Standing in the same spot for what felt like forever, Callie decided that she needed to move. All there seemed to be for miles was nothing, but dirt and the road. Needing to get out of this part of town, she searched for some kind of store or building.
As Stef pulled into Callie's school, she saw Bill's car and parked and went to take the spot next to his. Before she was even putting her car in park, he was already getting out to greet her. "Hi Bill," she shook his hand, still smiling about Callie being able to come home with her today.
They were led back to the principal's office and stepped inside. "Hello, I'm Principle Morgan, but you can call me Debra." She stood to shake their hand. She was a small woman who looked to be in her thirties.
"Hello Debra. My name is Bill Walker, and this is Stefanie Adams Foster," he gestured to Stef. "I am a social worker for one of your students here, and this is who will be their foster mother, and we are here to pick them up."
"May I have their name please?" Debra asked kindly.
"Callie Jacobs."
Debra went to her computer to look up what class Callie was in and call her teacher to bring her here. However, when she typed her name in, it notified her that Callie did not show up to school today. "I'm sorry, but it says here that she is not in school today."
Bill and Stef looked at her with confusion.
"I have just spoken with her current foster mother and she informed me that she has gone to school." Bill took his phone out, pulling up Helen's number. When it went to voice mail, he left a message, "Hi Helen. This is Bill, Callie's social worker again. I'm just calling to ask if Callie has in fact gone to school today? I'm here with the principal who has just informed me that she is not in school today. Please call me back at 345-7421."
"Do you want me to call the police?" Debra asked.
"No," Stef interjected before being able to stop herself. She didn't mean to; she was just confused about what to do right now. She had a feeling deep down that something wasn't right.
Bill gave Stef a look, before answering Debra, "We'll go down to her foster family's house and check in with her if she knows where she is and we'll decide on what to do from there. Thank you for your time." He shook Debra's hand again as Stef did the same.
When they reached Helen's house, Stef prayed that her daughter was here. She was so happy to be able to bring Callie back home, but now she was scared about where she could be.
"Hi Helen," Bill said when the older woman answered. "I called you back, leaving you a message. Were you able to listen to it?"
Helen looked at them for a moment. "I'm sorry, I must not have heard my phone go off. Is something wrong?"
"Well, we don't know. This, here, is Stefanie Adams Foster, who is going to be Callie's foster mother, and when I went to her school, they informed me that Callie was not there."
Helen looked at them, "Well she should be. I dropped her off this morning. I never got a call telling me that she wasn't there." She stepped aside, offering them to come in.
Stef wanted to argue that she didn't seem to be answering her phone, but decided against it, remembering that the principle didn't seem to realize until looking at her computer.
"Would you two like some coffee or anything?"
"No thank you. Do you know where she would be?"
Stef thought for a minute as Helen answered Bill's question. "Did Callie by any chance take her clothes out of her duffel bag and put them into a dresser?"
"Yes, she did. I had her do it the first night," Helen wondered what Stef meant by that.
"May I go up to her room?" Stef felt her heart picking up speed, hoping what she was thinking wasn't true.
"Okay," Helen said uncertain as she wasn't sure how to react. She led them up the stairs to Callie's room.
As soon as she entered, Stef went to dresser and pulled it opened. She wasn't met with clothes but Callie's school supplies. "Dammit!" She yelled feeling like she wanted to cry. She already knew but needed to be confirmed. Callie ran away again.
"What is it?" Helen asked, not understanding what was going on.
"Bill," Stef said. "Callie ran away again. We need to call the police now."
Bill nodded, agreeing with her. "I'm on that now."
"Ran away?" Helen said with irritation in her voice. "I knew I should have seen this coming when they told me she was a flight risk."
Stef was about to say something back to her, but thought it was better to keep her mouth shut as this situation already was bad enough. She hated how she went from being happy to suddenly scared to death about where Callie had gone off to.
Callie was growing tired and didn't think it could get any hotter. Sweat clung to her forehead, matting her hair. She was losing hope in finding a store or building as it seemed her efforts were failing. Her water was also about empty now.
She had watched as several cars passed, not paying her any attention. She wondered if she could hitch hike and have someone drive her to a motel. At first, she shook the thought away and figured she could just walk some more. But it seemed her feet were aching even more with each step and she was somehow growing even more tired.
