Page 58 of Survive the Night

“I’m serious,” Charlie says, sounding the opposite of serious. Because she has to. Because she knows that Josh is paying attention to every word. “We’re no longer on the highway.”

“I don’t understand,” Robbie says. “Where are you? What’s going on?”

“I can’t talk long. Just wanted to say hi.”

“Charlie, I need you to tell me what’s happening.” Robbie sounds panicked now. It streaks through every word. “Just give me a hint.”

“Oh, you know, we were driving along, got hungry, and decided to get off the highway,” Charlie says, faking a smile and hoping that, like Robbie, it comes through in her voice. Not for his sake. And certainly not for hers.

It’s for Josh, who’s back to staring up at the sky, his hands still in his pockets.

“Where?” Robbie says. “Can you tell me?”

“The Poconos. We’re at the cutest diner. It’s called the Skyline Grille.”

She hopes Robbie’s writing this all down. Or at least committing it to memory. And as soon as she hangs up, she hopes he calls the police.

“Can you get away?” he says.

“Not at the moment. Our food’s almost ready.”

“Shit.” Robbie pauses, helpless. “How can I help? Tell me what to do.”

Charlie doesn’t know how to respond. She’s all out of code words. They hadn’t taken it further than this because, honestly, it was all a joke. Just something Robbie came up with to ease the pain of her departure. But now her life might literally depend on what she says next.

“You should watch a movie,” she says. “Shadow of a Doubt.”

She hopes Robbie gets the hint. He’s seen the movie, of course.She made him watch it their first month of dating so he’d understand how she got her name. Now she hopes he understands that the film’s plot is coming true. Life imitating art in the worst kind of way.

“I should be home in about four hours,” she says, this time completely for Josh’s benefit. A not-so-subtle reminder that her boyfriend expects her to be home by a certain hour and will be worried if she isn’t. “I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Charlie, wait—”

She hangs up before Robbie can say anything else, unable to bear hearing him sound so frantic and helpless. She also wanted to avoid a maudlin goodbye. There’ll be no last words from her tonight. Not if she can help it.

“You all done?” Josh says.

Charlie nods.

“Good. It’s cold out here.” Josh flashes her that perfect smile. “Don’t want you to catch your death.”

INT. ROBBIE’S APARTMENT—NIGHT

Robbie still grips the phone, even though a full minute has passed since Charlie hung up on him. A recent birthday gift from his parents, it’s one of those new, expensive cordless phones he thought were pointless. But now Robbie sees its purpose. It lets him pace the bedroom unhindered by a tangled cord.

And pace he does.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Hard enough to wear down the carpet if he paced long enough, if he did nothing. But he knows that’s not an option. He has to dosomething.

So he dials *69 to call back the last number that called him.

He keeps pacing as the phone rings.

Back and forth.

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