by Seven Steps
It wasn’t there.
Impossible, she thought. I just called it.
She turned her phone off, then on again. She looked in her contacts list as sweat pooled on her brow.
All of her contacts had disappeared.
What’s wrong with my phone? Where are all of my numbers? Where is Guy?
Fighting to keep calm, she jogged back into the store and up to the customer service desk.
She ignored the clerk rolling her eyes at her.
“Miss, I’m sorry,” Samantha said, fighting to stay calm. “I'm not trying to be weird or anything, but I came in with my husband and now he’s gone.”
The clerk blinked.“I didn’t see you come in with anybody.”
Samantha paused. She cocked her head and stared at the clerk. “What?”
“I didn’t see you come in with anybody.”
“Well, you were looking at your phone-”
“No. I saw you come in. You weren’t with anyone.”
It felt as if the wind was knocked out of her, and she placed a hand on the counter to keep from toppling over. For a fleeting second, she wondered if she was crazy. Then she laughed a bit louder then she should have, attempting to reconcile the disaster that this day had turned into.
This is ridiculous. She was on her phone. Of course she didn’t see me come in.
She pasted a warm smile on her glossed lips and clasped her hands in front of her.
“My phone’s not working. May I try the store phone, please?”
“I’m sorry. We’re not allowed to let customers use the phone. Did you check outside?”
“Yes I checked outside,” she said shortly. She swallowed. She shouldn’t be mean to this poor girl. She was just trying to help. Taking a deep breath, she tried to slow her racing heart. “He’s not outside. No one is outside.”
The girl nodded. Her face was a mix of sympathy and humor. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not crazy,” Samantha said quickly. “I walked in with my husband. Now, he’s gone. He’s not in the parking lot. There’s nobody around. I just need to use your phone because my phone is not working. Can you please just-”
The girl shook her head incredulously as Samantha spoke.
Samantha bit the inside of her cheek to keep from swearing.
“Fine!” It came out snarkier than she wanted it to but she didn’t care. She felt a headache beginning to form in the back of her head. This day was turning into a nightmare.
Marching back into the summer heat, Samantha searched her purse for her car keys.
If Guy wants to play games, he can walk home.
Her hand roamed through her purse for several seconds before she realized that her keys were missing as well.
“Really!” She roared, stomping her foot against the baking pavement. “You really took my keys?”
“Excuse me. Can I help you?” A tall, stocky man with a beard, neatly trimmed hair and glasses was staring at her.
Where did he come from? She looked around the parking lot. It was still empty, and she was sure that this chunky man was not fast enough to have reached her so quickly. The store front’s were at least a minute walk from the parking lot.
How long have I been looking for my keys?
Samantha huffed, though a small part of her was glad to see another person besides the store clerk. “No, you can’t.”
“Well, then I’m going to need to get into my car.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about? This is my car.”
He looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head.
Why is everyone looking at me like I’m a crazy person?
The man elbowed past her, opened the car door, and promptly turned the car on.
“Hey!” she screamed. “Hey, this is my car!”
“You’re nuts, lady,” the man cried, throwing the car into reverse and backing out of the spot.
“Hey!” Samantha cut him off and blocked his way forward. “This is my car! You can’t steal my car!”
“Get out of the way lady or I’ll run you over!”
“Get out of my car!”
“It’s my car, you psycho!”
“I'm not letting you steal my car!” She climbed onto the hood and glared at him.
“I’m calling the cops!”
“Call the cops! I’m not letting you take my car!”
He pulled out a cell phone and within a minute, a squad car pulled up.
How did they get here so fast?
“What seems to be the problem here?” The short, balding officer’s name tag read GLENN.
“She won’t let me leave!” the man cried.
“It’s my car!” she screamed back.
Samantha climbed off the hood of the car, her sweat leaving a film on the hood. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d ever been so hot.
The officer looked from her, to the man, and back again.
“I’m going to need to see the registration on the car and both of your licenses.”
Samantha handed over her drivers’ license.
The bearded man leaned over the passenger side seat, took the registration out of the glove compartment, and handed it, along with his license, to the officer.
The policeman carefully examined the documents, then raised an eyebrow at Samantha.
