Nothing really sounds that appetizing, even though I’m starving. “I don’t know, surprise me.”
Alanna sets out to find her cell phone and order the food. She comes back ten minutes later to find me sprawled out on the couch, staring up at the ceiling blankly.
“Okay, food’s on its way. Now tell me what the hell happened because I can’t take the suspense of knowing why you look…” She motions at my lifeless body with her hand. “Like that. It isn’t like you, and I’m worried.”
I pull myself together and sit up. “Well, you don’t need to be worried, I’m fine I swear. I’m just confused and probably being dramatic. God, I don’t even know where to begin, Alanna. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”
She furrows her eyebrows with concern and takes a seat beside me. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”
I smile at her protective instincts and shake my head. “No, it was nothing like that.”
I purposely leave out the little detail of him spanking me, because even though it did hurt a little, I enjoyed it, and it would just be embarrassing if I told her about it.
“Oh, well then color me confused. What happened then?”
I can’t look her in the eye. We talk about sex all the time, but it’s mainly Alanna’s sex life since I don’t have one. But this is different, and it feels more than a little awkward. “I uh… I don’t know exactly how to say this.”
“Oh c’mon!” she urges. “Don’t be embarrassed around me. You can tell me anything. We have no secrets, remember?”
I sigh, knowing that she’s right. She’s the one person I trust with my life. And given our background, there’s good reason for that.
When I met Alanna, it was during my first year of being on the run. I was crashing in a homeless shelter in Texas when she came in bloodied and bruised. She had been beaten to a pulp by her husband, who just so happened to be a cop. She was scared and had nowhere to go and was afraid she would have to return to her husband or die trying to get away.
We became fast friends, deciding to go on the run together. We learned through trial and error how to stay under the radar. We would only stay in places that took cash and fake names and only worked under the table type jobs. After a while, we realized that the big cities were easier to hide in, with lots of crappy places to stay that didn’t mind turning a blind eye for a bit of cash.
But it didn’t take long for me to realize that Alanna had more problems than just an abusive husband after her. She was addicted to pain-killers as well. I found her in our motel room one night passed out with the empty bottles surrounding her. She was unresponsive, and I had to take a big risk by taking her to the hospital. I gave the hospital a fake name and paid in cash for the visit. Luckily Alanna pulled through, but everything changed after that night.
I had to give her an ultimatum. If she wanted to stick together, she had to give up the drugs, and we could have no secrets between us. She pleaded with me to stay with her, and I did. For the next month, we stayed locked up in a cheap motel room while she detoxed. I was there for her every step of the way. And during that time, our friendship changed. From that day on, we became more like sisters.
I glance at the woman sitting across from me now and smile. I would have never believed that the vibrant, beautiful, bubbly creature that she is would have ever been depressed in her life. Or taken any kind of shit from a man. She’s a changed woman now, and I couldn’t be prouder of how far she’s come.
She clears her throat and smirks at me. “What are you smiling about over there in la-la land? You’ve been out of it for like five minutes!”
I grin, and grab her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
“Just something you said. I was thinking about the early days of us on the run together. How did I ever get so lucky to meet you?”
She leans in and hugs me tight. “Are you kidding me, Toto? I’m the lucky one. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. Literally a blessing from heaven above. You saved my life, and I can’t imagine being without you either.”
“Remember how stupid we were back then?” I laugh. “Trying to hide in small towns and trying to come up with fake names all the time. It was so much harder when we had no idea what we were doing. We are like pros now.”