Chapter Text
The hot Texan sun beats down on my head and makes my brain feel like absolute mush. My stride is sluggish at best and I feel weaker as the day continues on. It has to be at least be noon by now, it feels like the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
I honestly can't recall how long I've been subjecting myself to walk these barren back roads. Every dust bunny and cattle fence sweeps by unnoticed as I solemnly stare down at my own two feet. The sweat drips incessantly down the crease of my brow and the dip of my spine. My once pure white shirt is tainted a dull brown and clings against my small form. My scantily clad legs are burned from the lack of sun lotion and long term exposure. Meanwhile my shorts do little to nothing to cover approximately half of my thick thighs.
It's exhausting, to say the least. Yet, I continue forward as if there's somewhere for me to go. My car was left abandoned some ways back after breaking down for the hundredth time in the last few years.
'𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳', I scoff to myself while thinking about that utter piece of shit a car. I spent years of hard earned money to finally get away from my parents' only to lose my mode of transportation within a day. I'd say '𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬' but I'm beginning to doubt any luck existed to begin with.
I won't claim my life is a tragedy, but I can confidently say I've been given quite the unfair hand delt to me. Abusive parents, shitty siblings and no love to speak of, not to mention the other abusive aspects of that life. But I'm determined to leave that behind, whether it be in death or in life. So I trudge forward, praying for relief while realistically understanding that my demise is certain if I keep going like this.
And, whether it's fate or coincidence, a car emerges on the horizon of the normally empty roadway. Once it's within view I scan for occupants and realize it's a local county police car (seeing as the man inside is wearing a sheriffs hat/badge). My heart beat drums wildly against my chest and thumps heavily between my ears as I contemplate what this turn of events could mean for me. On one hand, the officer can show concern for me and assume I'm lost. Unfortunately, that would be an entirely correct assumption but I refuse to return to them, to the life I once had. What if he forces me to go back 'home'?
I crouch down beside the street, overgrown weeds provide spotty cover at best but it's better than nothing. Much to my dismay the car sputters to a stop directly across the street from where I took cover. I choke back nervous tears and swallow loudly, there's no way he didn't see me.
The officer seems momentarily confused before stepping outside of his vehicle and resting his hand on his hip. My eyes scan him from head to toe before landing on his hand which seems to be clutching a pistol holster. The sweat is already pouring profusely down my face and nearly blurs my vision as I furiously wipe at my dirt stained cheeks.
"Hey now, I saw you walkin' so if you'd just come out..." My eyes widen in horror as he pauses, "Well, it'd make this a hell of a lot easier." My mind races at a million miles a minute but every thought is fuzzy and incoherent in my own brain. I begin shaking like a leaf as my panic rises, I do the only thing that makes sense to my anxiety ridden brain.
"O-okay! I'm c-coming!" I manage to squeak out as I slowly rise from my position in the dry dirt. His eyes immediately snap towards me so I throw my hands up in surrender.
"Well, I guess my eyes didn't deceive me! Looky here, what are doin' all by your lonesome out here girl? How long you been out here?" His eyes gleam with mischief but I ignore the uncomfortable feeling bubbling in my gut.
"I-I don't know, sir! I'm so sorry!" It's as if all of the pent up emotions catch up to me and morph into sadness. The fiery anger once burning within me is diminished and I'm reduced to a stuttering, blubbering mess. "I-I...m-my f-family...alone....t-tired!"
He looks confused and possibly annoyed but his voice remains perfectly calm, "Well why don't you get in the back of my car and I'll take you somewhere safe. Cozy, if you will." The smirk on his face shows the promise of bad intentions but with no other options I do as he says. '𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦', I remind myself as my eyes dart between his eyes and the slightly unsheathed .38 revolver.
"Y-yes sir." I mutter with downcast eyes as I follow the uniformed officer to his car. He slaps the lights up top and it spins unsteadily before we climb into the car. His seat is pushed back, leaving me very little leg room but I just huff tiredly.
"You're a pretty little thing, aren't ya? Got a boyfriend back home?" I catch his eyes in the rearview mirror and shake my head.
"No, no. I don't..." I sigh and find the strength to finish that sentence, "really have a home, y'know?"
"Ah hell." He spits a brown substance in a dusty water bottle before returning his attention to the road, "Good tah know."
"..." I lean my head against the window and watch the same scenery roll by the window for the duration of the ride. About ten minutes in we take a turn down a dusty dirt road, a white picket fence surrounds the perimeter of the yard for the most part. It looks worn and uncared for, much like the tall two story farm house itself. The outside paint is peeling as if something putrid lives within the walls or, more than likely, years of the texas sun beating down on it caused this. Either way I shrug it off and continue to scan the yard, there's one shady tree with a car graveyard directly to its right. A tow truck seems to stand guard in front of the rest of the vehicles. Not too far off from that is a slightly more modern barn, a few bear traps and wooden fences laced with barbed wire cut the area off from the surrounding forest.
"You hear me girl?" I'm shaken from my daze as the officer taps on the window with the barrel of his pistol, I nod quickly in response. "Call me officer Hoyt. You're gonna be our guest for dinner and you better be respectful of mamas cookin'. And you best not get on my nephews bad side either, he doesn't take kindly to nosy strangers. Just...try to be on your best behavior."
"Of course, Officer Hoyt." He smirks deviously and opens the car like you would expect a gentleman to, "Thank you." I murmur as I follow him up the creaky steps onto a rotting porch. He swings open the screen door, which nearly falls off its hinges, before kicking in the slightly ajar front door.
"MAMA! THOMAS! UNCLE MONTY!" He spins on his heel to glance at me one last time, "We got ourselves a guest!"