Looking behind her, she figured she could at least try. She stopped moving and waited for a car to show up. When one was making its way down the street, she held her thumb up, thinking they were going to stop. But to her surprise, they kept going. When she saw another car, she once again held her thumb up, but they too kept on driving. She sighed, thinking that she was never going to get relieved from this spot.
But when she heard another car coming down the street, she decided to give it one last try. It was an old pickup truck that looked like it was beginning to rust on the sides. She held her breath as she once again held her thumb up and expected them to keep going, but to her surprise and relief, they began slowing down.
When the truck came to a full stop, Callie opened the passenger side's door and climbed in. Sitting in the driver's seat was a man with dirty blonde hair, who looked to be in his early thirties, who offered her a smile.
"Can you take me to a motel?" Callie asked after buckling her seatbelt in.
"Are you not from around here?" He noted her backpack and how he had just found her out in the middle of nowhere. He pushed the car back onto the road and they were now on their way on the road.
"N-no," Callie said hesitantly, scared that he was going to drive her back to California.
"That's okay," he reassured her, looking at her. "How old are you?"
Callie thought about if she should tell him that she was sixteen. When she didn't answer, he looked back at her, "Are you young?"
Callie didn't know why, but she was nodding. He told her that his name was Thomas, but she could call him Tom. She didn't feel like talking and told him to just take her to a motel. She began to feel better once they were somewhere where she could see other buildings and houses.
"My place is coming up. Do you mind if we stop there for a minute? I need to drop some stuff off."
"Okay," Callie said.
It wasn't long before they were pulling onto a dirt road and several minutes later, they were pulling into a driveway that belonged to a trailer.
"Do you want to come in? I know it's pretty hot out here. I have an air conditioner inside," Tom asked her, grabbing his groceries from the back seat.
Thinking about it, Callie was hot, and Tom didn't really seem harmful, so she agreed. When they stepped into the trailer, he gave her a glass of water and she sat awkwardly on his couch waiting for him to finish putting his groceries away, thinking about how weird this was. Her mind went to the Foster's and she wondered if they knew she ran away and if anyone was looking for her.
Looking around Tom's trailer, she noted how dirty it looked. There were dirty dishes piled up in his sink, dust was visible on the coffee table and floor, and there were just clutters of things all around.
When he placed the last item in his fridge, she stood up and handed him his glass back and thanked him for the water. "I'm ready to go to the motel now."
Tom leaned against the counter, "Now that I think about it, I don't think I'll sleep right if you went to a motel."
Callie pushed eyes together in confusion.
"It's just that you look really young, like you're in high school, and I can't let something bad happen to you."
"Um... thank you, but I can take care of myself." She began to slowly back up, getting a bad feeling.
"It's just that I'm the adult and you're a child, so I can't let you go to a motel by yourself."
Callie wanted to ask him where the hell she was going then, but instead sprinted for the door after it was silent for a few seconds.
She tried to outrun him, but it was obvious that he was a lot faster. She didn't even make it a few feet out the door before he grabbed her.
"Help!" she yelled, praying that someone would hear her. She attempted to kick him, bite him, do anything that would make him drop her, but nothing seemed to be working. He dragged her back inside. "Let me go!"
"I told you I can't let you go out on your own." He tried to drag her again, but then just lifted her up and took her to a bedroom, where he placed her down on the floor and shut the door, locking it behind him as he left.
Callie ran towards the door and tried to open it and then went to the window but discovered that it was glued shut. She tried not to panic, but that was failing. Her breathing was beginning to go out of control. "Come on, calm down," she told herself. She needed to not panic, so she could figure out what to do. She remembered when she had a panic attack one time and Stef was able to calm her down.
Stef told her to breath with her. Callie tried to remember what exactly she did. She imagined Stef's breathing with hers and was surprised when she was beginning to be able to breathe again. She sat down on the bed and felt tears come to her eyes. If she didn't make a mistake before, she definitely made one now.
She wasn't keen to God and was pretty sure he didn't exist, but she found herself looking to him for hope. "God, please keep me safe from whatever is coming my way, and please, even if I don't deserve it, make them realize." She laid down and buried herself in a fetal position and let herself let it all out.