This has to be my car. I’m not crazy. I would know my own car. It’s the only car here, and Emily’s car seat is in the-
Her mind reeled. There was no car seat. In fact, none of Emily’s book or toys cluttered the backseat. They had all been replaced by a jumble of papers.
Samantha’s eyes grew wide and she stood in stunned silence. Was this not her car? She was sure she parked here. But where were Emily’s things?
She looked down at the license plate. It was not as she remembered. Her knees wobbled and she leaned against the police car, suddenly feeling faint.
“Ma’am, please step over here.” The officer handed back her driver’s license and ushered her toward his police car. A tear dripped down Samantha’s cheek as she watched her car screech out of the parking lot.
What’s going on? This man has my keys and now he’s leaving with my car. But it’s not my car.
“Officer, I can explain. You see my husband-”
Samantha looked down at her driver’s license and stared at it in horror. It had her maiden name on it and it was from a different state. She couldn’t breathe.
“Samantha Samuels?” he asked.
“Samuels is my maiden name,” she whispered.
“Where is your driver’s license with your married name and current address?”
“I don’t know.” She put a hand over her trembling lips and looked around.
This can’t be. It just can’t-
“Is this your current address?”
“No. I live right up the road.”
He paused, obviously debating what to say next.
“Ma’am, I'm going to ask that you sit in the car while I check this out.”
“But I have to pick up my daughter from daycare and my hus-”
“Ma’am, I’m going to need you to sit in the car.”
She saw his thick brows scrunch together as he stared at her under the boiling sun.
He doesn’t believe me. He thinks I’m crazy. I’m not crazy!
She took a deep breath, nodded and sat in the back of the police car as the officer fed her information into a radio.
A daze settled over her.
What happened?
She thought back on her seemingly ordinary day. She’d woken up. Her small family had eaten breakfast together. Emily had spilled her cereal and Guy vacuumed it up. Samantha cleaned up the dishes. They’d dropped off Emily at daycare. Guy called out of work so that the two of them could spend the day together. They’d gone to pick up Emily’s animal crackers and a few other groceries. He kissed her in front of the service desk. She still remembered the feel of his lips, slightly dry. Then they parted and…he was gone.
None of this makes any sense!
The officer turned back to her. “Ma’am, it seems that you’re a missing person. Your parents will be picking you up at the station in a couple of hours. How’d you get all the way up here?”
Samantha sputtered, “What?”
“You’re from Virginia. You’ve been missing for three days. How’d you get to Washington D.C.? Did you take the train? Bus?”
“I haven’t lived in Virginia in ten years.”
“Not according to your parents. They said that you live with them and that you’re on medication. Do you have your medication, ma’am?”
“I’m not on any medication. All I have is my purse and my shopping list.” She pulled her shopping list out of her pocket and handed it to the officer.
He looked at it for a second before turning back toward her with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.
“Ma’am, this is a blank sheet of paper. I'm going to ask you to stay in the car. I’ll bring you down to the station.”
Samantha looked at the paper as if it were a poisonous snake. The officer dropped it into her lap. She suddenly felt nauseous. “The station?”
“The police station. It’s just down the road there.”
“Police station? No, I can’t go. I have to get my daughter from daycare.”
“What daycare is your daughter in, Ma’am?”
“Sweet Smiles daycare on High Borough Road.”
“There is no High Borough Road around here, Ma’am.”
“But there is. Here, call them.”
She dialed the number that she knew by heart and handed him the phone. He squinted at her.
“This number is disconnected, Ma’am.”
“No, it can’t be. Then, where’s Emily? Where’s Guy? Where is my family?”
“Your family is coming to get you. We’re going down to the station now. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
He climbed in the car and locked the doors as Samantha’s eyes burned with tears.
This was crazy. She had to get to her daughter. She had to find Guy. They’d be worried by now.
This can’t be happening!
Minutes later, they rolled to a stop in front of the police station and the officer climbed out. No other officers arrived or left. In fact, the station looked deserted.
“Ma’am,” he said, holding out his hand to help her.
She looked into his eyes. There was a sad sympathy there as she put her hand in his.
“This is a mistake,” she said, her voice small.
He led her through the heavy blue doors of the police station. No one else seemed to be around.
She felt like she was gliding through a dream.
