Part Three

This one is a lot shorter. “Please! Can somebody explain: one, why you all just smuggled me out of the hospital, two, how long Hannah has known how to drive, and three, where we are going!” I said, frustrated. “We’ll explain later. Now we just have to get a move on.” Angelina said. “Come on, I’ll sit back here with you.” “Me too.” Ms. Coleman announced. They climbed in on either side of me. Hannah slammed on the gas and we sped out of the parking lot. Boulder whizzed past me. “Come on, who wants ice cream?” Angelina called. I realized I hadn’t eaten since the bagel three days ago. I was ravenous. Angelina dished me a strawberry caramel sundae, and I put on my favorite comedy ever, The Dish. After about an hour, darkness began to fall. I loved looking out the window of the car at night. I slowly succumbed to sleep. When I woke up, it was morning. The weeds and cattle fences were unmistakably Wyoming. Olivia wasn’t kidding about the long drive. “How many more miles?” Ms. Coleman said sleepily. I must have woken her up. “We’re almost there. Kenz, can you toss me another Mountain Dew? It’s hard to drive all night without caffeine.” Hannah said kindly. I opened the fridge and dug around for a can of Hannah’s proffered soda. Once I had handed it to her, she exclaimed, “There it is!” I scanned the horizon and saw a cluster of buildings. As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw the sign Little America. “Little America?” I said perplexedly. “Why are we stopping here?” “To get breakfast, silly!” Hannah said too cheerily for 5:00 AM. The caffeine was making her giddy. She pulled into the parking lot. When I got out of the car, I realized that I felt better. I could walk normally. We entered the main building and I saw a diner. Everything was upholstered in red. We sat on the stools and placed our orders. I had had ice cream for dinner, and wanted to get rid of my slight sugar headache. I hungrily ate my smoothie and toast, and I felt like I was back at home, not in the middle of Wyoming with my best friends and my teacher. The only other people in the restaurant, besides the waitress, were two more people, eating their own breakfast. When I met the eyes of one of them, I shuddered. There was nothing strange about him. The person I was looking at was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat. Your typical truck driver. But everything about him scared me. His look was of pure hatred to me, and I don’t think it was because I ordered the only toast. I wanted to run as far from this man as possible. When Ms. Coleman noticed that the customer was looking at me, she dropped her fork. “It’s really time to be going, guys.” She inclined her head to the diners. “Yeah, we’re really on a tight schedule!” Angelina chanted. Ms. Coleman hastily paid the bill and hustled me out.