruel, black eyes watched her.
She used every power within her to see inside the man.
Within his darkness, she saw herself as he did.