“I don’t know where my driver’s license is or where my keys are, but I can assure you that I have a husband and daughter and that I live in this state. My daughter is in daycare and needs to be picked up. I was grocery shopping with my husband and then he was gone. I don’t know where he went. And that man has my car!”
“Ma’am, I am going to ask you to sit in here and wait for your parents to arrive.”
Samantha looked up. She was in front of an empty holding cell.
“But I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“I know, ma’am. It’s just a precaution.”
“But I haven’t done anything wrong. Please call my husband. Please!”
“Ma’am.” He ushered her into the cell and closed the door.
She placed her hands against the bars and looked down at her left hand. Her ring was gone.
Tears flowed down her dark cheeks and she rubbed the spot where her ring should have been. She held her hand to her chest, and sat down on a nearby bench. Putting her hands over her face, she let her tears pool in her palms.
How did this happen?
As the hours passed, her shock morphed first into panic, then rage. Anger swelled at Guy for playing such a cruel trick, at the man who stole her car right out from under her, at the police officer who wouldn’t believe her and especially at the girl in the grocery store, whom she was sure was a party to all of this.
She threw herself against the bars, screaming that someone call her husband, the daycare, anyone.
The policeman who had brought her in was nowhere to be found. No one else appeared.
For hours she raised a racket, raging and pleading for someone to pay attention to her until, finally, she spotted her parents walking toward her, escorted by the police officer. Their worn faces were painted in relief.
“Sammy, dear!” Her mother cried. “We were so worried!”
“Worried? Tell them who I am, mother!”
“Our daughter is very sick,” her father told the officer. “We have her medication. Once she takes that she should be fine.”
“Medication?”
“Samantha, you’ve been missing for almost three days. We had no idea where you were. We were so worried!”
“What are you talking about!” Samantha cried, her hoarse voice choked with tears. “What are you saying! I live here! I have a husband and a daughter. You were at my wedding. I have a job and a car and friends. I need to get to Emily. I need to find Guy. Tell them who I am!”
“We’ll take it from here, sir,” her father said sadly.
The officer nodded and opened the cell door. Her mother tried hugging her, but Samantha pushed her away.
“This is crazy! I want to go home!”
“We are going home, Samantha,” her mother said. “Back to Paddlebrook, Virginia. Just take your pill and we’ll be on our way.”
“I'm not taking any pill. I need to get to Emily. I need to find Guy. Something’s happened to him, I know it.”
“There is no Guy or Emily, Samantha. They’re all in your mind!”
She shook her head in disbelief. Her chest felt as if it would explode from fury at any given moment. “No! No, stop it! You’re making me crazy!” Samantha grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled it with a scream. “You’re both making me crazy!”
Arms wrapped tight around her body. Her father forced her mouth open, shoved in a small, chalky pill and poured so much water down her throat that she had no choice but to swallow.
No! No, this can’t be happening! This can’t be happening!
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him.
Tall, midnight hair, dark brows and a five o’clock shadow around his luscious, wide mouth. His wild coal black eyes and Romanesque nose. That well built body that gave her so much pleasure.
He was struggling against the officers. They were dragging him into a cell. When they turned around, they looked exactly like the officer who had brought her in earlier, with the same sweaty balding heads and thick brows. On their name tags was written one word, GLENN.
Samantha’s mind went blank, her vision fogged.
The man’s focus locked with hers, widening in surprise. “Samantha?”
Her mother was laying on top of her, holding her in an unbreakable grip.
“I told you!” the man screamed. “There she is. That’s my wife! I told you!”
He was screaming her name.
“Samantha! Samantha, where’s Emily? What’s going on?”
She tried to reach out for him, but her arms and legs felt like iron.
She rapidly blinked her eyes, trying to force the fuzzy world back into clarity. Instead, it slowed faded, and only one thought floated onto the black pool of her memory before the darkness overtook her.
Guy!
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About The Author
Encouraged to write by a close family friend at the age of ten, Seven has written hundreds of full length novels, short stories, poetry, and plays. After sharing a few of them with a friend, she started on the road to becoming an indie author.
Seven Steps lives in Connecticut with her swe
et cat, a handsome husband, and a beautiful daughter. When not busy writing, she enjoys reading, styling natural hair, and travel.
Other Works By
Seven Steps
The Slave Planet
The Last Rock King (coming soon)
The Slave Planet 2 (coming soon)
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