Ace woke up in a cold sweat. Blinking his eyes to adjust to the darkness he went to his living room to get the time off of the clock and realised the calender had been marked as the 14th of December. He had lost a whole day.
He ran his hand through his hair to try and wake up a little and stepped into the shower. He was feeling completely shit. It had been nearly two weeks since he had last seen Laura. He kept thinking back to the last time he had seen her and how rough he had been with her and how scared she had looked. It was to surreal, he couldn't properly link it to reality.
Time seemed to be speeding past him. He got out of the shower and sat back down on his bed. He was feeling so tired. He opened his cupboard and retrieved a small tube of pills. He popped a few in his mouth and suddenly a light switched on in his head and everything pulled into focus. He got dressed and walked out into the cold night air. He light a cigarette and sped down the road. He found Wallace and Philips parked in their usual place just outside town.
"Where were you yesterday?" Philips asked him nonchalantly.
"What's it to you," he said. Philips nodded his head unfazed.
"What did I miss?" Ace asked.
"We only pulled one job yesterday," Wallace said, "so I guess you're lucky."
Ace spat on the ground, he wasn't appreciating his attitude.
"Any way you're just in time, we just got word of another truck on the bypass in an hour," Wallace said biting at his fingernails.
Without another word the three got into their small truck and were on their way.
Laura had spent the time under a heavy cloud of depression. Mrs Morris had returned only once to collect her back pay and her things and left again. Laura had been staying with Mrs Anderson during the week and her mother at the weekend. Everyday after school Laura collected any mail, checked the house was still secure and went next door.
Mrs Anderson was an improvement on Mrs Morris in many areas. For one thing she was from Denmark originally and was teaching Laura how to cook many new things she had never even heard of. Secondly she had lots of interesting stories that she had never once mentioned at one of their Thanksgivings and perhaps best of all she wasn't cruel. Although she was markedly more happy in her living situation Laura still found herself forcing a smile at Mrs Anderson's jokes and politely excusing herself after dinner to go to bed.
Connie had refused to allow her to be upset about Ace and every time Laura had let her see she was even slightly sad Connie would start in on how much better off she was without him. Laura kept hoping Ace would come and see her again but at the same time she dreaded it. She didn't know what might happen if he did show up.
After his job Ace went to The Two Hills for a drink. Eyeball waved at him as he walked in and walked over.
"Haven't seen you for a while," he said loudly, "where you been?"
"Busy," he said shrugging.
"You're always busy man. Are you collecting government secrets or what?" Eyeball cackled, amused by his own joke.
"Where is everyone else?" Ace asked abruptly.
"I dunno man, I guess they're busy too."
Ace sat down and ordered for the both of them. Once Eyeball had a fresh beer in his hand he quietened down a little.
"What's the story with Laura?" he asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Ace said becoming a bit more alert.
"I mean I actually see her outside these days. Did she make a break for it?"
Ace gulped his beer, he wasn't really in the mood for talking about this.
"Where did you see her?" he asked.
"I dunno, around," Eyeball said casually.
"Was she with anyone?"
"Uh yeah, that Connie Palermo chick," he said scratching his head.
Ace's expression darkened at the mention of Connie's name, he was holding her mostly responsible for this whole mess.
"What are you asking me for anyway?" Eyeball said, "Just ask her if you're so interested." He was starting to regret he ever bought the topic up.
Ace finished his beer and stood up to leave.
"Hey where are you going?" Eyeball called out behind him getting up to leave. He was hoping he would give him a ride. Eyeball hopped into the passengers side before Ace could leave him behind. Truth was Ace didn't especially mind if he came along.
Laura woke up the next morning and got dressed for school. Mrs Anderson was fixing her breakfast, porridge and honey.
"Are you sure you don't want anything else?" Mrs Anderson asked as she set it on the table. Laura hadn't been eating too much over the past fortnight.
"No, this is fine thank you," Laura said with one of her weak smiles.
"If you don't start eating more I'm going to start ballooning," the old lady joked.
Laura looked at Mrs Anderson who had put her hands out in front of her stomach to indicate her expected fictional weight gain, she smiled her first genuine smile.