Evidence of Things Not Seen (ARC) by Lindsey Lane

Author:Lindsey Lane
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Karla didn’t let herself think as she drove.

With each pill, Karla could hear her heart race faster. She could hear her blood thrum, thrum, thrum by her ears. It focused her, kept her alert, made her keep pressing the gas pedal so she could get to Russ. The thrumming sounded like Russ. As long as she could keep that sound in her head, she would make it. She didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to stop.

But she had to stop twice. For gas. Stopping meant thinking about something other than Russ. Stopping meant going to the public restroom. Stopping meant thinking about all those bathroom stalls, all those men with their pants unzipped. She bought another Coke and swallowed five white crosses from Sean’s baggie of pills. She had to get that thrumming back. She had to get Russ back in her head. She had to stop thinking about the men and Momma. She had to stop wondering where her momma was and what her momma would do.

For five hours, Karla drove like this. Popping pills, drinking Coke, and listening to the thrum of Russ. When she pressed his name on Sean’s cell phone, it was after midnight. She heard his sleepy voice and almost hung up. She could imagine that he was sleeping next to her and she almost didn’t want to disturb him. But then she thought of the woman next to him. “I’m in a fucking pull-out. I passed some ranch called Stillwell about a mile back. If you don’t meet me I’m going to fucking come to your house and kill you and your fucking family.” She heard him say he was coming and hung up.

Karla paced in the pull-out. She took another pill. The thrumming had changed to he’s coming, he’s comin, he’s coming, he’s coming. She squatted and peed. For the first time, she noticed that the hot sticky marsh air was gone. She’d never been anywhere but up and down I-45. She didn’t know that there was a whole world different from the one she’d grown up in. She guessed that some of the men they met came from different places, but her momma told her not to ask. “Don’t chitchat, Karla Ray. If you do, they’ll start asking questions like how old are you and why aren’t you in school? You don’t need to be in school. You’re smart enough as it is.”

Karla shook her head. She stood up and paced around the truck. Then up and down the pull-out. She didn’t want to think about her momma or the men. She wanted to think about Russ. He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming. She was going to get him back. She was going to make sure he loved her, that he never let her go.

When Russ finally drove into that pull-out, Karla wasn’t sure it was him at first. He wasn’t on his beautiful Harley. He was driving a stupid pickup like all those cowboys. When he stepped out of the cab, he looked old like all the other men.

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