Page 80 of Broken Bonds

This sounds like a solid plan. I have to walk quickly and quietly, so I take off my shoes. I really want to leave them here, but they’re all I’ve got right now and there is no way they will let me enter the airport barefoot.

There are things that I can’t take with me, so I take the cell phone that Lionel bought for me and leave it on the kitchen counter, in a place where he won’t miss it, he will no doubt see it as soon as he enters. I give one last look at the space with nostalgia, remembering the many times that we cooked together, or just sat in front of the bar talking about everything and nothing.

I told him about my dreams, about my past. About my life.

In return, I only received lies.

Following the instructions, I find myself crouched to the side of the luxurious car, while she talks to someone at the entrance. Surely distracting one of the security guards. Suddenly the car alarm beeps, letting me know the alarm is off, which allows me to open the back door.

I get in very carefully. The interior smells of new and freshly polished leather. Also, everything is spotless, like the vehicle just left the lot.

A couple of minutes later, Mrs. Kral gets into the car and starts the engine by pressing a button. “Stay there crouched until we get out of the driveway. Cameras have been installed around the perimeter.” She speaks carefully and almost without moving her mouth, surely not to raise suspicions.

My heart is pounding in my chest and the turns we take are making me nauseous. By the time Mrs. Kral tells me to get up, I thank the heavens, because I’m ready to stick my head out the window and vomit.

I settle into the seat, my hands are on my stomach like that would help calm it down. In silence and in the dark, I let the feelings that press against my chest come out. I’m angry, so much so that I could hit someone. It would be a first.

How could I be so stupid?

How did I not notice that there were too many changes?

They look the same, but they are totally different people. Now, I understand Lionel’s reaction when he saw me in the hospital, next to his bed when he woke up.

The questions for which I never found an answer. His silence…

And I was so stupid to let myself get entangled in that web of lies, to fall again for a man I never knew.

Everybody knew. Everyone knew that our marriage, that our relationship was a lie.

It’s like a dagger that stabs me multiple times, making me bleed.

I was deceived, and yet they think I’m the one lying.

And the big question remains, who the hell did I marry?

Who is the man I met in Carrollton a few months ago?

Mrs. Kral stops the car in front of a 24-hour convenience store.

“I need to buy your ticket,” she explains. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I have a plan.”

Good, because I haven’t thought about it much, only that I need a place to feel safe. Return home, to my safe haven.

Go back to my people, to my real family.

After this, she gets out of the car. “Wait for me here,” is the only instruction I get before she closes the door and walks to the store entrance.

About ten minutes have passed when she comes back carrying a plastic bag, which she immediately throws in my direction.

“Here, put this on,” she almost growls in my direction. “You can leave the dress and everything else in the bag, I’ll take care of returning it.”

I want to tell her the dress is mine, that I bought it with my own money, but it would be useless, it is not worth fighting over.

Inside the bag she gave me I find black leggings, a gray T-shirt with the California state logo, and flip-flops. This will be more than enough.

“Thank you,” I say sincerely.

Mrs. Kral gives me some time to change my clothes, then leaves the parking lot without saying another word. The other headlights illuminate the great highway, it must be at least six lanes, even at this time, and on Saturday, there is a lot of traffic, so it takes us a long time to get to where the letters LAX adorn the airport entrance.

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