It was calming in a way, the sound of the rain tapping against the windshield. The way it raced down the large window in long streaks- nature reflecting the tears streaming down her face. Most of the people she knew were upset about the inclimate weather. She wouldn't call them friends. Friends were people you could confide in, who you could rely on. Friends were those who held a place in your heart, with whom you could enjoy your time. These people were acquaintances.
That being said, Alice had always loved the rain. She adored how the air before a storm filled her with an irreplicable energy that made her heart race and never failed to leave her with an excited smile. Alice enjoyed the smell of the grass and the dirt as the clouds above darkened. She relished in the crashes of thunder and the flashes of lightning. The entire experience always left her peaceful and content.
That was why she was grateful to have her old friend the rain with her that day as she sat alone in her car, breaking down in tears. It had been another of those excruciatingly long days she was quickly becoming accustomed to. The month had been one bout of bad news after another; her ex had started dating her boss less than a month after Alice had ended things. While she didn't hold any feeling for James any longer and had gotten the dog out of the four-year relationship, seeing him with Victoria had still felt like a punch to the gut.
That was just the start of her problems; however, dumping James had left her with nowhere to go but back. She'd had no other options than to return to her father's home, a house that still felt empty without her mother. A place that was still haunted by the years of verbal abuse and blatant manipulation that had never really ended. A house that had never really felt like home after her mother passed.
She'd stayed for so long, putting her own dreams on hold to care for her sister. Cynthia was twenty now, safe miles away from their father living in a college dorm. Alice couldn't regret that decision, though. Making sure the youngest Brandon daughter made it out without bearing the brunt of their fathers anger, without any of the mental scars that Alice would be healing from for the rest of her life, was worth every extra second spent in that town.
So what was keeping her here? Her long-term relationship was ended when she had decided to end the cycle of abuse. The day Alice had realized James was no better than her father, that she had moved from one hell seeking better, only to fall into the same pattern only this time by choice had been the day she'd ended things.
The dead-end job that brought her no satisfaction, that treated her like replaceable garbage certainly wasn't worth staying for. It unquestionably wasn't her father or step-mother keeping her tied to the location. It was in that moment, as she pulled out of the parking lot of the dingy bar she worked for, that there really was nothing holding her to the small town where she'd grown up.
There was no reason to stay, to watch her life, and any chance she had of following her dreams slip away every day. She wanted to dance or draw, maybe even design. She wanted to see the world outside of that town, to travel. There was no reason to watch her future die in front of her eyes anymore. She was so very tired of being pushed around desperately seeking worth living for, of not standing up and demanding more for herself. It was time for a change.
So maybe that was why, as she smiled at her dog Bowser safely in the backseat, she didn't take a left at the intersection back to her father's home, choosing instead to keep going straight. Why she continued driving aimlessly for twelve hours, stopping only to get gas or let Bowser use the restroom. Why she kept driving until the car broke down outside Dublin, Texas.
This was, unfortunately, something she hadn't accounted for in her spontaneous decision to run away. Alice had known the shitty 01' Lumina was on its last legs; she had known she was running low on cash. The excitement of her reckless actions was quickly wearing off as the reality of what she had done was setting in. She was now stranded alongside a lonely, rarely used highway hundreds of miles from home with no idea where she was, only a few hundred dollars to her name, and no one she knew to help her.
She popped the hood putting all of her limited knowledge on vehicles to the test, cursing her father for not teaching her more about car maintenance. It wasn't as though she hadn't asked, she had numerous times, but his response had always been 'If you're ever in trouble, you can always call your daddy to help you.' A thinly veiled manipulation tactic meant to prevent her from doing exactly what she had done in running away.
"Jokes on him, isn't it Bowser." She joked half-heartedly to the basset hound, who stared at her from the cracked open passengers' side window, oblivious to the precarious situation they were currently in.
Despite her attempt at good humor, things weren't looking good. The engine was smoking; the air smelled sulfuric, almost like fireworks. This was something far beyond fixing roadside, even if she did have any knowledge of vehicle maintenance.
She was preparing to inform Bowser they had a long walk ahead of them when a white truck, the first vehicle she'd seen in the twenty minutes she'd been there, drove past, slowed down, and backed up. The truck pulled up alongside the road in front of her and out stepped quite possibly the most attractive man she had ever seen. He was tall, very tall towering over Alice's short stature. His pale blonde hair cut short in the back with bangs barely brushing his eyes showed signs of being slightly curly if allowed to grow out.
As he approached, she seriously reconsidered her recent declaration to never date again as this man was a snack.
"You alright there, ma'am?" He asked her, taking off his cowboy hat presumably in a gesture of politeness. His voice was slightly gravely with a thick Texan accent; she wondered if it was possible to be attracted to someone's voice as she took a moment to collect herself. Being approached by a stranger alone on the side of the highway in a strange area was not the time for sexy cowboy fantasies; that was how people got murdered.
"Yeah, I'm good; thanks for stopping."
"Your engine is literally smoking..."
"It's cool, my very vicious attack dog and I are gonna walk to a nearby mechanic." She felt confident in the assertion until she glanced back at the car where Bowser was drooling in his seat and not at all concerned by the situation.
"Ma'am, it's ninety-six degrees, and the nearest town is ten miles out. Look..." He reached into his pocket to pull out a very worn brown leather wallet. He took out a business card to hand to her. "My sister is a mechanic; let me drive you into town. She'll get you fixed up and on your way."
She thought over her options; on the one hand, she could accept a ride from a stranger who literally had a mechanic's business card. He seemed genuine, but Alice was a little doubtful of her ability to judge character at the moment... after everything with James turning out to be just as fake and manipulative as her father. On the other, she could walk to town, which was apparently quite aways away with Bowser, who was seemingly useless as an attack dog.
"Fine," She conceded, but if you murder me, I'm gonna be pissed."
"I'm not gonna murder you, ma'am."
"That's exactly what a murderer would say." She scoffed, grabbing Bowser, her phone, and her purse from the messy car before making her way over to the much larger truck. She made an honest attempt at climbing in, but unfortunately, her height made it difficult.
"Would you like some help there, ma'am?" It was a question she'd been asked numerous times; Mississippi was filled with vehicles like this. It usually came with a tone that clearly made fun of her height and found humor in the situation. This man asked in a genuinely caring way proposing the offer with nothing other than the intent to help. As she bucked herself in and made sure Bowser was safely situated, she thought to herself that maybe this guy wasn't that bad.